TS: "Spirit of Eden" vs. "Laughing Stock"

This in large part is my case too. More specific thoughts about Laughing Stock from me but I never have felt as inclined to relisten to Spirit of Eden in comparison.

oops wrong thread.

I believe that Laughing Stock is the better album but Spirit of Eden is so deep in my ESTONIAN heart and I must always return to "Inheritance" and "I Believe In You" every time I fly my ESTONIAN jet plane in the blue skies over ESTONIA.

And I like the sense of mystery that pervades: I could never make out what Hollis was singing, and I couldn't read what was written on the lyric sheet exactly. I started to read up on the production history of the record - how they recorded certain things, how the work was done in the studio - and I had to stop as I just didn't want to know.

I like them pretty much the same, although for different reasons.

Apparently Tim Friese-Green frequents my local Virgin Megastore.

"spirit of eden" is unimpeachable for that song; that moment ... well, that and the sublime organ melody at the end. it is ... ah, i don't have the words.

i don't actually own "laughing stock" right now - a friend in new york has my copy, so that's fucked - but i don't remember it moving me in quite the same way. this thread has reminded me i need to get hold of another copy.

"I like them pretty much the same, although for different reasons." I don't mean to badger, but what are those reasons? Idle, vulgar curiosity; that's all.

for me, choosing between the albums is like being asked T/S: 'blood' or 'oxygen' - ummm, i need BOTH to live, dammit! but if it came down to it, i suppose i gravitate towards LS, but for reasons i could not properly articulate. in a sense it feels like a more complete/accomplished listening experience for me, but of course there are moments on SoE that are simply mind-blowing. tough call.

funnily enough, i just lent both of these albums to a gal i work with who is a real music nut, although mostly into free jazz, musique concrete, etc, and the more obtuse side of the 'indie' world (for lack of a better term). i guess she's young enough that these talk talk albums passed her by, but she's got 'em now! i'm very curious to hear her take on them, since she has such a deep appreciation for rather complex music...

Well, it may sound dull, but I'd honestly work your way along through the albums -- The Party's Over, It's My Life, The Colour of Spring, Spirit of Eden, Laughing Stock, in that order. It's a case where while the latter two can and do stand on their own, there's a sense of, well, progression for lack of a better word -- how they went through a radical series of changes while clearly STILL being the same band. And in ways it fits the suffused eschatology of the final albums to approach them in this beginning to end path.

That said, if the entire catalogue as Ned suggests is too much for you to handle, then try the last 3 in order - Colour of Spring, then Spirit of Eden, then Laughing Stock. Colour of Spring is a great album, and there are a few hints of what is to come...

I really hope that, um, 'kornrulez' was a legit post . You do know that every time ILM recommends these albums to someone new, an angel gets its wings, right?

for anyone here who hasn't heard it here's "It's Getting Late in the Evening" - the B Side to "Life's what you make it" and a hint at where they were going with the last 2 records.

http://s45.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1O5NWO94WA5FR0K6SWTEPZG68X

There's also the 'Missing Pieces' comp (released on Pond Life) - if you don't have it, don't get TOO excited - it's just a few album tracks from 'Laughing Stock', a slightly different version of 'New Grass', as well as a couple of extras - 'Stump' (very abstract - lots of noise), and 'Piano', which is, unsurprisingly, just Hollis barely playing the piano for almost 15 minutes (which is still A-OK with me!). Apparently the piano track was on some other album I can't recall right now...

it's After the Flood that is the 'Alternate version', not New Grass. sounds pretty damn close to me. and shorter. oh, and Missing Pieces also has the track "5:09" - more noise and recognizeable riffs from the album dropped in.

the album 'piano' appeared on the Allinson/Brown album 'AV1'. mark appears under the psuedonym 'John Cope', apparently.

there. i feel better now.

(I think I'm on my seventh listen of Playing the Angel now.)

Has anyone ever heard the original version of that song by Mark's mod-punk band? Can't claim to have found it on my own, but you can find it for free on "Within Without," the one and only (and wonderful) Talk Talk/Mark Hollis fansite.

the o.Rang albums are so predictable and dull in comparison to Hollis' record though that they do nothing but confirm that Hollis was the genius in talk talk

I've been listening to John Martyn's Solid Air and Bless the Weather. They sound like influences on these two Talk Talk records. Anybody know for sure?

http://batzbatz.com/uploads/posts/2007-10/1191230017_party.jpg

To me, there is no competition really since Spirit of Eden is just magic to my ears, but obviously, After the flood makes me doubt. I just feel so sad for all those people who haven't discovered Talk Talk.

Geir, you ass.

"Today" was a perfect debut single.

^^^^^ Geir OTM

and then 4.10 into Desire, there it is, the most beautiful line ever sung......

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)

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

Feeling this a lot

Mark Hollis was literally this for me.