Talk Talk: 'Spirit of Eden' vs. 'Laughing Stock'

pretentious

on behalf of ilm i would like to ask you to retract that statement before unpleasantness ensues.

my answer, surprisingly, is SoE. but it's fucking close.

Laughing Stock

I meant the word as a backhanded compliment, I swear! Forgive me my trespasses, ilm, and forgive those who...etc.

Laughing Stock wins by a photo finish.

One was remastered, the other not, right? I'd have to pull them out to make sure I've got this right, but I'm thinking that Laughing Stock sounded much better (CD) than Spirit. I may have that backwards.

"Spirit Of Eden" is OK in small doses whereas "Laughing Stock" is plain unlistenable. Makes it kind of easy to choose, although "The Party's Over" or "It's My Life" would have been the correct choice.

I have no idea. Seriously no idea. This will take some serious thinking.

pretentiouser ftw

Spirit of Eden still sounds fresh, organic and totally unlike anything else ever. While Laughing Stock is equally awe-inspiring, in retrospect it wasn't as groundbreaking, and certainly it's easier to trace its clear influence on other artists. Spirit of Eden is just so out there.

Spirit of Eden sounds tense and almost claustrophobic to me despite the cavernous production. It's really harrowing. Laughing Stock is loose, a bit jazzier, more colorful, more laid back.

Spirit of Eden is the one I prefer because I think it sustains its intensity better than Laughing Stock, but they're both perfect records really.

also side 2 of Spirit of Eden might be my favorite record side ever

^^this

Spirit of Eden by almost a landslide. the sound is so unified and delicate and perfect.

i love laughing stock, too, btw.

"Spirit of Eden," but only by a slight margin.

whereas "Laughing Stock" is plain unlistenable.
-- Geir Hongro, Friday, October 12, 2007 2:10 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Link

hand -> forehead

(voted Laughing Stock)

can't decide...

probs spirit of eden

Spirit of Eden

Spirit

HAY GUYS

LAUGHING STOCK IS BETTER

I like "Your mind and me belong together" better.

"Here we are
Our hands are all untied
We'd rather walk than ride
Then ride and ride and ride, ride, ride
Ride and ride and ride

There you stand
Your eyes are in your head
You should have stayed in bed
Oh, Fred in bed and ride, ride, ride
Fred in bed and ride"

Both excellent, but I prefer Laughing Stock ("Ascension Day" = exquisite)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I'd have to pull them out to make sure I've got this right, but I'm thinking that Laughing Stock sounded much better (CD) than Spirit.

I'd guess a CD from 1988 needs remastering considerably more than one from 1992 though.

A; Spirit of Eden got remastered in 1997.
B; Laughing Stock is 1991.
C; You don't know what you're talking about.
D; They both sound absolutely great, just different. For my money, LS is the most interestingly-recorded and absorbing album I won, from a sonic POV, but that's because the levels are very low and lots of odd mic set-ups were used, like having the drum mic 40ft away from the drum kit and stuff. Turned loud, nothing cometes (bar maybe Hot Buttered Soul).

won = own, obv.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I finally get Talk Talk.

The Rainbow, really loud.

I get it.

http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/IntWWpb1198.html

Mark Hollis S/T

"Unlike Spirit or Laughing, there were demos of almost all the songs.."

WANT

not sure I'd want to hear 'em. I remember someone on ILM once said that it sounded like they had recorded the whole album in a weekend and then spent months taking things out of it, and I think I prefer that story to the true version of events.

Unpopular opinion, but I prefer Slowdive's "Pygmalion" to both.

pygmalion is an electronic album, these are not

huh? that's not true at all.

SoE. by far.

So hilarious -- three years ago and it's LS in a landslide.

"Spirit Of Eden" is OK in small doses whereas "Laughing Stock" is plain unlistenable. Makes it kind of easy to choose, although "The Party's Over" or "It's My Life" would have been the correct choice.

― Geir Hongro, Thursday, October 11, 2007 9:10 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

better late than never, sb'd u 4 this

I first listened to Spirit of Eden at a time of crisis in my life. It was the year I graduated college and my first love/first relationship ended. I was at rock bottom. Spirit of Eden was the most deeply moving and spiritually cathartic album I had ever heard.

Around the same time, I had also listened to similar albums such as Hex (Bark Psychosis) which became one of my favorite albums and is, for me, perfect late-night listening and the quintessential winter album. At this time, I listened to Laughing Stock, as well, and, although its instrumental complexities were entrancing, it simply did not speak to my emotions the way Spirit of Eden did.

Spirit of Eden is still the album I go to when I'm at my lowest and searching for my path.

It's one of my Desert Island albums, alongside
A Storm in Heaven (The Verve)
No Other (Gene Clark)
Lazer Guided Melodies (Spiritualized)

I'm a better musician. Serious musicians and composers are not commercial I trained at the top music school in the US.. I'm a CREATIVE person. I am a vocalist, composer, multi-instrumentalist. I taught myself how to write music but I had extensive training. I sing advanced music and write advanced music. I can write simple music too. I need donations since the commercial world does not fund serious composers or serious musicians. I need assistance. All serious musicians do.

I feel like both these albums would be better as instrumentals or at least if vocals were mixed lower

https://procrastimes.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/facepalm.jpg

Pope OTM.

The vocals just have this strange adult contemporary feel to them that i find offputting, whereas Bark Psychosis's are by contrast very low in pitch and serve as additional texture rather than a focal point.

I could listen to a Talk Talk album that was only vocals.

Poliopolice OffTM. Sorry, but Hollis's vocals on songs like I Believe In You are out of sight.

Never liked his vocals much tbh

... though not because they sound 'adult contemporary', which is what exactly?

The Colour Of Spring is rather "adult contemporary" imo

hollis's vocals on 'wealth' are among the most powerful ive ever heard so i definitely disagree

If you don't like the vocals, maybe you'd prefer this:

http://open.spotify.com/album/1bZJF6RXhSy87wSEAxhiLl

If Hollis sounds 80s then I was trying to think what other 80s singers sound like Hollis? Orzabel, Weller, Winwood, Rowland? They all have a bit of the oi-mates-soulboy-cum-braying-donkey thing going on, would put Hollis at the more sensitive end of the spectrum though

― we reward the hake (NickB), Friday, February 27, 2015 12:51 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I don't think Weller, Winwood or Rowland sound much like Hollis at all. Orzabal is probably the closest, but not that close.

This is the thing, I think Hollis has a really unique voice, but it obviously carries associations even though no one actually sounds like him.

I also had issues with his voice but as i did with coffee, I kept consuming it because I liked the way it made me feel. Now I love them both.

Talk Talk down in the same bracket as someone like, say, David Sylvian,

OTM, dont like his voice either.

I never thought of Hollis as an '80s-sounding vocalist, unlike the sounds-like-Bowie-n-Ferry crew (including Sylvian, Fry, et al). Hollis is of the sensitive sounds like Peter Gabriel art rock crew, which is a lot less 80s lounge lizard louche.

I am a Sylvian fan but could not get into Talk Talk because of his voice! I can't even remember now I tried so long ago, but it sounded like Radiohead or Coldplay to me, I think?

Jeebus, what albums are you guys listening to?! For the life of me I cannot imagine someone liking prime Sylvian (like "Gone to Earth," say) and thinking Talk Talk sounds like Coldplay.

Like, you sure you're not listening to Keane or something?

Not the music, mind you, just what I remember as his tremulous voice irritated me. I'm going to re listen today and see what I'm on about!

Yeah, it was the tremulousness that took getting used to. I'm fine now.

is tremulous like, warbly? that's what i meant...sorry, bowing out in embarrassment over this whole thing!

to me it conveys "warbly but quiet; fragile"

I found the "adult contemporary" thing objectionable because to me "adult contemporary" as a put-down tends to mean "populist" & in this case the affectation being derided seems more art than pop? but then I think about like, Josh Groban, and I don't know what to think

Yes, Bernard! (xp) I just skipped thru SofE and his voice IS indeed tremulous. I love the music but that voice...

Adult contemporary has nothing to do with "populist" for me. It's about production choices and the particular way that the singer emotes.

Adult contemporary always meant to me "consciously over-safe music pandering to 50+ demographic" or basically singer-songwriter/pop/rock that is barely more daring than muzak if at all.

Adult contemporary is NOT a genre -- it's a chart.

Lots of songs have made Billboard's A/C chart without qualifying as "consciously over-safe music pandering to 50+ demographic."

the stereotypical "Adult contemporary song" supplied by my mind is either a big weepy cinematic ballad ("My Heart Will Go On"/"Unbreak My Heart"/"Iris"), or a Maroon-5-wave funky white turd -- not sure how broadly these observations can be applied

Train, too... that guy's hair = totally adult contemporary

thread has gotten really off-track

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adult_Contemporary_%28chart%29

To each their own and all that but, I can't imagine these records without Hollis's voice.

Lots of songs have made Billboard's A/C chart without qualifying as "consciously over-safe music pandering to 50+ demographic."

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, March 1, 2015 1:46 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Well yeah, I guess my wording only applies to artists with that specific intent. But I think what it means to have an Adult Contemporary vibe is when any particular song conforms to a conservative, unoffensive and measured set of guidelines, again not far removed from those of what qualifies as muzak. Except unlike muzak, the genre is generally singer-songwriter/pop/rock oriented. It's the kind of stuff I hear on something like "coffee house radio" (whose main listenership is likely hovering around the 50 age range which is why I included that).

so it's indie rock, in other words

it's true hollis sings in an affected way that may not be to all tastes. i knew someone who couldn't stand early roxy music for similar reasons (by "avalon" ferry had toned it down significantly). thinking about it though most of my favorite male voices are affected in some way or another- brian wilson with his falsetto, robert wyatt with his muddy mouth, peter hammill with his precise diction... affectations are what give a voice personality.

Damn right. I know people who struggle with Wild Beasts because of the voices, but I love them.

yeah, i love ferry and hollis for these exact reasons.

I think unusual voices are something some people have to get used to. I didn't like unusual voices as a teenager, but I've got over myself.

we all hear things differently i suppose but i'm not sure i see hollis's voice as being at all affected. i think the timbre and the accent are very much in line with his natural speaking voice - in a way he's got quite a ordinary blokey voice, it's just he uses it with a great amount of control and delicacy.

I think I heard Life's what you make it before the last couple of albums and iirc it felt like his voice was evolving in parallel with the fairly different pared down arrangements. It all went so well together.

Annoying and ridiculous singing voices are the best voices

I love Bryan Ferry's early, middle, and late voices but had trouble with Hollis initially.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hop1tb-DR_k

that's a weird video for me. his voice sounds totally unlike what I would it to sound like, based on his appearance.

I miss Geir sometimes

Did anyone ever get a copy of the book Spirit Of Talk Talk? It goes for a small fortune these days when it pops up on Ebay
https://spiritoftalktalk.com/

I have it with some weird spongy cover, it's nice enough but not at all worth £143

nope, but it looks good!

timely revive, as this pair of albums has been in heavy rotation for me recently (along with hollis' S/T). the discussion from late Feb 2015 above is also fun to read, as i also struggled with the vocals for quite a while. which seems to be a concept that some people on this thread have a really hard time imagining! but ultimately, they grew on me quite a bit. and it was apparent from the very beginning that his voice forms the very core of these songs. still, i still feel a tinge of irrational embarrassment whenever someone catches me listening to late period talk talk, because if you're not familiar with them and don't have a full hour to listen at a loud volume on decent speakers, the subtlety of the music can be completely lost, and all that stands out is the "adult contemporary" voice.

I got it because I love James Marsh's artwork but don't feel like hunting down all the various 12" releases

(xp) Depressed goat surely?

funny, i bought all the 12"s because i'd rather see the artwork full size than in a book. The Talk Talk 12"s have been pretty cheap too. I guess they must have made millions of copies of each, so they're not hard to find.

Marsh sells nice prints of most of the Talk Talk artwork on his web site as well!

(it was mostly a matter of me having space on my bookshelves but none on my record shelves)

wow, you can also buy Laughing Stock toddler pajamas! I love the 21st century

i recently found an fm broadcast of a 1986 show in Belgium from later in 1986, like four months after the london show that was officially released. It's stunning, just as good as London but with interestingly different set list. Been playing it tons. I think if you search "talk talk belgium 1986 reliquary" you should find the blog i got it from.

The Salamanca, Spain concert is fab too, Belgium is a radio broadcast from the Werchter Festival iirc.

yes i also downloaded two versions of Salamanca, great show, both versions had different little audio glitches that were not enough to ruin it for me.

ooh, thanks, going to track down that Belgium show!

yes I have that book (the paperback). I didn't realize that was out of print also now.