Laughing Stock [Back to Black Version]

About Laughing Stock [Back to Black Version]

Laughing Stock is the fifth and final studio album by British 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 the jazz-based Verve Records, and recorded Laughing Stock at London's Wessex Sound Studios with producer Tim Friese-Greene from September 1990 to April 1991. 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." The band split up following its release, effectively making Laughing Stock their last official release. The album received praise from most critics. Pitchfork named it the eleventh best album of the 1990s, saying it "makes its own environment and becomes more than the sum of its sounds." In a 2007 list, Stylus Magazine named it the greatest post-rock album more »