Talking Heads

otm - the expanded edition of the name of this band is talking heads is amazing

This is ultimate truth btw

for the 1st or 2nd half? I'm not so sure about the later performances on there, but the earlier ones are superb.

the later ones are great too. a rare case of a band for whom the live versions are often better than the studio ones.

I love the earlier stuff on the name of this band is talking heads and the later stuff on stop making sense

Hmm, in my reassessment, I've not delved into the live stuff at all.

for the 1st or 2nd half?

They're totally different but I think it's the conjunction that makes it. Your jaw drops when you realize one band could do both these things.

xp you can only get 'clean break' live, and it is all time. stop making sense 'this must be the place' is also amazing (and annoyingly not on the vinyl)

There's also that funny period around '82 when they were adding into the set solo Byrne and Harrison songs like Slink, Big Blue Plymouth and the fantastic My Big Hands.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzEM_iOHcdY

what i love most about Buildings & Food is how concise it is. There's no fat on that record - just short sharp bursts of punky pop music

first disc of material on the name of this band... is uniformly better than 77 imo, maybe equal to more songs, the songs have a lot more bite to them and i love how up-front and clean everything is. for the later stuff / 2nd disc i prefer the studio versions to live... i know it gets said a lot but eno's input on those records is just >>> whereas the songs live are huge and fun and really cool but a little too messy for my taste.

I listened to Little Creatures a while back and was like wow, they really did get boring all at once, huh?

You Heads heads have heard the CBS demos, yes?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18OWqrF1KMA&list=PL678A752E5B0F458C

Wow, their sound was fully formed so early on. That's fun stuff!

Little Creatures is the one that was considered a return to form, but I never liked it much, singles aside. (Where Radiohead got its name!). I remain a fan of Naked, but its highs are much higher than its lows.

I remember reading that Bob Babbitt (Motown session bassist) claimed he overdubbed all of Tina's parts on 77. I thought, what's the point? All live evidence from that time shows Tina's playing as being absolutely perfect and essential to what made TH great...why have someone re-do it in such a way that no one can tell the difference?

In looking it up, I found this thread, in which engineer Ed Stasium chimes in:

Tina played bass on the ENTIRE LP, Bob Babbitt did come in and overdub on one or maybe two songs but at the mixing stage I did not put Babbitt's bass up in the mix and the "producers" knew none the better! I seem to recall that I may have "Ghosted" Bob on the chorus (for effect) of "Love Has Come To Town" under Tina's bass for alas, I was WAY on the band's side.

Little Creatures is the one that was considered a return to form, but I never liked it much, singles aside. (Where Radiohead got its name!). I remain a fan of Naked, but its highs are much higher than its lows.

― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, April 2, 2016 3:47 PM (35 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Are you thinking of True Stories? That's the record "Radio Head" is on.

Ha, was thinking of Television Man!

That Stasium quote is funny.

is there an ilm thread for albums where one or more of the band had their parts played by an uncredited session musician (or some other kind of ringer)?

Kiss would probably dominate that thread.

There could also be a thread on session musicians who claim to have played on records they didn't actually play and/or appear on (Babbitt with TH, Purdie on Beatles records, Carol Kaye with Motown, etc.).

Never understood what Purdie was up to with all that, has there ever been a consensus?

I've always thought the Bernard Purdie story was hilarious.

tbf, Purdie's drumming was in fact overdubbed on a Beatles' record, a quickie cash-in on Atco where he doubled Pete Best's parts from Hamburg-era recordings:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ain't_She_Sweet_%28album%29

But Purdie claimed that he played on "twenty one" Beatles tracks, and that "Ringo never played on anything."

I could never warm up entirely to Remain in Light. I was 7 when that was released and I guess it goes into my "I guess you had to be there" group of unrecognised (by me) masterpieces. it sounds cold and calculated to these ears which, for all I know, might be the actual pull of it. I love all the African references more than what they're doing with them.

conversely, I adore Naked and that's their masterpiece for me. differently from RIL, the African music there sounds lived-in (well, it's played by Parisian African musicians to begin with) and the songs are real songs, and are uniformly great.

I'm also one that loves Byrne solo more than the Heads. I like how he's progressed, both as songwriter and singer. I still listen to Rei Momo, the self-titled one, and Feelings, more than I do the Heads' albums combined, Naked notwithstanding.

Remain In Light, first side at least, is truly marvellous. The classic-era one I have most trouble with is Fear of Music for some reason.

I really only "got into" the Talking Heads this last year (yeah, I know), and for a long time it was because I couldn't hear what others raved about in Fear of Music. now I get it, but it's really "Cities" through "Animals" that's my favorite stretch by this band. "Electric Guitar" and "Drugs" are kinda annoying, though I think that's the point in both cases.

focus on the keyboards in "Drugs", that's what won me over.

"Electric Guitar" is such a clunker, though, indefensible imo

ok thanks I'll listen for that! that stretch I mentioned is good that I just leave it on to the end, but "Electric Guitar" loses my attention and so maybe I've never really focused on "Drugs" before.

Off the album I love Cities, Animals, Life During Wartime and especially Air, although generally I prefer the live versions of all those songs. Mind and Paper do very little for me. I just don't think they're very good songs and they sound like offcuts from previous albums that didn't make it. Drugs and Electric Guitar (and the Overload off RIL) all seem to be trying for a sort of gothy thing that I'm not fond of. SO yeah it's a patchy one for me.

it sounds cold and calculated to these ears which

stopped reading here

i don't know, "electric guitar" has that goofy tuba synth all over it and maybe it's not good per se, but it's pretty compelling.

Fear of Music strikes me as an album you really have to concentrate on to get the most out of it. Some real winners on there, though.

how are cold and calculated not compliments?

I once heard the 5.1 mix of Fear of music and they used completely different vocal takes on some songs, it's was really odd.

Here's a handy place where you can grab folddown mixes of all the their available 5.1 material if you are so inclined.

http://www.sharoma.com/eclectic_ril.htm

Mind and Paper do very little for me.

"Paper", OK, yeah I can see that. "Mind", though, man I don't know what to say except keep listening, it's totally in my top 5 for that album. the way the rhythms do this ebb and flow like taking deep breaths, the vocal effects, I love it

"Mind" is a highlight of that record for me. Always thought Fear of Music was peak TH (and certainly Byrne's peak as a vocalist); nothing else felt as daring or spooky.

"Memories Can't Wait" is easily my favorite thing they've ever done. I can't think of another song of theirs that sounds so close to completely going off the rails.

yeah Byrne's singing on "Cities" is what finally cracked this band for me, unhinged and fascinating

They have at least three better albums.

The guitar on Fear of Music is really interesting.

as crunchy as dead insects

different vocal takes on the 5.1 of Fear Of Music? hadn't heard that.

fear of music is actually the most interesting th record to me in terms of their process while recording the record. they tried a lot of different things while recording the record, and there's some interesting stuff that didn't make it to the final record (in contrast to, say, "remain in light", where the outtakes are of only marginal interest). you have the mostly very different alt cuts on the dualdisc (as well as byrne and eno's duet on "dancing for money") and box set with lots more fripp input, the very interesting 5.1 mixdowns (by jerry harrison, i think?), and then you have the "rough mixes" tape with some of the songs in much more extreme form such as "mind". reminds me that i really need to watch that south bank show episode from around the time they were making "fear of music".

i also really like the extended version of "speaking in tongues" that came out a few years back. really a fine record.

...okay, chris, which song on "fear of music" sounds like the eagles?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5EzLDD1D_Q

"I Well, Yeahbra"

Remain In Light IS cold cold cold cold! In a good way. Shoes with no socks. It's an incredible album. I would love to hear an 8 disc "sessions" box set a la beach boys smile.

Ril > fom > the song about Pizza Hut and daisies > burning down the house > true stories (film and album) > everything else

Genius of Love is good too

Except Chris franz' (?) vocals are the absolute worst. Is there like a Francois k dub mix without his interjections?

Oh and the weird song about making the baby stay up all night is pretty lol