Laughing Clowns

After The Saints dissolved in London in late 1978, Ed Kuepper returned to Australia and formed the Laughing Clowns, a five-piece making good on the promise of The Saints’ expansive, soul/R&B-flecked third album, Prehistoric Sounds. But by adding free jazz to the equation, and allowing his songs to follow a more oblique, circular logic, Kuepper came up with something that felt unprecedented. “Holy Joe” was German expressionism in miniature; “Laughing Clowns” careened wildly, an unholy tragicomedy. It’s a remarkable debut.