Talk Talk's Laughing Stock

During a CD-buying binge this past weekend, I picked up one of those albums that can best be described as life-altering.

For those of you who don't know abut Talk Talk, let me give you the short version. They came from England in the early 80's and created some great but run-of-the-mill pop songs, particularly "It's My Life" (which had an extremely popular cover by No Doubt a few years ago). With he new wave phase passing and most 80's pop band having no idea where to go, Talk Talk make a pair of records that combine atmospheric beauty with free-jazz rhythms to make ten-minute songs with no chorus (think an update of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks). Commercial suicide occurs, they break up. Almost two decades later, critics hail these records as masterpieces.

Don't you wish this happened more ofter? Furthermore, don't you wish the general music population loved this record when it came out?

The album creeps in with "Myrrhman" built on random guitar strums and minor-keyed horns playing a funeral. The vocals are clear and strong; you can tell this guy is capable of writing pop tunes, but by this point I'm glad he doesn't. The guitar blast in "Ascension Day" leads into what seems like a more conventional track - that is until a Sonic Youth guitar solo and crashing cymbals lead the song toward a sudden chilling halt. Radiohead definitely heard this record prior to recording Kid A.

"After The Flood" is the album's centerpiece, and what a stunner. The smooth keyboard loops under a whiling organ and screeching guitar solos. This track finds the perfect place between blissful beauty and nervous paranoia. At ten minutes, it still feels too short.

If it weren't for the gorgeous vocals, "Taphead" could be an outtake from Charles Mingus' Black Saint And The Sinner Lady. "New Grass" leads them completely into free jazz territory with horns fading in and out and a simple piano rhythm. Understated guitar strumming creates a bleak but building optimistic mood for "Runeii", the album's closer and shortest track.

Somebody please get this band back together to make another record like this. We apparently were all paying too much attention to the New Kids On The Block and M.C. Hammer in 1991 to notice this masterpiece, but I think we embrace this kind of stuff now.

Go get Talk Talk's Laughing Stock. Now.