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Following the success of Seven, Andy Diagram left the band to pursue other musical interests, taking the distinctive trumpet sound of the album with him. The acoustic tour of America with Neil Young had a profound influence on the band's sound, playing acoustically focusing the band on producing a more simple "stripped and naked" sound.

The other distinctive factor in the sound of Laid was the appointment of Brian Eno as producer. Where Seven sounded like a band striving for perfection, "Brian encouraged us to improvise, encouraged us to use takes where we didn't know what we were doing. He made us realise that this imperfection was a good thing." (Jim, Q 1993).

Most of Laid was recorded over a six-week period in the spring of 1993 at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios. Using two separate studios, one for the album "proper" and one for jams, the band recorded over fifty tracks, which also spurned the double album Wah Wah, which was released in 1994. The band did actually also try to record a live album at the same time playing a one-off gig at the Moles Club in Bath, but had underestimated their ability to play the new material live. Present at the show however was Peter Gabriel who approached the band to join the US WOMAD tour that summer.

Unlike previous albums, very little of Laid had been played live before it was recorded - Say Something had been in the set since April 1992 and Low Low Low had began life as a six-minute improvised trumpet epic. Read Tim's track-by-track commentary on the album by clicking on the above link.

Laid received mixed but generally positive reviews in the music press. The stripped-down sound was seen as a welcome return to the band's folky roots and a step back from the perceived stadium rock sound of Seven. The two singles released around the album, Sometimes and Laid, received surprisingly positive reviews, but only achieved moderate chart success.

The album peaked at Number 3 in the UK charts. Internationally, the band's German record company initially refused to promote the album, claiming that without an obvious lead track and single it would not sell. The album went to Number 1 in Portugal. But the major breakthrough of Laid was in America where the album peaked at number 68, but sold over 600,000 copies as the band spent most of the first half of 1994 touring, starting with a number of support slots with Duran Duran followed by two headline tours, culminating in an invitation to play Woodstock 2 in August in front of 300,000 people.