Laughing Stock (studio album)
by Talk Talk
Talk Talk bestography
Laughing Stock is ranked 2nd best out of 13 albums by Talk Talk on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Talk Talk is Spirit Of Eden which is ranked number 132 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 10,254.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
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Listen to Laughing Stock on YouTube
Laughing Stock track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 87 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Laughing Stock rankings
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Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 323 members
Laughing Stock ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 899 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 12/05/2025 16:15 | Araldo | 1,469 | 80/100 |
| ! | 11/30/2025 05:40 |  Kingturtle | 6,734 | 72/100 |
| ! | 11/23/2025 08:37 | NYAndreas | 1,432 | 43/100 |
| ! | 11/20/2025 22:46 | Exist-en-ciel | 2,667 | 70/100 |
| ! | 10/23/2025 10:12 | Scrabbler | 234 | 79/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 83.5/100, a mean average of 82.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 83.6/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.3.
Laughing Stock favourites
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Laughing Stock comments
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nextorgd 07/01/2025 08:48 | #309813
Incredible!
One of the most incredible albums ever put to tape. God bless you Mark Hollis.
HoldenM 09/06/2023 21:26 | #299008
While I'll always love Spirit of Eden just a touch more, this is simply one of the most beautiful things ever recorded.
Absolutely beautiful sounding album that takes you to another dimension. Crowning achievement of their career after improving with every album - incredible band.
What a brilliant record this is. It is complex and full of depth and the music just flows beautifully from track to track. The sound feels so smooth and relaxing that it makes this record such an easy one to revisit frequently and just get completely lost in. It really gives you this feeling of serenity that not many albums can give you which makes it so impressive. Instrumentally, it is delicate but still full of emotion and passion which makes it feel like a deeply personal album. They create a phenomenal mood that they consistently maintain on here as well and it is one of the greatest atmospheres I have ever heard on a record. Despite this, I do think the quality dips on the middle two tracks and they aren't as engaging as the other 4 songs. Overall, an elite display that demonstrates their instrumental quality and makes me excited to listen to more albums by them.
AAL2014 02/01/2023 05:30 | #293463
My adoration for Laughing Stock has only risen considerably over the years and after many return visits. What’s so beautiful about this record is that it’s almost like an auditory sunset. It’s beautiful and wide spread and more than a little ominous.
Ascension Day, one of my absolute favorite songs, is colorful and boisterous but entrancing and so is the limitlessly hypnotic, but more soothing, New Grass while Runeii closes things out with a true sense of fragile finality. Many listeners say this track is somewhat anticlimactic but if we are to revisit the idea of Laughing Stock sounding like a sunset, Runeii is night fall over the once luscious sonic landscapes we had explored the previous 40 minutes.
This is an album for the ages by a band unlike any other. It’s worth listening to their excellent 5 album discography in chronological order just to put into full context how bat shit it is that Talk Talk ended up where they did sonically by the end of their road.
This album is a masterpiece. One of the best of the 90s and of all time.
Jboy56 03/29/2022 16:26 | #283574
This album has a very unique sound, therefore I just loved it. Moody and jazzy, especially the guitars created a very haunted sonic experience
Disco tranquilo que se deja escuchar y bastante disfrutable
Timestarter 03/31/2021 11:17 | #268011
ALL SONGS ARE MY FAV. TRACKS!
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