Two bands enter, one band leaves.

Bark Psychosis, though it's pretty close.

both good.

Talk Talk records are better. Bark Psychosis is more of a "band".

Bark Psychosis

Bark Psychosis is great.
But hey, talk talk invented this kind of aesthetics.
Plus they had this interesting transformation from being a succesful 80ies "new romantic" charts band to a highly influential and unique group.
For some friends of mine the last two talk talk records are the holy grail of music.
i can see that.

Talk Talk. Bark Psychosis vocals sound weak to me.

Clearly the answer is Talk Talk, for the bold left turn in their oeuvre and for leaving two albums for the ages. I love Bark Psychosis to bits but they're the band you turn to when you wish there was a bit more Laughing Stock to go around.

Here's two oddments that should appeal to fans of both - a one sided, etched 12" from BP that was recorded live in a church and probably the closest they got the effortless ambience of Talk Talk, and from the latter : a patchwork B-side to the Ascension Day single that sounds like Phill Brown at the desk, randomly dropping in scraps from every track from the Laughing Stock sessions.

Bark Psychosis - Scum 12" (1992) & Talk Talk - 5:09

A funny little story: I was driving one day w/the radio on, just flipping through channels when this song caught my ear. The singer sounded familiar- almost identical in tone and timbre to
Mark Hollis, but the track was this super clubby 4 on the floor dance crap. I realized the absurdity of this, and then when the verse kicked in I realized that I was in fact listening to Cher.

That being said, I really like Hollis' freaky-tremolo voice, and Laughing Stock is in my top 5 favorites of all time list.

Concerning Bark Psychosis- you can try to piece together similar elements to try to get a great product, but it won't necessarily capture the spirit and brilliance of the original. Too bad for them Talk Talk ever existed...otherwise they would be lauded as brilliant.

My vote's for Talk Talk.

i love BP as well, but I have to go with Talk Talk for the latter two records.

If I ever found Laughing Stock on LP I think it would be THE record with which I would judge vinyl playback equipment. That and an early/mid period Jesus Lizard record.

yes, thanks, cjh