Is New Grass the best song ever?

After the flood being actually the best on the album, no

>>72345412
Yes

>>72345412
Yes.

>>72345412
Least interesting song on the album

>>72345412
It honestly is, and Laughing Stock's the best album ever.

>>72345598
It's the climax musically, as well as lyrically to the narrative.

Will re-listen to the whole album tonight and I'll tell you

>>72345602
Agreed.

>>72345602
The album was meticulously edited from roughly a year of improvised sessions with more than 50 musicians.

It's objectively the best.

>>72345412
yea

>>72345412
It's really tough, that whole album is just packed with really great moments. Haven't listened in a while, gonna pop it in later tonight, thanks for the reminder.

>>72345681
Read the lyrics while you do, the story it tells is brilliant.

>>72345623
It has by far the weakest composition of any of the tracks. The progression is fairly simplistic, the vocal melody is forgettable, the structure is overly repetitive and the general texture is probably the least inspired out of any of the songs. It's the pleb favourite.

>>72345750
There's a story to it? The lyrics have a clear Christian tone but still seem very abstract.

>>72345445
Correct answer

>>72345756
It tells a fairly cohesive story. It starts with a man's life ending, brings you through his ascension, his struggle to get into heaven, and eventually his salvation. The lost song is from God's perspective, expressing his love and acceptance of the man despite his sins and flaws. The theme throughout is humility, which is why it's called Laughing Stock.

>>72346127
Fuck, I never knew this. I'll just have to relisten this album tonight.

>>72345412
I personally prefer A Life (1895 - 1915) from Mark Hollis' solo album

>>72345756
Try listening again. It's definitely not a pleb favorite, it's clearly intended to be the climactic moment of Laughing Stock. It's the song where we learn the man makes it into heaven. He leaves his effigy behind and "new grass" is left to grow from it.

>>72345772
>>72346127
Sorry, meant to reply to you

>>72345756
> The progression is fairly simplistic, the vocal melody is forgettable, the structure is overly repetitive

You realize that this is horribly misguided criticism for a minimalist album right? Progression is simplistic on every single track, and I wouldn't say New Grass is any more simplistic than the others, but looking at it that way is missing the entire point of the album.

>>72345412
>that sound of the clock half-way into New Grass
genius album

I like After the Flood the best. Its so damn groovy

>>72346211
I've listened to the album dozens of times and it's still my least favourite. Just because it's the climax of the album doesn't automatically make it the best. "The Chase" isn't necessarily the best run of chapters in Moby-Dick, for example, despite being the clear culmination of the story.

>>72346252
Laughing Stock isn't minimalism, it's rock music. The influence of minimalist music is clearly present but not to same extent as a band like Can, for example. There's a clear focus on harmonic progressions and distinct musical sections that are in line with rock and pop music and "New Grass" doesn't even succeed in minimalist, gradual development as well as other songs on the album.

>I wouldn't say New Grass is any more simplistic than the others
It's just a three-chord diatonic progression for the majority of the song and doesn't even succeed Compare it to "Ascension Day", for example, which has plenty of extended and suspended chords as well as chromaticism, or "After the Flood" which has a modal progression and also features a lot of emphasised dissonances in the vocal melody.

It's not a bad song by any means but it's definitely outshined by other tracks on the album.

>>72346778
Thinking about this album from a Music Theory standpoint is to completely miss the point. Westward Bound from Hollis's solo record is very simple but achingly beautiful, same goes for The Colour of Spring.

>>72346778
All I know, anon, is that no other song on this album grabbed me by the emotions like the organ and piano on New Grass, so much is accomplished with such bare simplicity.

>>72345412
Did you get tired of spamming Spiderland and move on to this?

>>72347079
I'm not OP but Laughing Stock makes Spiderland look like child's play. And I really like Spiderland.

>>72347079
What Spiderland spam? The only Spiderland posts I see are people calling it shit

>>72345445
Correct

>>72347079
OP here, never listened to it

>>72346898
>>72346991
I'm not saying it's the worst because it's simple, it just doesn't have enough interesting ideas to affect me on the same level as other tracks on the album, especially considering its duration.

"Runeii" for example is very simple but still a better song in my opinion. It's pretty much just an E chord for the whole song and the most texturally stripped-down on the album but it has enough bluesy diversions and modal inflections to keep me interested, and the introduction of the organ about halfway through keeps it from getting stale. "New Grass" just feels repetitive in a bad way.

File: laughingstock.jpg (163KB, 1080x1078px) Image search: [Google]

163KB, 1080x1078px

Does Laughing Stock have the greatest album cover of all time?

>>72345445
yep.

File: folder.jpg (328KB, 956x951px) Image search: [Google]

328KB, 956x951px

>>72348010
I prefer Spirit of Eden's

Is Ascension Day supposed to cut off abruptly at the end or do I have a shitty copy of the album?

Also, Spirit of Eden is the superior album.

>>72348010
It's literally perfect in every way. How did they do it bros. My best mate knows Mark and said he's gonna try and get him to meet me. Think I'm gonna die of shock when I see him

>>72348132
>Is Ascension Day supposed to cut off abruptly at the end or do I have a shitty copy of the album?
It's on all copies of the album. There was a power cut during recording IIRC.
>Also, Spirit of Eden is the superior album.
"no"

>>72347138
This. Talk talk is the tru starting point to post rock
>inb4 mama mia

>>72348132
It's supposed to

>>72345445
Correct

File: y.jpg (360KB, 1000x1000px) Image search: [Google]

360KB, 1000x1000px

>>72348010
>>72348170
Since you love it so much, here's a good scan of it.

No, the best song ever is Surf's Up

File: 1491792584375.jpg (2MB, 1920x1080px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 1920x1080px

>>72348608
>>72348010
>>72348170
here's a background (I didn't make it)

>>72348640
Already my screensaver pal (well it used to be, it's currently Autobahn by Kraftwerk)

>>72348638
>not even Feel Flows or 'Til I Die

>>72348186
I mean, objectively I hear more Spiderland in later post rock than I do Laughing Stock, but that doesn't mean it's better music.

>>72348685
Haha what a stupid fucking opinion desu lol my guy pls stop.