The following is a Designated Cheerleader piece by @bikemogacz for the Best Album of 1991 tournament. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you follow the link to vote in the tournament. Thanks!
Talk Talk was a great band, sure, but what truly sets them apart is that they're the only band in history that got better with each record. As Laughing Stock is the final output from a great band that never stopped improving, it stands to reason that it is a singularly incredible work of art that is worthy of your vote. If this simple deduction is enough to convince you, you can stop reading now.
If you insist on the hard sell, allow me to oblige you. Talk Talk came into being in the early eighties as an era-appropriate synth-pop band. Hits from this period such as "It's My Life" are their most radio-friendly output and are absolutely worthy of praise. But what really endures, what sounds revolutionary still today, is what came later. The gentle correction of 1988's Spirit of Eden and the full break with the old of 1991's Laughing Stock are what cement them as pioneers.
Specifically, Laughing Stock is recognized as one of the founding documents of "post-rock." The term itself was not actually coined until 1994 (in reference to Bark Psychosis' magnum opus Hex), but it has since been used to signify a wide variety of music that would otherwise be described as "kinda weird." Like most musical categorizations, post-rock is less a formal definition and more indicative of music which evokes a particular vibe. By that standard, Laughing Stock is a natural starting point for the genre. Every track on the album speaks to a fundamental beauty that is nonetheless just slightly, hauntingly out of reach. The morose but hopeful woodwind and string duo at the end of "Myrrhman," the furious breakdown on "Ascension Day" that keeps building and building, the increasingly fuzzy bridge on "After the Flood" that eventually gives way to the main theme, and the dainty melody on "New Grass" that never quite resolves itself. True to the form, the skeleton of Laughing Stock is undeniably that of rock, but one that is fossilized with every musical idea used to its maximum affect. Or maybe the better post-rock metaphor for Laughing Stock is literally its album cover - the world reimagined as a tree with its leaves replaced with the sound of every bird imaginable.
But while I'm happy to classify this record as post-rock, it does feel somewhat foolish to call this record the beginning of post-rock, as very little that came after it sounds anything like it. Plenty of bands cite Talk Talk as an influence, but the kitchen sink approach to constructing truly unique soundscapes is replicated almost nowhere. Most guitar-forward bands of the milieu (think Mogwai or Russian Circles) kept the instrumentation and the sound of standard rock while paring everything else back for a focused sound. And most multi-instrumental bands tended towards drone/noise (GY!BE) or relatively straightforward chamber music (Rachel's). Not to mention outfits like Sigur Ros that are almost something else entirely. The most representative antecedent of Talk Talk's specific sound might be Tortoise, but if we're being honest their sound is more directly influenced by kosmische or even jazz. So it's hard to be a forefather without any direct descendants.
In the end, Laughing Stock is an enigma, existing as the ultimate post-rock record and something completely uncategorizable at the same time. Perhaps I'm just intoxicated with my love for the record and am being too cute with my distinctions. Or maybe Talk Talk finished their run with a work so singular and otherworldly, that exists on their own terms and no one else's, that there really is no earthly comparison. If you've read this far and are still on the fence, I hope you take some time to really sit with this record. Let it wash over you, because there's something beautiful on the other side. And then vote for it.
