View source for Laughing Stock

{{short description|1991 album by Talk Talk}}
{{other uses|Laughing stock (disambiguation)}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Infobox album
| name       = Laughing Stock
| type       = Studio album
| artist     = [[Talk Talk]]
| cover      = Laughing stock.jpg
| border     = yes
| alt        =
| released   = 16 September 1991
| recorded   = Early 1990<ref name="snowinberlin.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.snowinberlin.com/laughingstock.html|title=Snow in Berlin: Laughing Stock – a Talk Talk & Mark Hollis resource|work=snowinberlin.com|access-date=14 February 2017}}</ref> – 1991 (credited as September 1990 – April 1991)
| venue      =
| studio     = [[Wessex Sound Studios|Wessex]], London
| genre      = 
*[[Post-rock]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Terich|first=Jeff|date=12 August 2008|title=Talk Talk: Laughing Stock|url=http://www.treblezine.com/reviews/talk-talk-laughing-stock/|access-date=6 April 2015|website=Treble}}</ref><ref name= "Paste 300 2024">{{cite web|last= Paste Staff |title= The 300 Greatest Albums of All Time|website= [[Paste (magazine)|Paste]] |date= June 3, 2024|url= https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/greatest-albums/the-300-greatest-albums-of-all-time-2|quote=...the complex, pastoral post-rock of final two albums ''Spirit of Eden'' and ''Laughing Stock''.|accessdate= June 3, 2024}}</ref><ref name= "PopMatters 2024">{{cite web|url=https://www.popmatters.com/best-alternative-songs-of-the-1980s/8|title=The 100 Best Alternative Songs of the 1980s|last=Gerard|first=Chris|date=15 April 2024|website=[[PopMatters]]|access-date=26 December 2024|quote=...their dual post-rock masterworks, ''Spirit of Eden'' and ''Laughing Stock''.}}</ref>
*[[art rock]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bGjsvmNt8UgC&pg=PA123|title=SPIN|date=1999|publisher=SPIN Media LLC|volume=15|page=123|issue=9}}</ref>
*[[Ambient music|ambient]]<ref name="Wide 2020">{{cite book|title= A Field Guide to Post-Punk and New Wave|first=Steve|last=Wide|date= September 22, 2020|chapter= Honourable Mentions: Talk Talk|page= 70|publisher=Smith Street Books|isbn=978-1-925811-76-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KEcMzAEACAAJ}}</ref> 
| length     = 43:29
| label      = [[Verve Records|Verve]], [[Polydor Records|Polydor]]
| producer   = [[Tim Friese-Greene]]
| prev_title = [[History Revisited]]
| prev_year  = 1991
| next_title = [[Asides Besides]]
| next_year  = 1998
| misc       = {{Singles
 | name        =
 | type        = studio
 | single1     = After the Flood (Outtake)
 | single1date = 7 October 1991 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Talk-Talk-After-The-Flood-Outtake/release/505485|title=Talk Talk – After the Flood (Outtake) (1991, CD)|website=[[Discogs]]|date=September 1991 }}</ref>
 | single2     = New Grass
 | single2date = 28 October 1991 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Talk-Talk-New-Grass/release/506688|title = Talk Talk – New Grass (1991, CD)|website = [[Discogs]]| date=28 October 1991 }}</ref>
 | single3     = Ascension Day
 | single3date = 25 November 1991 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Talk-Talk-Ascension-Day/release/509411|title = Talk Talk – Ascension Day (1991, CD)|website = [[Discogs]]| date=November 1991 }}</ref>
}}}}

'''''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 (musician)|Mark Hollis]] and drummer [[Lee Harris (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."<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite journal|url=http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/IntWWpb1198.html|title=The Colour of EQing|journal=[[Tape Op]]|date=12 November 1998|access-date=6 August 2015|last=Brown|first=Phill|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130610062146/http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/IntWWpb1198.html|archive-date=10 June 2013}}</ref> The band split up following its 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 (website)|Pitchfork]]'' retrospectively gave the album a 10 out of 10 score and named it the eleventh [[List of 1990s albums considered the best|best album of the 1990s]], saying it "makes its own environment and becomes more than the sum of its sounds."<ref name="Top 100 Albums of the 1990s; 20–11">{{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/5923-top-100-albums-of-the-1990s/9/|title=Top 100 Albums of the 1990s; 20–11|work=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]|date=17 November 2003|access-date=6 April 2015|archive-date=1 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150401040711/http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/5923-top-100-albums-of-the-1990s/9/|url-status=dead}}</ref> In a 2007 list, ''[[Stylus Magazine]]'' named it the greatest post-rock album.<ref name="Southall">{{cite web |last1=Southall |first1=Nick |title=Top Ten Postrock Albums |url=http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/staff_top_10/top-ten-postrock-albums.htm |website=Stylus Magazine |access-date=24 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081012093818/http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/staff_top_10/top-ten-postrock-albums.htm |archive-date=12 October 2008 |date=27 April 2007}}</ref>

== Background ==
In 1986, Talk Talk, then a three-piece band consisting of leader and singer [[Mark Hollis (musician)|Mark Hollis]] alongside drummer [[Lee Harris (drummer)|Lee Harris]] and bassist [[Paul Webb]], released their third album ''[[The Colour of Spring]]'', which saw the band shift from their earlier, [[synthpop]]-oriented sound and featured a more organic [[art pop]] sound, where musicians improvised with their instruments for many hours, then Hollis and producer [[Tim Friese-Greene]] edited and arranged the performances to get the sound they wanted. A total of sixteen musicians appeared on the album. It became their most successful album, selling over two million copies and prompting a major world tour.<ref name="Unknown">{{cite journal|last=Unknown|title=Paradise Regained|journal=Melody Maker|date=24 September 1988}}</ref><ref name="Devoy">{{cite journal|last=Devoy|first=Adrian|title=Come On, ''Market'' Me|journal=Q|year=1988|url=http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/IntQxx88.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010215111029/http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/IntQxx88.html|archive-date=15 February 2001}}</ref> Nonetheless, for their next album ''[[Spirit of Eden]]'' (1988), the band chose to work towards an even more unconventional and uncommercial direction. The album was compiled from a lengthy recording process at in Studio 1 at London's [[Wessex Sound Studios|Wessex Studios]] between 1987 and 1988 where the band worked again with Friese-Greene and engineer [[Phill Brown]]. Once again working largely in darkness, the band recorded many hours of [[Musical improvisation|improvised]] performances which were heavily edited and re-arranged into the final album.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/sep/13/talk-talk-mark-hollis|title=Talk Talk: the band who disappeared from view|first=Graeme|last=Thomson|date=13 September 2012|access-date=14 February 2017|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref>

''Spirit of Eden'' was not a commercial success and although it would be acclaimed in later retrospective reviews, it initially polarized music critics.<ref name="Devoy" /> Their record label [[EMI]] had doubts about whether it could have been successful many months in advance. They asked Hollis to re-record a song or replace material, but he refused to do so. By the time the masters were delivered later in the month, however, the label conceded that the album had been satisfactorily completed,<ref name="EMI">{{cite court|litigants=EMI Records Limited v Hollis & Others|court=Court of Appeal (Civil Division)|date=23 May 1989}}</ref> and chose to extend the band's recording contract. The band, however, wanted out of the contract. "I knew by that time that EMI was not the company this band should be with," manager Keith Aspden told ''Mojo''. "I was fearful that the money wouldn't be there to record another album."<ref name="Unknown" /> EMI and Talk Talk went to court to decide the issue.<ref>Wallace, Wyndham. "[http://thequietus.com/articles/06963-talk-talk-laughing-stock After The Flood: Talk Talk's Laughing Stock 20-Years On]". thequietus, 12 September 2011. Retrieved 5 December 2015</ref> Centered around whether EMI had notified the band in time about the contract extension, because as part of the agreement, the label had to send a written notice within three months after the completion of the album, but the band said they had notified them too late, arguing that the three-month period began once recording had finished; EMI argued that the three-month period did not begin until they were satisfied with the recording. Justice [[Andrew Morritt]] ruled in favour of EMI, but his decision was overturned in the [[Court of Appeal of England and Wales]].<ref name="EMI" /> Talk Talk were released from the contract.

Nonetheless, in 1990, bassist Paul Webb left the band, officially reducing Talk Talk to the duo of Hollis and Harris.<ref name="Wallace">{{cite web|url=http://thequietus.com/articles/06963-talk-talk-laughing-stock|title=After The Flood: Talk Talk's Laughing Stock 20-Years On|publisher=[[The Quietus]]|date=12 September 2011|access-date=6 April 2015|last=Wallace|first=Wyndham}}</ref> [[EMI]] also issued two compilations without the band's consent in 1990 and 1991; ''[[Natural History: The Very Best of Talk Talk]]'' – a best-of/[[greatest hits album]], and ''[[History Revisited]]'' – a collection of new remixes of old material from the band. Hollis was vocal in his opposition to both releases. Before the latter was released, Hollis sent letters requesting that the compilation be stopped, but EMI did not respond.<ref name="sutherland" /> In November 1991, Talk Talk sued EMI, delivering four [[writ]]s against their former record label.<ref name="rockstars">''Encyclopedia of Rock Stars'', 1st ed., s.v. "Talk Talk."</ref> The band claimed that material had been falsely attributed to them and that they were owed money from unpaid royalties.<ref name="rockstars" /><ref name="independent" /> Talk Talk won the case in 1992, and EMI agreed to withdraw and destroy all remaining copies of the album.<ref>Mark Roland, ed., "[http://www.talktalk.hu/eng/mm951118.html Info Freako: It's the Hollis!] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205004144/http://www.talktalk.hu/eng/mm951118.html |date=5 February 2012 }}," ''Melody Maker'', November 1995.</ref><ref>David Stubbs, "[http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/IntVOX0298.html Mark Hollis: Talking Liberties] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061011123135/http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/IntVOX0298.html |date=11 October 2006 }}," ''VOX'', February 1998.</ref> Manager Keith Aspden hoped that the case would set a precedent for future recording contracts.<ref name="independent">"[https://web.archive.org/web/20090804065952/http://geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Alley/6328/articles/independent.html History Revisited: Pop remix faces legal challenge]," ''The Independent''.</ref>

As the band's legal battle with EMI concerning their contract had freed them from the label,<ref name="EMI" /> the band began searching for other record labels, and eventually, their manager Keith Aspden signed them to [[Verve Records]], the [[jazz]] offshoot label of [[Polydor Records]]. Hollis was pleased that they signed Talk Talk because [[the Mothers of Invention]] were once on Verve.<ref name=sutherland /> The band set to recording their new album soon after the contract was signed. Again hiring an array of guest musicians, producer/multi-instrumentalist Tim Friese-Greene and engineer Phill Brown, work began on ''Laughing Stock'' in 1990.

== Recording ==
[[File:Studer A800 MK III (Bullet Sound Studios).jpg|thumb|Brown and the band worked with a [[Studer]] A800 [[multitrack recording|24-track machine]] with [[Dolby SR]] formats.]]
With Verve Records guaranteeing full funding for ''Laughing Stock'' and offering not to interfere during recording, the band took full advantage of the scenario "and locked themselves away for the duration of recording."<ref name="thequietus.com">{{cite web|url=http://thequietus.com/articles/06963-talk-talk-laughing-stock|title=The Quietus – Features – Anniversary – After The Flood: Talk Talk's Laughing Stock 20-Years On|work=thequietus.com|access-date=14 February 2017}}</ref> As with the band's previous album, ''Laughing Stock'' was produced by [[Tim Friese-Greene]] and recorded at the [[North London]] recording studio [[Wessex Sound Studios]] with engineer Phill Brown,<ref name="snowinberlin.com" /> and around fifty guest musicians,<ref name="Wallace" /> although a total of only eighteen guest musicians feature on the final album.<ref name="bookletline">{{cite AV media notes|title=Laughing Stock|others=Talk Talk|year=1991|type=tray insert|publisher=[[Verve Records]]}}</ref> Working in an environment influenced by that of [[Traffic (band)|Traffic]]'s recording sessions from 1967 that Brown worked on,<ref name="Wallace" /> Hollis' vision with ''Laughing Stock'' was to "collect a group of like-minded musicians together" in the studio where he could then record the "perspective of instruments in physical distance rather than off [[mixing desk|the board]]," after which "each player gets to improvise around a basic theme as he or she feels it."<ref name="sutherland" /> The process continued over a long period of time, and ultimately the album took a year to record,<ref name=autogenerated1 /> although its liner notes state it was recorded from September 1990 to April 1991.<ref name="bookletline" /> The record was "only complete" when Hollis felt each guest musician had "expressed their character and refined their contribution to the purest, most truthful essence."<ref name="sutherland" />

Hollis' discipline during the recording is well noted; Jess Harvell of ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' noted that "the recording process has long been described as one of the most arduous and prone to control freakitude ever."<ref name="Harvell" /> Wyndham Wallace of ''[[The Quietus]]'' said that "what went on in that studio strengthens the belief that Hollis was on a crusade to push boundaries and perfect his art on an even grander scale than ''Spirit of Eden''. Furnished with the opportunity to fulfil his most extreme creative instincts."<ref name="Wallace" /> Often working in darkness, "there was an effort to create a vibe in the studio sympathetic with the feel of the album," as Aspden recalled, and the band removed clocks from the walls, covered up the windows, "set up oil projections on the walls and ceiling, and used no other light apart from a [[strobe light|strobe]]," to create a suitable atmosphere for recording.<ref name="Wallace" />

The guest musicians were brought in "to improvise on sections without hearing the full track. With just a basic chord structure at most, they were encouraged to try out anything their hearts encouraged them to, and then, thanks to the emerging digital technology, any results felt appropriate were employed, sometimes in places for which they had never originally been envisioned."<ref name="Wallace" /> Most of the music recorded never made the final album, with Brown commenting "it takes a strong discipline to erase 80% of the music you record. Few have the discipline to get rid of 'stuff'."<ref name="Wallace" />
As with previous albums, Hollis alone chose what parts of the recordings to use and in what context.<ref name="Wallace" /> Compared to ''Spirit of Eden'', ''Laughing Stock'' was recorded with "a more conventional '80's set up."<ref name=autogenerated1 /> Brown and the band worked with a [[Studer]] A800 [[multitrack recording|24-track recorder]] with [[Dolby SR]] noise reduction, which, to make editing simpler, was run at 30 inches per second.<ref name=autogenerated1 />

[[File:Neumann U47 Tube.jpg|thumb|left|A [[Georg Neumann|Neumann]] U47 Tube microphone, the kind used to record many of the album's components.]]
Harris' drums were firstly set up against the far wall of the studio's main recording room, Wessex Studio 1, and were microphoned in "the usual rock arrangement", using "about ten microphones all close to the kit – [[bass drum]], [[snare drum|snare]], [[hi-hat]], [[tom-toms]], [[overheads]], ambient etc."<ref name="autogenerated1" /> Following this, Brown and Hollis rented the [[Neumann U47|Telefunken U47]], a large-diaphragm condenser [[valve microphone]] manufactured by Georg Neumann GmbH during the years 1949–1965. They chose it from an offering of several valve mics, which besides the U47 included a Neumann U48, M49 and "Tube", alongside "the old Wessex Collection" which included three AKG C12As. They carefully listened to each before settling on the U47.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> However, they placed it "30 feet away from the kit near the control-room window," which became an issue as the physical distance triggered a delay of 26-32 milliseconds.<ref name="autogenerated1" />

Having by that point created backing tracks, they "made up Mitsubishi Digital masters" as they had done with ''Spirit of Eden'', although this time they operated five analogue slave tapes, which gave them access "to over 120 tracks for recording ideas."<ref name=autogenerated1 /> From this point, they continued to overdub further textures and instruments, including [[cello]]s, [[piano]]s, [[harmonium]]s, [[guitar]]s, [[double bass]], [[viola]]s, [[harmonica]], [[percussion]], [[Melodica]], [[Hammond organ]], [[Variophon]], drums, and unusually, a [[water heating|water heater]] and [[kettle]], as well as techniques such as "[[sampling (music)|sampling]], [[loop (music)|looping]], off-setting, and the odd backwards F/X."<ref name=autogenerated1 /> Differing, distant miking techniques were employed for these instruments, with mics being placed "six feet from acoustic instruments, and about twelve feet from amplifiers."<ref name=autogenerated1 /> With the album now completed, they used only "an old spring echo, an EMT echo plate, and a DDL" to mix the album.<ref name=autogenerated1 />

== Music ==
{{Quotebox
| quote = On ''Laughing Stock'', the band’s final record, they whiplash between extremes. Sometimes the sound is serene and gorgeous, like the gentle, brush-stroked “New Grass”; and sometimes it’s harsher, as in “Ascension Day,” a thrashing epic that presages the decade’s most explosive post-rock bands. The image that always comes to mind while listening is a sanctuary, but Talk Talk were just as quick to knock down the walls. In the last second of “Ascension Day,” the tape cuts mid-performance, ending the song abruptly and inorganically, suggesting the whole thing is an illusion. The magic was always ours to create.
| source = Sam Sodomsky of ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' (September 28, 2022) [https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-best-albums-of-the-1990s/]
| align = left
| width = 32%
| border = 2px
| bgcolor = #f7e6fc
}}
''Laughing Stock'' consists of six tracks; [[Steve Sutherland (DJ)|Steve Sutherland]] said the album is "divided into six parts although it's really one long piece spanning an evolution of moods."<ref name=sutherland /> Ian Cranna of ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]'' said the album was "even more withdrawn and personal than before."<ref name="Cranna" /> Comparing the album to ''Spirit of Eden'', Jess Harvell of ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' says "the song structures are even stranger, built up from the tiniest musical gestures, clashing in mood from track to track, frequently more improvised-sounding than ever. The goal, assembling a coherent album from all this stuff, probably seemed quixotic to many of the contributors as it was being made."<ref name="Harvell" /> In a 1991 interview with ''[[Melody Maker]]'', Mark Hollis said "the last thing I would ever want to do is intellectualise music because that's never been what it's about for me. Nothing has changed from the ethic of the last album and I would never want that to change because I can't see any way of improving upon that process. As before, silence is the most important thing you have, one note is better than two, spirit is everything, and technique, although it has a degree of importance, is always secondary."<ref name="sutherland">Steve Sutherland, "[http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/IntMM070991.htm Talk Talk: Silencing the Scams] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061011123343/http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/IntMM070991.htm |date=11 October 2006 }}," ''Melody Maker'', September 1991.</ref>
{{Quote box
| width = 30%
| border = 2px
| bgcolor = #edfcf9
| align = right
| quote = "It's never a thing with any of these albums of knowing what they're going to sound like. It's more like knowing the kind of feel you want. The one kind of starting point we had this time was just this thing of everyone working in their own little time zone. Really, it's just going back to one of a couple of things – either the jazz ethic or y'know, an album like ''[[Tago Mago]]'' by [[Can (band)|Can]], where the drummer locked-in and off he went and people reacted at certain points along the way. It's arranged spontaneity – that's exactly what it is."
| source = Mark Hollis discussing the production.<ref name=sutherland />
}}

Hollis cited [[Can (band)|Can]]'s ''[[Tago Mago]]'', [[John Coltrane]]'s "[[In a Sentimental Mood]]" – where "it sounds like the bloke's setting his kit up" – and [[Bob Dylan]]'s ''[[New Morning]]'' as influences, "because there, if you're talking about sounds being honest, I don't think you can get much more honest than that. It just sounds like the band's in the front room with you."<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|url=http://www.snowinberlin.com/AftertheFlood.html|title=Snow in Berlin: Laughing Stock|work=snowinberlin.com|access-date=14 February 2017}}</ref> In a radio interview with [[Richard Skinner (broadcaster)|Richard Skinner]] at the time of the album's release, Hollis commented that "I think silence is an extremely important thing. It isn't something that should be abused. And that's my biggest worry because of the whole way that communications have developed, that there is a tendency just to allow this background noise all the time rather than thinking about what is important. The silence is above everything, and I would rather hear one note than I would two, and I would rather hear silence than I would one note," and according to Wyndham Wallace, "this helps explain the fifteen seconds of amplifier hiss that open the record's first track, 'Myrrhman', the huge amounts of space left in final track 'Runeii', and the overall sonic concept perfected by Friese-Greene and Brown, who declares third track 'After The Flood' to be "probably the best engineering for me in the past forty years." Drums were miked far from the kit, sounds were allowed to echo through the studio space, mistakes were an integral part of the performance, and the album's dynamics are entirely genuine, the live feel of a jazz record."<ref name="Wallace" />

"New Grass" was described as "Talk Talk as a purely placid and lovely proposition, electric organ and lilting guitar endlessly circling around Harris' heartbeat-steady drumming."<ref name="Harvell" /> "Ascension Day", in contrast, is considered the band's "most chaotic and vicious song," described by Harvell as "like a small jazz combo being elbowed aside by a [[noise rock]] band, with a climactic barrage of drumming that falls on your ears like an avalanche before the audible tape-splice cuts it dead."<ref name="Harvell" /> In the song, Hollis sings about [[judgment day]] and "its inevitable coming, saying farewell to us all."<ref name="Fisher">{{cite web|url=https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/12573/Talk-Talk-Laughing-Stock/|title=Talk Talk – Laughing Stock|publisher=Sputnikmusic|date=27 June 2007|access-date=6 April 2015|last=Fisher|first=Tyler}}</ref>

“Taphead", "a masterfully subtle piece of music", begins with a simple guitar melody and Hollis' "wavering, unsure vocals," when keyboards unexpectedly fade in "and then the darkest, warmest trumpet sounds, one after the other, building beautiful harmony, with tension and release techniques apparent throughout the feature."<ref name="Fisher" /> Tyler Fisher, describing it for Sputnikmusic continued that "with this, Talk Talk creates a climax unlike any heard before or after. Following a more frenetic trumpet feature, light drums, bass, and piano enter, setting the slightest groove to allow for a screaming trumpet note and Hollis' vocals. Another climax that lasted less than a second. The control that the ensemble shows in "Taphead" is unparalleled."<ref name="Fisher" />

== Release ==
When the band delivered ''Laughing Stock'' to Verve, Polydor were purported "gutted", wondering how they would be able to sell such an uncommercial record.<ref name=sutherland /> Sutherland recalled that "the first time I heard the record was at a dinner given for retailers by the record company at [[Serpentine Galleries|The New Serpentine Gallery]]. It was an embarrassingly desperate attempt over cocktails to convince store owners that they should stock a record which, the company was trying to infer, stood for quality over likely quantity of sales. Nobody knew where to look as Hollis' muted blues confessional purposely disintegrated into shivering feedback. A similar farce was, apparently, held in a Paris planetarium. Hollis attended both playbacks and survived. He says the Paris one wasn't too bad because, when the lights went out, it was close to the perfect way to listen to his music – with your eyes closed, watching your own mind movies. He didn't stick around in London, though – he had no desire to see people's reactions. He says he's proud of the record and, seeing as it wasn't made for other people, their opinions don't bother him."<ref name=sutherland />

Hollis denied that there was any problem with Polydor, saying "the whole structure of the deal we have with this record company is understanding how we work. I suppose because it's on Verve some people will think we've been stuck under 'Jazz' but what on earth does jazz mean? It's such a vague term, isn't it? Without any question there are certain areas of jazz that are extremely important to me. [[Ornette Coleman]] is an example. But jazz as a term is as widely used and abused as [[soul music|soul]] – it no longer means what it should mean. Jazz has almost been bastardised to such an extent that, if you've got a saxophone on a record, it's jazz, which is a terrifying idea. It's like, where would you ever place [[Can (band)|Can]]? To me ''[[Tago Mago]]'' is an extremely important album that has elements of jazz in it, but I would never call it jazz. Basically, the deal is that I promise to give them the best album I can. I think they have options across four albums which, at the pace we work, is the next 12 years. What more can you say?"<ref name=sutherland />

Verve Records released the album on 16 September 1991.<ref name="snowinberlin.com" /> No official singles or music videos were released to promote the album.<ref name="snowinberlin.com" /> Nonetheless, a limited edition [[box set]] entitled ''After the Flood / New Grass / Ascension Day'' was released in [[France]], containing the aforementioned three songs from the album, with the former edited down as an "outtake", and two unreleased [[B-sides]] ("Stump", "5:09").<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Talk-Talk-After-The-Flood-New-Grass-Ascension-Day/master/947532|title=Talk Talk – After The Flood / New Grass / Ascension Day|work=discogs.com|date=11 August 1991 |access-date=14 February 2017}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=March 2016}} In the United States, a recording of an interview with Mark Hollis entitled ''Mark Hollis Talks About Laughing Stock'' was distributed on cassette.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Talk-Talk-Mark-Hollis-Talks-About-Laughing-Stock/release/790312|title=Talk Talk – Mark Hollis Talks About Laughing Stock|work=discogs.com|date=11 August 1991 |access-date=14 February 2017}}</ref> Despite the lack of traditional promotion, the album reached number 26 on the [[UK Albums Chart]], and stayed on the chart for two weeks.<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums">{{cite book|first=David|last=Roberts|year=2006|title=British Hit Singles & Albums|edition=19th|publisher=Guinness World Records Limited|location=London|isbn=1-904994-10-5|page=547}}</ref>

Unlike Talk Talk's other albums, the album has never been remastered for CD, but on 11 October 2011, Ba Da Bing Records released a remastered version of ''Laughing Stock'' on vinyl, marking the first time that the album has been issued on vinyl in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.badabingrecords.com/2011/08/mark-hollis-and-talk-talk-rerelease/|title=Mark Hollis and Talk Talk Re-release!|publisher=Ba Da Bing Records|date=29 August 2011|access-date=6 August 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203032112/http://www.badabingrecords.com/2011/08/mark-hollis-and-talk-talk-rerelease/|archive-date=3 December 2013}}</ref> ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' commented that the remastering on this re-release sounds "amazing, as good as the album's ever sounded, in any format. Which is crucial, because on some level Talk Talk's later albums are all about sound. How startling, isolated moments of sound, or a formless wash of sound, can wring emotions out of listeners as powerfully as any conventional melody."<ref name="Harvell"/>

== Artwork ==
[[File:Korea-Andong-Hahoe Folk Village-Persimmon tree and birds-01.jpg|thumb|right|Mark Hollis requested that a [[tree]] of birds feature in the album cover to connect the album to ''Spirit of Eden''.]]
The cover art was designed by English visual artist [[James Marsh (artist)|James Marsh]], responsible for most of Talk Talk's artwork. Marsh initially painted a cover depicting a group of threatened birds forming the shape of a larger bird in flight over a desolate landscape. However, Hollis later felt the artwork should feature a tree, to create a visual connection to ''Spirit of Eden''.<ref name="Album Cover Hall of Fame">{{cite web|url=http://albumcoverhalloffame.wordpress.com/2012/11/07/james-marsh-talk-talk-interview/|title=Interview with James Marsh on his album cover work for Talk Talk|publisher=Album Cover Hall of Fame|date=7 November 2012|access-date=6 April 2015}}</ref> The final cover featured the same birds in a spherical tree forming the shapes of the Earth's [[continents]]. Later on, the first cover was used as the artwork for Talk Talk's three-single box set ''After the Flood''.<ref name="Album Cover Hall of Fame" /> As with previous albums, the album's liner notes feature Hollis' handwritten lyrics for each of the songs.<ref name="bookletline" /><ref name="discogs.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Talk-Talk-Laughing-Stock/release/1567591|title=Talk Talk – Laughing Stock|work=discogs.com|date=16 September 1991 |access-date=14 February 2017}}</ref> Russel Uttley of Peacock Design is credited with the layout design of the sleeve.<ref name="bookletline" />

== Critical reception ==
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="Ankeny">{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/laughing-stock-mw0000268987|title=Laughing Stock – Talk Talk|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=6 August 2015|last=Ankeny|first=Jason}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[Muzik]]''
| rev2score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Talk Talk: Laughing Stock|magazine=[[Muzik]]|location=London|issue=58|date=March 2000|last=Bush|first=Calvin|page=111}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[NME]]''
| rev3score = 4/10 (1991)<ref name="Quantick">{{cite magazine|title=Talk Talk: Laughing Stock|magazine=[[NME]]|location=London|date=28 September 1991|last=Quantick|first=David|author-link=David Quantick|page=36}}</ref><br />5/10 (2000)<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews/20000413062426.html|title=Talk Talk – Laughing Stock|magazine=[[NME]]|location=London|date=13 April 2000|access-date=6 April 2015|last=Thomson|first=Neil|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000612182447/http://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews/20000413062426.html|archive-date=12 June 2000|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| rev4 = ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]''
| rev4score = 10/10<ref name="Harvell">{{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15957-laughing-stock-mark-hollis/|title=Talk Talk / Mark Hollis: Laughing Stock / Mark Hollis|website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]|date=21 October 2011|access-date=6 April 2015|last=Harvell|first=Jess}}</ref>
| rev5 = ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''
| rev5score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="Cranna">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.withinwithout.dk/RevQxx91.html|title=Cryptic|magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]]|location=London|issue=61|date=October 1991|access-date=6 August 2015|last=Cranna|first=Ian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235900/http://www.withinwithout.dk/RevQxx91.html|archive-date=3 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| rev6 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev6score = {{Rating|2|5}}<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Talk Talk|last=Considine|first=J. D.|author-link=J. D. Considine|title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide|title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide|editor1-last=DeCurtis|editor1-first=Anthony|editor1-link=Anthony DeCurtis|editor2-last=Henke|editor2-first=James|editor3-last=George-Warren|editor3-first=Holly|publisher=[[Random House]]|edition=3rd|year=1992|isbn=0-679-73729-4|pages=691–692}}</ref>
| rev7 = ''[[Select (magazine)|Select]]''
| rev7score = 4/5<ref name="Griffiths">{{cite magazine|title=Talk Talk: Laughing Stock|magazine=[[Select (magazine)|Select]]|location=London|issue=16|date=October 1991|last=Griffiths|first=Nick|page=76}}</ref>
| rev8 = ''[[The Times]]''
| rev8score = 8/10<ref name="Segal">{{cite news|title=Talk Talk: Laughing Stock|newspaper=[[The Times]]|location=London|date=4 March 2000|last=Segal|first=Victoria}}</ref>
| rev9 = ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]''
| rev9score = 10/10<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Mark Hollis: Buyer's Guide|magazine=[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]|location=London|issue=264|date=May 2019|last=Thomson|first=Graeme|page=53}}</ref>
| rev10 = ''[[Vox (magazine)|Vox]]''
| rev10score = 9/10<ref name="Page">{{cite magazine|title=Talk Talk: Laughing Stock|magazine=[[Vox (magazine)|Vox]]|location=London|issue=13|date=October 1991|last=Page|first=Betty}}</ref>
}}

Upon release, ''Laughing Stock'' received mixed reviews from music critics.<ref name="thequietus.com" /> [[Jim Irvin]] was effusive in ''[[Melody Maker]]'', finding that with ''Laughing Stock'', Talk Talk had produced "three masterpieces in a row" and become "certainly the most individual, possibly the most important group we have."<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Guffaw Seasons|magazine=[[Melody Maker]]|location=London|date=7 September 1991|last=Arundel|first=Jim|author-link=Jim Irvin|page=33}}</ref> Writing for ''[[Vox (magazine)|Vox]]'', Betty Page lauded it as one of 1991's "most challenging records".<ref name="Page" /> ''[[Select (magazine)|Select]]''{{'}}s Nick Griffiths called the album "perverse genius" and "an exercise in self-indulgence and nothing more. If you refuse to enter their playground for the world-weary then that's fine by them."<ref name="Griffiths" /> Ian Cranna of ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]'' said that while "the melancholy mood, a rare thoughtfulness and the sense of sharing something deeply personal, together with the haunting, emotional quality of the understated music, put Talk Talk heavily at odds with the commercial charts{{nbsp}}... the same qualities will ensure that even though ''Laughing Stock'' may lose Hollis some of his newly found friends, it will be valued long after such superficial quick thrills are forgotten."<ref name="Cranna" /> In ''[[NME]]'', however, [[David Quantick]] wrote that the album "is unutterably pretentious and looks over its shoulder hoping that someone will remark on its 'moody brilliance' or some such. It's horrible."<ref name="Quantick" /> At the end of 1991, ''Laughing Stock'' was listed by ''Melody Maker'' as the year's 12th best album,<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Albums of the Year|magazine=[[Melody Maker]]|location=London|date=21–28 December 1991|pages=66–67}}</ref> while ''[[Oor]]'' ranked it 20th best;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.muzieklijstjes.nl/Oorlijsten.htm|title=Oorlijsten – alle lijsten vanaf 1973|work=muzieklijstjes.nl|access-date=14 February 2017}}</ref> it also placed at number 26 on ''[[Eye Weekly]]''{{'}}s year-end critics' poll.{{CN|date=December 2023}}

Retrospectively, ''Laughing Stock'' has gone on to receive widespread acclaim.<ref name="thequietus.com" /> "A work of staggering complexity and immense beauty," wrote [[AllMusic]] critic Jason Ankeny, "''Laughing Stock'' remains an under-recognized masterpiece, and its echoes can be heard throughout much of the finest experimental music issued in its wake."<ref name="Ankeny" /> Reviewing the album for ''[[The Times]]'', Victoria Segal found that in its "instrumental richness and exploratory dynamics", it "chimes unexpectedly with many recent developments in today's rock landscape", while also noting an "emotional heat" which "stops ''Laughing Stock'' from being mere academic indulgence."<ref name="Segal" /> Jess Harvell of ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' commented that "sound can become all the more powerful when surrounded by silence, great gulfs of which are all over the later Talk Talk albums, especially ''Laughing Stock''".<ref name="Harvell" /> Sputnikmusic's Tyler Fisher said, "The world needs to hear this album, even if you haven't liked post rock before, because I guarantee that this is not the type of music you think of when you think post rock. Unfortunately, it should be."<ref name="Fisher" /> In ''[[The Irish Times]]'', [[Donal Dineen]] wrote that the album "shows what magic can happen if bands have the talent and daring to push boundaries".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/donal-dineen-s-sunken-treasure-talk-talk-s-the-laughing-stock-1.2585685|title=Donal Dineen's Sunken Treasure: Talk Talk's 'The Laughing Stock'|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]|date=25 March 2016|access-date=30 March 2016|last=Dineen|first=Donal|author-link=Donal Dineen}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
{{Quote box
| width = 25%
| align = right
| quote = "''Laughing Stock'' seems to gain more acclaim with each passing year. That may be the result of all the bands&nbsp;– [[electroacoustic music|electroacoustic]], free folk, [[post-rock]] or what have you&nbsp;– who are struggling to reach what Talk Talk achieved: a record that makes its own environment and becomes more than the sum of its sounds."
| source = ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' discussing ''Laughing Stock'' in 2003.<ref name="Top 100 Albums of the 1990s; 20–11" />
}}
The album has appeared in multiple "best albums" lists. In 2003, ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' listed ''Laughing Stock'' as 11th best album of the 1990s.<ref name="Top 100 Albums of the 1990s; 20–11" /> The same year, ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]'' placed the album on their list of the "Top 50 Eccentric Albums".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.muzieklijstjes.nl/Mojotop50eccentricalbums.htm|title=Mojo – 100 greatest singles of all time|work=muzieklijstjes.nl|access-date=14 February 2017}}</ref> In 1999, Ned Raggett included the album at number 4 in his list of "The Top 136 or So Albums of the Nineties".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~tewing/ned/n4.html/|title=Breathe internet|work=netcomuk.co.uk|access-date=14 February 2017}}</ref> In 2014, ''[[Rockdelux]]'' ranked the album at 138 on their list of "The 300 Best Albums of 1984–2014".{{CN|date=December 2023}} In 2004, the German version of ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' ranked the album at number 108 in their list of "[[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]]".{{CN|date=December 2023}}

''Laughing Stock'' is considered, along with ''Spirit of Eden'' and [[Slint]]'s ''[[Spiderland]]'', to have been the primary catalyst of the [[post-rock]] genre.<ref name="Fisher" /><ref name="AllMusic">{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/style/post-rock-ma0000002790|title=Post-Rock : Significant Albums, Artists and Songs, Most Viewed : AllMusic|work=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=4 March 2016}}</ref> [[AllMusic]] said that "the musical foundation for post-rock crystallized in 1991, with the release of two very different landmarks: Talk Talk's ''Laughing Stock'' and Slint's ''Spiderland''."<ref name="AllMusic" /> The term "post-rock" itself was not coined until [[Simon Reynolds]] used it in his ''[[Melody Maker]]'' review of ''[[Hex (Bark Psychosis album)|Hex]]'' (1994) by [[Bark Psychosis]], which featured Talk Talk-inspired ambient experiments.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://altmusic.about.com/od/genres/a/post-rock.htm|title=Genre Profile – Post-Rock|last=Carew|first=Andrew|work=[[About.com]]|access-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121118155024/http://altmusic.about.com/od/genres/a/post-rock.htm|archive-date=18 November 2012}}</ref> ''Laughing Stock'' has also influenced [[Elbow (band)|Elbow]] and [[Bon Iver]],<ref name="Wallace" /> and in 2011, Jess Harvell of ''Pitchfork'' said "many indie rock bands and experimental composers have genuflected toward it over the last 20 years."<ref name="Harvell" />

Norwegian singer-songwriter [[Jenny Hval]] said in 2011 that ''Laughing Stock'' "is an incredibly intuitive and bare recording – some songs feel like vapour trails. To me, every sound on the album is about death, like the songs are about to die, like a band of Beckett characters. But at the same time the album is so emotional. 'After The Flood' is like crying. After 22 July [the day of the [[2011 Norway attacks]]], ''Laughing Stock'' was one of two records I wanted to listen to."<ref name="Wallace" /> Scottish singer [[King Creosote]] said "I think of the final two albums by Talk Talk as siblings very close in age. If ''Spirit of Eden'' is the older, pretty and sophisticated big sister who got all the A grades, then ''Laughing Stock'' is the wayward, grubby wee brother who got kicked out of school for skiving."<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Tom Fleming of [[Wild Beasts]], whose bands have been often compared to Talk Talk, praised the album and commented that it is a "kind of a dead end. It's like [[minimal techno]]. It's like, how much more minimal can you be?"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/wild-beasts-present-tense/#_|title=The Force of Wild Beasts|work=interviewmagazine.com|date=26 February 2014|access-date=14 February 2017}}</ref>

After engineering ''Laughing Stock'', Phill Brown said "there was divorce, breakdown. It was intense. I have never worked on more focussed sessions though. And no – I wouldn't work in the dark again. It was difficult getting back to 'normal' sessions."<ref name="ReferenceA" /> However, compared to prior Talk Talk albums, he goes on to note that "''Laughing Stock'' is a different beast. I am very proud of the album, it's probably one of my best projects, but I find it dark and claustrophobic."<ref name=autogenerated1 /> ''Laughing Stock'' was the last release in the band's career, as Talk Talk silently disbanded in 1992, as Hollis wished to focus on his family.<ref name="guardian1">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2011/feb/28/talk-talk-mark-hollis|title=How Talk Talk spoke to today's artists|last=Myers|first=Ben|date=28 February 2012|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=4 March 2016}}</ref> Paul Webb rejoined Lee Harris, and the two went on to form the band [[.O.rang]], who recorded several albums in the 1990s, while Tim Friese-Greene started recording under the name [[Tim Friese-Greene|Heligoland]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/MagSitePages/Article/3930/Tim-Friese-Greene-Interview|title=Tim Friese-Greene – Interview|work=pennyblackmusic.co.uk|access-date=14 February 2017}}</ref> Mark Hollis effectively left the music industry, but in 1998 released his unexpected self-titled solo début ''[[Mark Hollis (album)|Mark Hollis]]'', which was much in keeping with the post-rock sound of ''Spirit of Eden'' and ''Laughing Stock'', finding inspiration not in the popular music of the day, but rather in [[20th-century classical music]] and [[jazz]] from the [[1950s in jazz|late fifties]] and [[1960s in jazz|sixties]].<ref name="palyniam.co.uk">[http://www.palyniam.co.uk/content.php?page=interview-mark Music Minded interview Music Minded interview] [https://web.archive.org/web/20091009000251/http://www.palyniam.co.uk/content.php?page=interview-mark Archived]</ref> He officially retired from the music industry shortly afterwards.<ref name="wherefore">{{cite news|last=McGee|first=Alan|title=Wherefore art thou Mark Hollis?|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=9 April 2008|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/apr/09/markhollis|access-date=4 March 2006}}</ref>

== Track listing ==

{{Track listing
|headline = Side one
|all_writing = [[Mark Hollis]] and [[Tim Friese-Greene]]
| title1          = Myrrhman
| length1         = 5:33
| title2          = Ascension Day
| length2         = 6:00
| title3          = After the Flood
| length3         = 9:39
}}

{{tracklist
|headline = Side two
| title1          = Taphead
| length1         = 7:39
| title2          = New Grass
| length2         = 9:40
| title3          = Runeii
| length3         = 4:58
|total_length = 43:29
}}

'''Note:'''

*Most pressings of this album on CD have tracks 3 & 4 overlapping for about 20 seconds, resulting in respective run times of 9:26 and 7:01.

== Personnel ==
'''Talk Talk'''
* [[Mark Hollis]] – vocals, guitar, piano, [[organ (music)|organ]], [[melodica]], [[Variophon]]
* [[Lee Harris (drummer)|Lee Harris]] – drums, percussion

'''Other musicians'''
* [[Tim Friese-Greene]] – producer, piano, organ, [[Pump organ|harmonium]]
* [[Mark Feltham (musician)|Mark Feltham]] – harmonica
* [[Martin Ditcham]] – percussion
* [[Levine Andrade]], Stephen Tees, George Robertson, [[Gavyn Wright]], Jack Glickman, Garfield Jackson, Wilf Gibson – [[viola]]
* Simon Edwards, Ernest Mothle – acoustic bass
* Roger Smith, Paul Kegg – cello
* [[Henry Lowther (musician)|Henry Lowther]] – trumpet, [[flugelhorn]]
* Dave White – [[contrabass clarinet]]

'''Technical personnel'''
*[[Phill Brown]] – engineer
*[[James Marsh (artist)|James Marsh]] – cover illustration

== Charts ==
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
!Chart (1991)
!Peak<br />position
|-
{{album chart|Netherlands|60|artist=Talk Talk|album=Laughing Stock|accessdate=18 June 2018|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{album chart|Germany|65|artist=Talk Talk|album=Laughing Stock|accessdate=18 June 2018|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{Album chart|UK2|26|date=19910928|accessdate=8 June 2016|rowheader=true}}
|}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Talk Talk}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Talk Talk albums]]
[[Category:1991 albums]]
[[Category:Polydor Records albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Tim Friese-Greene]]