Laughing Stock - Talk Talk

Snap

Wow, what a good album.

I did like them back in the mid 80s, but this gem slipped me by. Very good, very different. Mellow and cool.

Gassage

Wis'd..

Winny_Pooh

And Spirit of Eden. Remarkable albums. 

Gassage

Mark Hollis spends his millions watching Welwyn Garden City Cricket Club these days- always there.

impmann

Say hello to Hollis from me.

Talk Talk had the most profound effect on my musical direction. Colour of Spring, Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock are three of the greatest albums of all time, IMHO.

I used to work with one of the engineers who worked on CoS and the stories he tells about how much effort was made, and the time taken to record it are amazing... most of them are unprintable, though! ;-)

I'd love to see Hollis doing something musical again. He's an incredible talent.

TheBigDipper

impmann said:

Colour of Spring, Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock are three of the greatest albums of all time, IMHO.

I used to work with one of the engineers who worked on CoS and the stories he tells about how much effort was made, and the time taken to record it are amazing... most of them are unprintable, though! ;-)

I'd love to see Hollis doing something musical again. He's an incredible talent.

This. 

Kebabkid

Great band. Loved the basslines too!

bloodandtears

+1 for Colour of Spring .. must listen to the others mentioned here..

richardhomer

The last three Talk Talk albums (The Colour of Spring, The Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock) are among the best records ever made by anyone in my view....

DiscoStu

Spirit of Eden for me. My ultimate chill out album and utterly wonderful.

ICBM

Despite someone (I think it might have been richardhomer ) saying that Laughing Stock is *not* the first Talk Talk album you should buy, it was the one I did - I found it by accident and decided to give it a try. And at first, I wasn't sure I even liked it at all… but on about the third or fourth listen, I got it. Now it's probably my favourite Talk Talk album - and I have all of them.

richardhomer

ICBM said:

Despite someone (I think it might have been richardhomer ) saying that Laughing Stock is *not* the first Talk Talk album you should buy, it was the one I did - I found it by accident and decided to give it a try. And at first, I wasn't sure I even liked it at all… but on about the third or fourth listen, I got it. Now it's probably my favourite Talk Talk album - and I have all of them.

It was me. It's probably their most 'difficult' album - but as you say, it rewards repeated listening.

Chuffola

Love them. One of my favourite bands too. 

Mark Hollis has done a solo album too, in case you weren't aware.

bingefeller

richardhomer said:

The last three Talk Talk albums (The Colour of Spring, The Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock) are among the best records ever made by anyone in my view....

Agree with you on that one Richard.  Three best albums in a row by any band ever.  

Gassage

Here you go- one of the rare TT live shows- they were amazing live, but Hollis hated it.

If anyone wants to send me a memory stick I have the whole show in hi def MP3- amazing (anotak note- John Turnbull of Blockheads on lead guit)

markv

I think all of the Talk Talk albums are good. I bought The Party's Over on vinyl at the time because the singles "Today" and "Talk Talk" are just great pop. Everyone knows the single "It's My Life" but the album of the same name is a good collection of songs and you can already hear that they're starting to move in unusual instrumental directions. Then we get to The Colour Of Spring and the real classics start.

One of my favourite tracks by them is "John Cope", which was the B-side of "I Believe In You". It's just fantastic:




I know they had some significant popularity at a time when record sales really meant something, but I'm still surprised if it makes enough to keep Mark Hollis in cricket match tickets ...

Gassage

markv said:

I think all of the Talk Talk albums are good. I bought The Party's Over on vinyl at the time because the singles "Today" and "Talk Talk" are just great pop. Everyone knows the single "It's My Life" but the album of the same name is a good collection of songs and you can already hear that they're starting to move in unusual instrumental directions. Then we get to The Colour Of Spring and the real classics start.

One of my favourite tracks by them is "John Cope", which was the B-side of "I Believe In You". It's just fantastic:




I know they had some significant popularity at a time when record sales really meant something, but I'm still surprised if it makes enough to keep Mark Hollis in cricket match tickets ...

Serious?

I'd suggest he makes enough in PRS and MCPS on It's My Life and Life's What You Make it alone to earn a 7 figure sum a year.

ICBM

Gassage said:

I'd suggest he makes enough in PRS and MCPS on It's My Life and Life's What You Make it alone to earn a 7 figure sum a year.

Particularly as No Doubt covered It's My Life very successfully - it's on their greatest-hits album and it still gets a fair amount of radio play even now.

Gassage

ICBM said:

Gassage said:

I'd suggest he makes enough in PRS and MCPS on It's My Life and Life's What You Make it alone to earn a 7 figure sum a year.

Particularly as No Doubt covered It's My Life very successfully - it's on their greatest-hits album and it still gets a fair amount of radio play even now.

Some other catawailing girl band covered it too? Can't recall.

Also Life's What You Make It was used at one of the recent Olympics as the ident theme!! Licence to print money.

markv

Interesting! Obviously I massively underestimate a) the amount you can earn through PRS and MCPS and b) the popularity of those songs. Very pleased for him then!

Snap

I think a lot of these artists who had big hits in the 70s and 80s make a LOT of money from royalties. MOre than we probably know.

For example Cars, Numan, seems to crop up on an advert campaign every year, and must be a nice earner. Don't You Want Me, Human League, one of the most played tracks around the world, etc.