I remember really liking it when I first received my copy of Laughing Stock but it has been long forgotten (like many of my CDs) maybe I will pop it in my car CD player and give it another go.
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His solo effort IS nice. I just ordered it. Hope you enjoy it. It is haunting and ethereal. The sound is kind of home-spun with lots of environmental ambiance and sounds. Very RAW. I love it. Not uplifting by any means though so those who are seeking as much, look elsewhere. If you like this, I'd also highly recommend a completely different sound, but coming from a very similar raw and stark sadness - but a completely different palette, if you will: Diamond Mine, by King Creosote and John Hopkins. This album also is just superb! I do not tire of either of these, and they do remind me of each other, in spite of obvious differences. |
Phil - I couldn't agree more. Both albums are among my top twenty or so. To expand on differences for the benefit of others: While Mark Hollis unique fusion makes a nod to jazz and pop, with other entirely unique elements thrown in, Creosote and Hopkins are coming from more folk and traditional influences. Hollis is more sparse and spare with lyrics. Diamond Mine, while simple and poetic, is more literal and tells the sad stories of the lives of the ordinary lives of the working class in a small seaside town. Both are deeply personal and melancholic in nature. You might be able to get the sense of where I'm coming from in the comparing the two as similar in the lyrics of two very simple songs..maybe not. I find both hauntingly beautiful: Mark Hollis, Inside Looking Out Feel my skin Lord Feel my luck tumbling down Left no life no more Turn my seasons turn Lived in much younger times Left no life no more For me to shine King Creosote and John Hopkins, Your Young Voice It's your young voice that's keeping me holding on to my dull life, to my dull life. (repeated several times) |