The purpose of this thread, starting tomorrow morning, is to discuss the music of Talking Heads on a song-by-song basis. I searched and didn’t see that a song-by-song thread has been done, please correct me if I’m mistaken. I will be going through the songs from Talking Heads, one song per day, to include all principal album tracks, bonus material that was included on re-issued releases, B-sides, non-album tracks/singles, demos, cover songs, and other unique entries. Each day (between 6:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. U.S. Central time), I will post a song for discussion/comment. I will be rating songs on a 1-5 scale (5 is highest), and participants are encouraged to provide ratings as well, although rating songs is not required to participate. The primary thread objective is to visit in-depth the music of Talking Heads, whether you choose to post numerical ratings, simply provide comments and opinions, or just follow along without posting. Song/album ratings will be tallied and averaged each day. The band’s catalog is small and concise, and the expectation is that the thread duration will be around 4 ½ to 5 months (my initial estimate for thread completion is on or around August 18). The songs will be arranged in roughly chronological order, by release date for the primary studio albums, and a mixture of release or recording date for everything else (I like to keep songs housed in the era to which they best relate, which means I’ll be making some judgment calls along the way as to when specific songs will be discussed). All this said, it’s quite possible that certain obscurities and/or one offs might be missed, or that the temporal ordering of tracks might not be perfect. My goal is to try to capture everything I can in its proper order, but I'm not going to sacrifice smooth thread flow or extend the thread out indefinitely to ensure every scrap of music is covered. More preliminary information to follow...
Following are the studio albums we will be covering in the thread: · Talking Heads: 77 · More Songs About Buildings And Food · Fear Of Music · Remain In Light · Speaking In Tongues · Little Creatures · True Stories · Naked The live albums The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads and Stop Making Sense will each be given one day for discussion, though links to tracks from the albums will be provided as supplements to the daily song discussions. Other individual live tracks (with a few exceptions, including one in the first week) and demos/alternate versions of primary studio songs will not be covered separately. However, these will be linked supplementally to their main studio counterparts the day those tracks are discussed. There may be additional exceptions to any of the exclusion categories in certain unique situations, but this is the general plan.
In addition to the inclusions/exclusions previously documented, the following limited side project material will be considered as follows: · My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts – David Byrne’s collaboration with Brian Eno, recorded between Fear Of Music and Remain In Light, will be discussed song-by-song. Even though it was released after Remain In Light, we will cover it before that album, based on the recording timeline. We will cover the primary track list only, with an extra day to discuss the album as a whole. We will not be setting aside days to discuss any of the bonus tracks from this release. I will post links to the bonus material on the full album discussion day, and these can be discussed in that context. No other David Byrne solo albums will be covered on the thread. If someone wants to pick these up at the end and run through them song-by-song, you're more than welcome. · Tom Tom Club - We will not be covering in-depth the Chris Frantz/Tina Weymouth Tom Tom Club side project. However, as a sampler, we will discuss the three songs released that hit either the U.K. or U.S. Top 40 as bonus material (“Wordy Rappinghood”, “Genius Of Love” and “Under The Boardwalk”). These will be inserted into the schedule based on their single release dates. The rest of Tom Tom Club’s output will not be covered in detail. As with the David Byrne solo albums, if at the end of the thread, someone would like to pick up their albums do a song-by-song discussion, feel free. This is first and foremost a Talking Heads thread. The David Byrne and Tom Tom Club carve-outs noted above are meant to provide important context and additional flavor as to what the band members were doing apart from TH during their active period, but the plan is not to deviate far from the primary objective of reviewing the TH catalog.
I hope we also discuss the non-album tracks, starting with Love —> Building on Fire and Sugar on my Tongue. looking forward to it.
History of Talking Heads In 1973, Rhode Island School of Design students David Byrne and Chris Frantz formed a band, the Artistics. Fellow student Tina Weymouth, Frantz's girlfriend, often provided transportation. The Artistics dissolved the following year, and the three moved to New York City, eventually sharing a communal loft. After they were unable to find a bassist, Weymouth took up the role. Frantz encouraged Weymouth to learn to play bass by listening to Suzi Quatro albums.Byrne asked Weymouth to audition three times before she joined the band. The band played their first gig as Talking Heads, opening for the Ramones at CBGB on June 5, 1975. According to Weymouth, the name Talking Heads came from an issue of TV Guide, which "explained the term used by TV studios to describe a head-and-shoulder shot of a person talking as 'all content, no action'. It fit." Later that year, the band recorded a series of demos for CBS, but did not receive a record contract. However, they drew a following and signed to Sire Records in November 1976. They released their first single in February the following year, "Love → Building on Fire". In March 1977, they added Jerry Harrison, formerly of Jonathan Richman's band the Modern Lovers, on keyboards, guitar, and backing vocals. The first Talking Heads album, Talking Heads: 77, received acclaim and produced their first charting single, "Psycho Killer". Many connected the song to the serial killer known as the Son of Sam, who had been terrorizing New York City months earlier; however, Byrne said he had written the song years prior. Weymouth and Frantz married in 1977. More Songs About Buildings And Food was Talking Heads' first collaboration with producer Brian Eno, who had previously worked with Roxy Music, David Bowie, John Cale and Robert Fripp. Eno's unusual style meshed with the group's artistic sensibilities, and they began to explore an increasingly diverse range of musical directions, from post-punk to psychedelic funk to African music, influenced prominently by Fela Kuti and Parliament-Funkadelic. This recording also established the band's relationship with Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas. More Songs About Buildings And Food included a cover of Al Green's "Take Me To The River". This took Talking Heads into the public consciousness and gave them their first Billboard Top 30 hit. The collaboration with Eno continued with 1979’s Fear Of Music, with the darker stylings of post-punk rock, mixed with white funkadelia and subliminal references to the geopolitical instability of the late 1970s. Music journalist Simon Reynolds cited Fear Of Music as representing the Eno-Talking Heads collaboration "at its most mutually fruitful and equitable". The single "Life During Wartime" produced the catchphrase "This ain't no party, this ain't no disco". The song refers to the Mudd Club and CBGB, two popular New York nightclubs of the time. 1980’s Remain In Light was heavily influenced by the afrobeat of the Nigerian bandleader Fela Kuti, whose music Eno had introduced to the band. It explored West African polyrhythms, weaving these together with Arabic music from North Africa, disco funk, and "found" voices. These combinations foreshadowed Byrne's later interest in world music. In order to perform these more complex arrangements, the band toured with an expanded group, including Adrian Belew and Bernie Worrell, among others, first at the Heatwave festival in August, and later in their concert film Stop Making Sense. During this period, Weymouth and Frantz formed a commercially successful splinter group, Tom Tom Club, influenced by the foundational elements of hip hop, and Harrison released his first solo album, The Red And The Black. Byrne and Eno released My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, which incorporated world music, found sounds and a number of other prominent international and post-punk musicians. Remain In Light's lead single, "Once in a Lifetime", became a Top 20 hit in the UK, but initially failed to make an impression in the US. It grew into a popular standard over the next few years on the strength of its music video, which Time named one of the greatest of all time. After releasing four albums in barely four years, the group went on a recording hiatus, and nearly three years passed before their next release, although Frantz and Weymouth continued to record with the Tom Tom Club. In the meantime, Talking Heads released a live album The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads, toured the United States and Europe as an eight-piece group, and parted ways with Eno, who went on to produce albums with U2. 1983 saw the release of Speaking In Tongues, a commercial breakthrough that produced the band's only American Top 10 hit, "Burning Down the House". Once again, a striking video was inescapable owing to its heavy rotation on MTV. The following tour was documented in Jonathan Demme's Stop Making Sense, which generated another live album of the same name. The tour in support of Speaking In Tongues was their last. Three more albums followed: 1985's Little Creatures (which featured the hit singles "And She Was" and "Road to Nowhere"), 1986's True Stories (Talking Heads covering all the soundtrack songs of Byrne's musical comedy film, in which the band also appeared), and 1988's Naked. Little Creatures offered a much more American pop-rock sound as opposed to previous efforts. Similar in genre, True Stories hatched one of the group's most successful hits, "Wild Wild Life", and the accordion-driven track "Radio Head". Naked explored politics, sex, and death, and showed heavy African influence with polyrhythmic styles like those seen on Remain In Light. During that time, the group was falling increasingly under David Byrne's control and, after Naked, the band went on "hiatus". In 1987 Talking Heads released a book by David Byrne called What The Songs Look Like: Contemporary Artists Interpret Talking Heads Songs with HarperCollins that contained artwork by some of the top New York visual artists of the decade. In December 1991, Talking Heads announced that they had disbanded. Frantz said that he learned that Byrne had left from an article in the Los Angeles Times, and said: "As far as we're concerned, the band never really broke up. David just decided to leave." Their final release was "Sax and Violins", an original song that had appeared earlier that year on the soundtrack to Wim Wenders' Until The End Of The World. Byrne continued his solo career, releasing Rei Momo in 1989 and The Forest in 1991. This period also saw a revived flourish from both Tom Tom Club (Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom and Dark Sneak Love Action) and Harrison (Casual Gods and Walk On Water), who toured together in 1990.
I can think of the following non-album tracks that can be discussed. There may be more: Sugar on My Tongue I Want to Live I Feel It in My Heart Love → Building On Fire I Wish You Wouldn't Say That In Asking Land Sax and Violins Gangster of Love Lifetime Piling Up Popsicle
Here is how the first week of the thread will look: Apr. 15 – “Sugar On My Tongue” (1975 demo) Apr. 16 – “I Want To Live” (1976 demo) Apr. 17 – “Theme” (live recording from CBGB’s in July 1976) Apr. 18 – “Love → Building On Fire” (non-album single and first commercially released music from the band) / Intro to Talking Heads: 77 Apr. 19 – “Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town” Apr. 20 – “New Feeling” Apr. 21 – “Tentative Decisions”
Since non-album tracks have been mentioned, here is the complete listing of non-primary album tracks that will be covered: Sugar On My Tongue I Want To Live Theme Love → Building On Fire I Wish You Wouldn't Say That I Feel It In My Heart A Clean Break (Let's Work) These Boots Are Made For Walkin' I'm Not Ready Yet Dancing For Money Double Groove Fela's Riff Right Start Unison Electricity Two Note Swivel Popsicle What A Day That Was Lifetime Piling Up Sax And Violins In Asking Land Gangster Of Love ...plus the My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts album and the Tom Tom Club tracks previously referenced.
I hope it's okay if I list the easiest way to find these stray tracks: Sugar On My Tongue on the 2006 expanded Talking Heads '77 and Popular Favorites 1976-1992 - Sand In The Vaseline I Want To Live on Popular Favorites 1976-1992 - Sand In The Vaseline I Feel It In My Heart on 2006 expanded Talking Heads '77 Love → Building On Fire on Popular Favorites 1976-1992 - Sand In The Vaseline I Wish You Wouldn't Say That on 2006 expanded Talking Heads '77 In Asking Land on Once In A Lifetime box set Sax and Violins on Once In A Lifetime box, Popular Favorites 1976-1992 - Sand In The Vaseline, 2006 expanded Naked Gangster of Love on Popular Favorites 1976-1992 - Sand In The Vaseline Lifetime Piling Up on Popular Favorites 1976-1992 - Sand In The Vaseline Popsicle on Popular Favorites 1976-1992 - Sand In The Vaseline
Wow, and here I am giving a first spin to a copy of More Songs About Buildings And Food that I picked up last week. Looking forward to this thread-one of those rare bands that doesn't seem to date. They have a unique sound that exists outside the mainstream, and yet they became part of it. All this and Brian Eno too! Thanks again to @prymel , who seems to have a gift for picking artists that I know and like as subjects for song-by-song threads!
If you're including "Theme" you should probably include "I Feel it in My Heart" and "Questions for Lovers" Arguably, you could include the early live covers? So Much in Love Love is All Around I Can't Control Myself 1-2-3 Red Light 96 Tears Pablo Picasso I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
Count me in! Not sure I will make it to the end though, as I really don't care for the last three albums, but I will try (I managed to persevere through some pretty dire late SD/Fagen/Becker stuff), so I'm looking forward to it. And hey, I might find a new appreciation for those last albums!
Probably these Catherine Wheel tracks that they played live too Big Blue Plymouth My Big Hands Big Business What a Day That Was
"I Feel It In My Heart" will be included as a bonus track discussion at the end of the first album. Re: "Questions For Lovers", thank you, I missed that one! I try not to double up on songs on single days too much, but, in this case, I'll add it to this Wedensday when we cover "Theme". With rare exceptions, I don't include live covers in my threads. For Talking Heads, it wouldn't add a lot of volume to the thread, but for some artists, the amount of live covers is enormous, and simply too much to slog through. So it's my standard practice to exclude them.
Looking forward to a cool thread! I loved Talking Head's in their time! Will any time be given to Jerry Harrison's Casual Gods side projects?
I already had included "What A Day That Was" as part of the Stop Making Sense discussion. I missed "Big Business" because it's only on the video release. I've added it to the schedule. "Big Blue Plymouth" and "My Big Hands" are included on the 2016 Psycho Killers - Radio Waves release, compiled from a 1982 show in Belgium, so I'll add these between Remain In Light and Speaking In Tongues. Thanks!
Thought you'd be interested in this thread @Chemically altered @hfarrior3 @GaryStewart @Connected Insider @dharmabumstead @Invisible Man @Rob C @RichC @Wildest cat from montana @DME1061 @Krivers @Schoolmaster Bones @Gracchus @petercw2 @dunkoid @Amnion @veloso2 @Duckman @Sgt. Abbey Road @Moshe
No. I had to consider long and hard about adding the Byrne/Eno collaboration and a few Tom Tom Club songs. I included My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts because the Byrne/Eno connection was a vital one during the early years of the band, and it can be argued that the sound and influence of Ghosts was reflected to some degree on Remain In Light. The Tom Tom Club tracks were added because of their general popularity and exposure, and I think they merit a limited discussion. Along with other Byrne solo material and the full Tom Tom Club albums, the Jerry Harrison material is there for someone to pick up and go through in detail after the main thread is concluded if anyone is interested in doing that.
Quoting my previous post to reflect the addition of the early live song "Questions For Lovers". I had said I was going to double it with "Theme", but, as I indicated, I really want to avoid multiple song days unless there's a compelling reason to do it. This thread is short, and there aren't super long bonus material periods between the major albums to slow down thread momentum, so I'm comfortable giving "Questions" its own day. Plus, it gives a little bit of extra time for others who might be interested the chance to discover and join the thread before the first album kicks off. Here's the revised start of thread schedule: Apr. 15 – “Sugar On My Tongue” (1975 demo) Apr. 16 – “I Want To Live” (1976 demo) Apr. 17 – “Theme” (live recording from CBGB’s in July 1976) Apr. 18 - “Questions For Lovers” (live recording from Syracuse, NY, 1977) Apr. 19 – “Love → Building On Fire” (non-album single and first commercially released music from the band) / Intro to Talking Heads: 77 Apr. 20 – “Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town” Apr. 21 – “New Feeling” Apr. 22 – “Tentative Decisions”
