''Laughter, Tears and Rage'' was the sole album produced by
Act—the short musical collaboration between
Thomas Leer
Thomas Leer (born Thomas Wishart, 1953) is a Scottish musician. He has released a number of albums and singles as a solo artist, and was also one half (the other being Claudia Brücken) of the 1980s electropop band Act.
Biography
Born in Port ...
and ex-
Propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...
vocalist
Claudia Brücken
Claudia Brücken (born 7 December 1963) is a German singer and songwriter. She was the lead vocalist of the synth-pop band Propaganda for many years.
In 1996, Brücken started working with Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark co-founder Paul Humphr ...
. Originally scheduled to be titled ''Name Dropping: Songs for Young Sinners'', it was released on 27 June 1988 by
ZTT Records
ZTT Records is a British record label founded in 1983 by the record producer Trevor Horn, the businesswoman Jill Sinclair and the ''NME'' journalist Paul Morley. They released music by acts including Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Grace Jones, the ...
. The album was deleted by ZTT in the early 90s. It was eventually reissued on CD in 2004, as a one disc album and as a three disc
box set
A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit.
Music
Artists ...
entitled ''Laughter, Tears and Rage – The Anthology''.
Like most ZTT releases, the LP and CD releases differed quite a lot in track listing. The LP and cassette were both released as 12 tracks, while the CD was 14. However, a number of tracks were exclusive to each format. "Short Story" and "Theme from Laughter" were LP only, while "Poison" and "Bloodrush" were issued only on CD and cassette, and "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" and "The 3rd Planet" were CD only.
Singles
The album featured three singles, "
Snobbery and Decay", "
Absolutely Immune" and "
I Can't Escape from You". None of these set the charts alight with lead single "Snobbery and Decay" reaching #60 upon release.
A fourth single, "
Chance
Chance may refer to:
Mathematics
* In mathematics, likelihood of something (by way of the likelihood function or probability density function)
* ''Chance'' (statistics magazine)
Places
* Chance, Kentucky, US
* Chance, Maryland, US
* Chanc ...
" was withdrawn the day of release due to unauthorised samples.
2004 reissue
A reissue of ''Laughter, Tears and Rage'' was released on 19 January 2004, with tracks that were released on the LP and CD version of the album, along with a number of
remix
A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...
es and
B-sides
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...
. Also a 3-CD box set version was released, titled ''Laughter, Tears and Rage – The Anthology'', comprising almost four hours of material. Apart from the reissued album on the first disc, a second disc anthologised the extended mixes, while a third disc features a collection of rare and unreleased remixes, and an unreleased track: "Body Electric".
''Love & Hate'' (2015)
The album was reissued in a further different configuration in 2015 under the title ''Love & Hate: A Compact Introduction''. The release consisted of a "director's cut" of the album (comprising all of the original tracks plus "Body Electric", in a different order) on one CD, with various remixes and B-sides on a second CD.
Track listings
All songs written and composed by
Thomas Leer
Thomas Leer (born Thomas Wishart, 1953) is a Scottish musician. He has released a number of albums and singles as a solo artist, and was also one half (the other being Claudia Brücken) of the 1980s electropop band Act.
Biography
Born in Port ...
and
Claudia Brücken
Claudia Brücken (born 7 December 1963) is a German singer and songwriter. She was the lead vocalist of the synth-pop band Propaganda for many years.
In 1996, Brücken started working with Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark co-founder Paul Humphr ...
, except where noted
LP (1988)
* UK: ZTT / ZQLP1
Tracks A5 and B5 are listed on the labels only.
CD (1988)
*UK: ZTT / ZQCD1
Cassette (1988)
* UK: ZTT / ZQMC1
CD (2004)
* UK: ZTT / ZTT185CD
Box set (2004)
* UK: ZTT / ZTT185CDX
;
Disc one: "(More) Laughter, Tears and Rage"
Same tracks as 2004 CD.
Personnel
;Act
*
Thomas Leer
Thomas Leer (born Thomas Wishart, 1953) is a Scottish musician. He has released a number of albums and singles as a solo artist, and was also one half (the other being Claudia Brücken) of the 1980s electropop band Act.
Biography
Born in Port ...
–
keyboards,
vocals
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
*
Claudia Brücken
Claudia Brücken (born 7 December 1963) is a German singer and songwriter. She was the lead vocalist of the synth-pop band Propaganda for many years.
In 1996, Brücken started working with Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark co-founder Paul Humphr ...
– vocals
;Additional musicians
*
Andy Gill
Andrew James Dalrymple Gill (1 January 1956 – 1 February 2020) was an English musician and record producer. He was the lead guitarist for the rock band Gang of Four, which he co-founded in 1976. Gill was known for his angular, jagged style of ...
*
Betsy Cook
Betsy Cook is an American-born singer, songwriter and musician. Since the late 1970s, she has worked mainly in the United Kingdom and collaborated with various British artists such as Gerry Rafferty, Ray Jackson, Lindisfarne, George Michael, Pa ...
*
Luís Jardim
Luís Alberto Figueira Gonçalves Jardim (born 4 July 1950) is a Portuguese percussionist born on the island of Madeira. He is best known for his work with producer Trevor Horn.
Family
Jardim is a cousin of Alberto João Jardim (former presiden ...
*
Michael Dempsey
Michael Stephen Dempsey (born 29 November 1958) is an English musician, best known as the bassist for the Cure and The Associates (band), the Associates.
Biography
Dempsey was born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now known as Harare, Zimbabwe ...
*
Neil Hubbard
*Pablo Cook
*
Phil Palmer
Philip John Palmer (born 9 September 1952) is a British rock sideman and session guitarist who has toured, recorded, and worked with numerous artists. He is best known for his work with Eric Clapton and Dire Straits.
Biography
Palmer grew up ...
*Chris Senior –
piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
on "Theme from Laughter"
*Casbah – scat on "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" (credited to
Lucky Gordon on box set)
*
David Bedford
David Vickerman Bedford (4 August 1937 – 1 October 2011) was an English composer and musician. He wrote and played both popular and classical music. He was the brother of the conductor Steuart Bedford, the grandson of the composer, painter ...
– string arrangements on "Snobbery and Decay"
References
{{Authority control
1988 debut albums
Albums produced by Trevor Horn
Albums produced by Stephen Lipson
ZTT Records albums
2004 compilation albums