you're wrong anyway. "the colour of spring" is a lost balearic classic. ;)
― shite new answers (cutty), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 22:03 (fourteen years ago) link
I got both of these at the same time & they sort of bleed into one monumental mega-album for me, so this is pretty much a coin toss.
These will always be their canonical albums, but it is worth mentioning that, as "transitional" albums go, The Colour of Spring is one of the best.
― Man or Austro-Hungarian? (Pillbox), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 22:08 (fourteen years ago) link
lol xp
listened to these back to back today and it's laughing stock by a good distance for me i'm surprised to say.
― DJ Get Up Kids (jim in glasgow), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 22:43 (fourteen years ago) link
really love the drumming on both of these records. fantastic stuff.
― shite new answers (cutty), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 22:46 (fourteen years ago) link
^^^yes
― ilxor lookin' boy (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 22:46 (fourteen years ago) link
whenever i want to imagine a really resonant, thick drum sound, such as when an oil can is struck, i imagine these records
― ilxor lookin' boy (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 22:47 (fourteen years ago) link
Laughing Stock for me, they're both incredible although I agree that the cowbell in 'Desire' is off-putting.
― Gavin in Leeds, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 23:00 (fourteen years ago) link
guys what the fuck, that drum solo in 'desire' is transcendent
― ilxor lookin' boy (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 23:01 (fourteen years ago) link
i hate the drum solo in desire. not just the cowbell. but mainly the cowbell.
― DJ Get Up Kids (jim in glasgow), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 23:02 (fourteen years ago) link
-_-
― ilxor lookin' boy (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 23:06 (fourteen years ago) link
def transcendant
― shite new answers (cutty), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 23:06 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmaikgBQBBQ
^ dunno why you would want this but it's a version of 'Desire' w/o the drums
― Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Farting in Space (NickB), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 23:08 (fourteen years ago) link
when the harmonica does a kinda donkey-bray feedback oscillation thing in the final run-through of the chorus and then reverses its pattern and then the organ comes back in, it is like music has been won
― ilxor lookin' boy (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 23:10 (fourteen years ago) link
that's a failed experiment IMO but the same dude has tried to turn After The Flood into a 4-minute pop single! :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8SRsWbv0tA&feature=related
― ilxor lookin' boy (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 23:14 (fourteen years ago) link
...nah
― ilxor lookin' boy (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 23:18 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, not sure what's up w/ that.
― Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Farting in Space (NickB), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 23:29 (fourteen years ago) link
Voting Spirit of Eden because it's the one where they made the break, and therefore more astonishing even if Laughing Stock is arguably an improvement on it in internal terms. Easily one of my favorite albums in the universe, too.
― glenn mcdonald, Wednesday, 17 March 2010 01:24 (fourteen years ago) link
Laughing Stock gets the nod for me because it's got this great flow to it, where throughout the first half of the album the tension gets bigger and biger and the noisy sax in during "After the Flood" and it comes to a head in "Taphead" and then the problems get resolved during "New Grass" and the protagonist finds peace with "Runeii." Probably totally unintentional, of course, but I still like to interpret it that way. So anyway, no you can't change any of the song orders on Laughing Stock, but you could on Eden. And yes I am a total rockist bastard.
― Mr. Snrub, Wednesday, 17 March 2010 02:06 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, "Laughing Stock" by Love is great.
― Egg Foo Yung Joc, Wednesday, 17 March 2010 02:43 (fourteen years ago) link
"oh fred in bed.."
― Mark G, Wednesday, 17 March 2010 14:32 (fourteen years ago) link
Spirit Of Eden. I heard it first, and it changed my view of what music could be. Laughing Stock is an album where I appreciate the craftmanship, but it doesn't really move me. I listen to it for admiration, not enjoyment. SOE is inspiring and enjoyable.
― basskitten, Wednesday, 17 March 2010 23:34 (fourteen years ago) link
Laughing Stock
― jed_, Wednesday, 17 March 2010 23:51 (fourteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Thursday, 18 March 2010 00:01 (fourteen years ago) link
voted for Laughing Stock bcz of Arthur Lee...
― failboat fucking captain (Drugs A. Money), Thursday, 18 March 2010 00:12 (fourteen years ago) link
BTW, if you love these albums and haven't checked out O'Rang (Lee Harris & Paul Webb - aka the Not Mark Hollises of Talk Talk), you should run to your local music dealer and correct that immediately. Both O'Rang albums are marvelous.
― basskitten, Thursday, 18 March 2010 20:44 (fourteen years ago) link
and out of print?
― shite new answers (cutty), Thursday, 18 March 2010 22:14 (fourteen years ago) link
Available as downloads from eMusic last I checked, though. Maybe Amazon MP3 and/or itunes as well, dunno.
― heck bent for pleather (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 18 March 2010 22:48 (fourteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Friday, 19 March 2010 00:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Wow, the incredibly thrilling thing about these results is that there are 67 people on here who care about these two records!
― glenn mcdonald, Friday, 19 March 2010 00:02 (fourteen years ago) link
Haha right down the goddamn middle or close enough.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 19 March 2010 00:18 (fourteen years ago) link
Ah, I feel like my 11th hour Laughing Stock listen (and conclusion that I just prefer SoE*) paid off. Unless you wanted a draw all along.
*Heard SoE first, then the Mark Hollis and Colour of Spring, then LS.
― useless chamber, Friday, 19 March 2010 00:21 (fourteen years ago) link
wow, that close eh?! I totally agree with Glenn, It is nice to know that this many people are interested in these two brilliant and influential albums. These have recently really informed the music I have been making, and they are two of my al;l time favorite albums.
― I am become death, Friday, 19 March 2010 07:57 (fourteen years ago) link
Ooh, glad I bothered to vote (for SoE).
― anagram, Friday, 19 March 2010 08:26 (fourteen years ago) link
I voted SoE, but that's a very fair result. I still listen to The Colour of Spring more than either of these two, am a huge fan of their earlier poppier stuff too and as ilxor says upthread, that was really the bridging point.
― Bill A, Friday, 19 March 2010 11:15 (fourteen years ago) link
One of ILM's more successful polls!
― The Oort Locker (Tom D.), Friday, 19 March 2010 11:20 (fourteen years ago) link
Unless it happened and I missed it, it's always surprised me that nobody sampled the hell out of TCoS. So many ace drum breaks and other instrumental runs to be used.
― Bill A, Friday, 19 March 2010 11:21 (fourteen years ago) link
I love the bass playing on the last three Talk Talk records (stunt Danny Thompson on "TCoS" and "SoE" or not). I fondly recall an eye opening evening the first time I turned up "New Grass" loud enough to actually notice the upright pulsing beneath the surface. Who plays bass on that track? Is it that African jazz player?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 19 March 2010 12:12 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah i've thought this many times. many of the tracks would work well as a re-edit 12"
― shite new answers (cutty), Friday, 19 March 2010 13:45 (fourteen years ago) link
i call it a lost balearic classic upthread, cause it's true
― shite new answers (cutty), Friday, 19 March 2010 13:46 (fourteen years ago) link
Get the Asides Besides comp.
― No, YOU'RE a disgusting savage (Scik Mouthy), Friday, 19 March 2010 13:56 (fourteen years ago) link
^^^was told this by someone IRL recently
― ilxor lookin' boy (acoleuthic), Friday, 19 March 2010 13:57 (fourteen years ago) link
Asides Besides is totally worth owning. Sadly on my copy one track has become scratched and it's fuckin' John Cope #*&$%@&(%^*(&)@*$^*#
― heck bent for pleather (Jon Lewis), Friday, 19 March 2010 15:56 (fourteen years ago) link
Disaster! It's an amazing track. One of the most formless and floating pieces of music I've heard. Also, 'It's Getting Late in the Evening' is, for me, the exact moment, 'Chameleon Day' aside perhaps, where Talk Talk shifted from the band of 'Colour of Spring' to that which created 'Spirit of Eden'
― AnotherDeadHero, Friday, 19 March 2010 16:09 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah there are about 6 or 7 tracks on the 2nd disc of Asides Besides which no Talk Talk fan can afford to be without.
― heck bent for pleather (Jon Lewis), Friday, 19 March 2010 16:36 (fourteen years ago) link
am guessing 'the last 5 especially'
― ilxor lookin' boy (acoleuthic), Friday, 19 March 2010 16:37 (fourteen years ago) link
I've never really felt much for 'Pictures of Bernadette' to be honest. I find the hook a bit annoying to be honest.
― AnotherDeadHero, Friday, 19 March 2010 16:43 (fourteen years ago) link
The Bsides for It's My Life are grebt too. But yeah the Colour and Spirit ones are essential.
― heck bent for pleather (Jon Lewis), Friday, 19 March 2010 16:46 (fourteen years ago) link
i forgot to vote. i would have voted for laughing stock.
― scott seward, Friday, 19 March 2010 17:31 (fourteen years ago) link
but, you know, i love them both. but if i go by what i've played the most it would be laughing stock. probably played it at least 150 times. same with colour of spring. spirit of eden probably been played a hundred times.
― scott seward, Friday, 19 March 2010 17:33 (fourteen years ago) link