For other uses, see Laughing stock (disambiguation).
Laughing Stock
Studio album by
Talk Talk
Released
16 September 1991
Recorded
Early 1990[1] – 1991 (credited as September 1990 – April 1991)
Studio
Wessex, London
Genre
Post-rock[2]
art rock[3]
Length
43:29
Label
Verve, Polydor
Producer
Tim Friese-Greene
Talk Talk chronology
History Revisited (1991)
Laughing Stock (1991)
Asides Besides (1998)
Talk Talk studio album chronology
Spirit of Eden (1988)
Laughing Stock (1991)
Mark Hollis chronology
Spirit of Eden (1988)
Laughing Stock (1991)
Mark Hollis (1998)
Singles from Laughing Stock
"After the Flood (Outtake)" Released: 7 October 1991 [4]
"New Grass" Released: 28 October 1991 [5]
"Ascension Day" Released: 25 November 1991 [6]
Laughing Stock is the fifth and final studio album by English band Talk Talk, released in 1991. Following their previous release Spirit of Eden (1988), bassist Paul Webb left the group, which reduced Talk Talk to the duo of singer/multi-instrumentalist Mark Hollis and drummer Lee Harris. Talk Talk then acrimoniously left EMI and signed to Polydor, who released the album on their newly revitalised jazz-based Verve Records label. Laughing Stock was recorded at London's Wessex Sound Studios from September 1990 to April 1991 with producer Tim Friese-Greene and engineer Phill Brown.
Like Spirit of Eden the album featured improvised instrumentation from a large ensemble of musicians. The demanding sessions were marked by Hollis' perfectionist tendencies and desire to create a suitable recording atmosphere. Engineer Phill Brown stated that the album, like its predecessor, was "recorded by chance, accident, and hours of trying every possible overdub idea."[7] The band split up following its release, effectively making Laughing Stock their last official release.
The album garnered significant critical praise, often cited as a watershed entry for the budding post-rock genre at the time of its release. Pitchfork retrospectively gave the album a 10 out of 10 score and named it the eleventh best album of the 1990s, saying it "makes its own environment and becomes more than the sum of its sounds."[8] In a 2007 list, Stylus Magazine named it the greatest post-rock album.[9]
^"Snow in Berlin: Laughing Stock – a Talk Talk & Mark Hollis resource". snowinberlin.com. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
^Terich, Jeff (12 August 2008). "Talk Talk: Laughing Stock". Treble. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
^SPIN. Vol. 15. SPIN Media LLC. 1999. p. 123.
^"Talk Talk – After the Flood (Outtake) (1991, CD)". Discogs. September 1991.
^"Talk Talk – New Grass (1991, CD)". Discogs. 28 October 1991.
^"Talk Talk – Ascension Day (1991, CD)". Discogs. November 1991.
^Brown, Phill (12 November 1998). "The Colour of EQing". Tape Op. Archived from the original on 10 June 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
^"Top 100 Albums of the 1990s; 20–11". Pitchfork. 17 November 2003. Archived from the original on 1 April 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
^Southall, Nick (27 April 2007). "Top Ten Postrock Albums". Stylus Magazine. Archived from the original on 12 October 2008. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
LaughingStock is the fifth and final studio album by English band Talk Talk, released in 1991. Following their previous release Spirit of Eden (1988)...
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retrieved 4 April 2023 Design, AphShop Online Store v0.951 by Aphotic. "LaughingStock Store: Randy is Sober DVD (SIGNED)". www.laughingstock.com.au. Retrieved...
Steve Taylor wrote in his book The A to X of Alternative Music that "LaughingStock" is the album's standout track. All tracks are written by Jason Lytle...
of J.D. Salinger. His selected best disc was, Talk Talk's New Grass, LaughingStock. In 2015, Garvey presented Music Box, an iPlayer-exclusive series covering...
" Some music critics consider Spirit of Eden and its 1991 follow-up LaughingStock influential to the post-rock genre, which developed in Britain and North...
Europe. Raz, Guy. "Revisiting Talk Talk, A Band Worried About Being A 'LaughingStock'". OPB. Oregon Public Broadcasting. Retrieved 5 April 2020. "Talk Talk...
actor who wishes to become an action hero, and refuses to be seen as a laughingstock. He goes off on a talk show, which ultimately causes his career to plummet...
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2003 and featured a supposed history of the founding of Frontierland. LaughingStock's improvised comedy show opened on June 18, 2012 and continued its run...
2, 2024 – via ProQuest. Matsumoto, Rick (October 17, 1985). "Regina laughingstock of even their own fans". Toronto Star. p. E7. ProQuest 435346890. Retrieved...
Peter, the procedure being mistaken for incest as the Griffins become a laughingstock. Lois is especially upset by the news, but changes her tune after Peter...
performing one himself. His break-out show Darkside (co-produced by LaughingStock Productions) achieved critical success at the 2005 Melbourne International...
said the prime minister had "succeeded in making [Solomon Islands] the laughingstock of the region, as a country that is prepared to tamper with its own...
because, though a man be old or noble, it maketh him a reproach and a laughing-stock with Beliar and the sons of men. In the Ascension of Isaiah, Belial...
Link Up TV cameraman records. The video goes viral and makes the two a laughingstock. For a third attempt, they hold up the local bank but after an argument...
Retrieved May 1, 2019. Zaino III, Nick A. (September 28, 2005). "Comedia: LaughingStock of Film Festivals". Paste. Decatur, Georgia, United States. Retrieved...
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