Laughing Stock

Many know Talk Talk’s first three albums, with hits like ‘It’s My Life’ and ‘Life’s What You Make It.’ But Talk Talk made five albums, each better than the last and then quit at the top of their art. Surprisingly, few know the band’s last two albums: The Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock. With these two last albums, Talk Talk proved that less is indeed more.

Laughing Stock demands your full attention. The seemingly sparse music has layers upon layers that take years to appreciate fully, and the album only gets better and better after each listen and with each passing year.

Laughing Stock is the band’s most significant effort and arguably the greatest album of all time, only slightly ahead of Talk Talk’s previous album, The Spirit of Eden. This sublime album has only six tracks that vary widely in tempo, energy and style, yet somehow, it remains coherent and should be listened to in one sitting. I did not grasp or even really like this album when I first heard it, and I put it aside, only listening occasionally until I sat down and listened seriously. Suddenly, a veil lifted, and the sweet music and the late Mark Hollis’s magical voice revealed its secrets.

The music is filled with silences, harmonic distortion and shifts in tempo and intensity. Sometimes Mark’s voice is so low, so soft, you’re unsure if it’s an instrument or him, until suddenly his voice erupts with full force, making you wonder how any human voice can scream at the top of their lungs and contain all the power and dynamics, yet sound harmonic and clear without any discord — astounding! His voice is like a roaring waterfall, yet it always sounds pleasing no matter how hard he seems to press — like warm honey running down soft velvet.

The lyrics are complex and often demanding to hear. Mark and the band weren’t thinking ‘cash.’ They set out to create musical artistry regardless of financial gain and succeeded – they did not make much money, and it is art! Laughing Stock’s opening track ‘Myrrhman’ is quiet and subdued, but give it time; its quiet intensity will overwhelm you.

‘After The Flood’ has the coolest organ that grinds and ebbs with Mark’s vocal eruptions that will envelop you in the most rhythmically pleasing percussion that goes on and on until, unfortunately, it has to end after 9 minutes and 38 seconds. ‘New Grass,’ my current favourite, makes me believe in a better life, where beauty and art mean more than money and hope springs eternal.

Buy this album today! Please turn off your iPhone, sit down with your significant other, or send them away, and listen! You won’t be sorry. Laughing Stock might turn out to be one of your most prized possessions. It’s the one album I would bring to a deserted island… if it had a working turntable.

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