Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden V.S. Laughing Stock

Yeah, all that good stuff.

for me, though, it's all about the way he says "spirit..." in I Believe In You. he doesn't actually say "eden" afterward (for a long time i thought he did), but it hangs in the air along with "spirit" because of the album title. and there's something so sad in that word, sung in that way, alone. "...spirit..."

the idea that we are all ghosts, spirits, haunting what used to be Eden.

This has always been our interpretation of it.

wtf april 5th and chameleon day are both incredible

or in the spirit of eden, where mankind fell from grace as I read it

April 5th and Chameleon Day sound to me like they are reaching for the Spirit of Eden sound without getting it yet. The former has an irritating programmed percussion part and the latter has a weird quasi-wind-quartet intro and outro that they would soon replace with acoustic instruments.

like they are reaching for the Spirit of Eden sound without getting it yet

this for me is 100 percent the appeal of colour of spring but one's mileage varies i guess

no album with 'life's what you make it' on it can ever be anything less than a great album imo

I love the transitional quality of April 5th and Chammelon Day - the band finding all that breath and space and not feeling the need to fill it.

The results of this poll will never stop amusing me. I actually voted for LS but I changed my mind last night to SoE and will change it again. I actually think MH is my not-polled answer though. Well, it was last night when I listened to all three. It changes all the time.

Both are perfect, Laughing Stock a wee bit more so.

the organ tone on laughing stock is one of music’s finest sounds

I bought these two records and Mark Hollis right when they came out, and I agree that the solo album is the best of the three. Even details like the room tone at the opening and closing are perfectly timed. The album is an unexpected mixture of warmth and austerity; I credit it with helping me though the depressive year when it was issued.

When you listen to records as many times as I have heard these, you have to be honest with yourself about what you feel is not working. I've always found Taphead and Runeii on Laughing Stock a little arid. In a way, the progression didn't become clear to me until 1998.

April 5th and Chameleon Day sound to me like they are reaching for the Spirit of Eden sound without getting it yet. The former has an irritating programmed percussion part and the latter has a weird quasi-wind-quartet intro and outro that they would soon replace with acoustic instruments.

― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 5 November 2020 18:16 (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

wtf the programmed percussion on "April 5th" is brilliant

about 2 minutes into "The Rainbow", at the start of "Spirt of Eden" - what is that scribbling noise? is it a pen or pencil scribbling? to me it sounds like someone just scratching over something

Apparently it's Hugh Davies playing the "shozyg", an electronic instrument of his own making.

i see.

i also love how on this most holy albums of subtlety, the big drums on "Desire" include a big, conkin' cowbell. CONK CONK CONK CONK!

lol

https://i.imgur.com/fAuFMhp.png

true google pros know to use only 3 sets of quotation marks

"let the " algorithm "handle the rest