Talking Heads

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

jesus these 5.1 mixdowns are amazing.

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

ha, I wondered which song he was thinking of there as well - 'Heaven' maybe?

I just picked up Stop Making Sense on Laserdisc. There are forum threads with audio nerds saying how it's the best sounding version, but i'm going to have to find a used laserdisc player to find out.

ha yeah it really is supposed to be the best version, i've thought about getting a Laserdisc copy over the years. plus it still has the un-altered 'Snow white..' line that was dubbed over on the DVD/Blu-Ray, and a couple of other un-messed with bits that were present in the original soundtrack.

i grew up loving Talking Heads singles from every era of the band and when i picked up Remain In Light as my first TH album i found it kind of dense and difficult to love, and found the first 3 albums a lot more immediate. Fear Of Music still sounds to me like a nice halfway point between the early albums and RIL.

I came to TH via Stop Making Sense and therefore I had no real idea how the various songs fit into their timeline when I first heard them. Actually, off that video I found it was the Speaking In Tongues material that worked best. Never understood why that album was so bad and hated. Other than 'Moon Rocks', every track's a classic in my book.

Another reason I can't love Fear Of Music: I really don't like 'Heaven' at all.

yeah Stop Making Sense is how i got introduced to a lot of songs, i think at that point RIL was the only album i owned, and the movie definitely is extremely flattering to Speaking In Tongues.

i don't love "Heaven" but i think it works really well as an outlier on FOM.

Reminds me too much of 'It's A Kind Of Magic' for some reason. The lyrics are dull and the whole thing feels derivative or something, I dunno...

good version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGbREuyYNZM

*runs away*

Okay, I had no idea that cover existed, I don't hate what little Simply Red I've heard (which I'm sure puts me in a distinct minority around here) and I actually kinda like that one. It's an odd idea, wonder what brought it about.

check out their obvious homage to The Great Curve (which is the track after 'Heaven' on the same album bizzarely). it's such a blatant rip; the drum pattern, the Belew-style guitar breaks, the whole thing. maybe they were just obsessed with Talking Heads.

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

can only apologize for multiple Simply Red links.

Speaking in Tongues is "so bad and hated"? Surely this is a mixup with Little Creatures?

i mean it lacks the prestige of the Eno albums for sure, but that's definitely overstating it

Concerning the album's title, bassist Tina Weymouth was quoted in an 1979 interview with Creem magazine:
When we were making this album I remembered this stupid discussion we had about titles for the last album," Tina smirked. "At that time I said, 'What are we gonna call an album that's just about buildings and food?' And Chris said, 'You call it more songs about buildings and food.'[13]
XTC frontman Andy Partridge claimed in a tweet, however, that he gave the title to Byrne.

wut

how can this thread have so many he-said-she-said anecdotes about Tina Weymouth but not the "baby penis" story

I do not know this anecdote I must know it

Speaking in Tongues definitely definitely my favorite TH album but I have more use for them as a weirdo funk band than arrrrrtraaawwwwk. "I Zimbra" (which has somehow escaped mention thus far in spite of all the FOM talk?) is definitely my favorite track on Fear, although I love the SMS version of "Life During Wartime".

Speaking in Tongues is "so bad and hated"?

everyone knows that it is their best album of the ones that come after it, and also most of the ones before it too

http://www.salon.com/2003/12/03/heads_2/

In the late 1990s, Weymouth even reportedly called several old friends in the middle of the night to tell them that Byrne had a “baby penis.”

haha. I could laugh off that middle-of-the-night phone call. A phone call from her husband singing "Jaaaames Brroooown. JAAAAAAAMEs BrrroooOOOOWN" would be unforgivable.

I Zimbra is definitely my favourite on Fear of Music too. Speaking in Tongues isn't bad at all but the studio versions of the songs are so lifeless compared to the far superior takes on Stop Making Sense.

I felt that way at first, but the studio versions have grown on me. Same for TNOTBITH and 77.

its weird that the SMS versions of all of these are all better

SMS is horrible, wtf is with these defenders of those awful overdubbed drums & etc. I vastly prefer the dry, meticulous Eno-less sound of the studio versions.

― the world's most impertinent web designer (sleeve), Friday, April 5, 2013 8:35 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

kinda feeling this post from the Speaking in Tongues thread these days

i am also kind of a SMS hater

insanity

Speaking in Tongues is probably their best collection of songs though

In the late 1990s, Weymouth even reportedly called several old friends in the middle of the night to tell them that Byrne had a “baby penis.”

― "Robots are sexy as shit" - Big Sean (some dude), Monday, April 4, 2016 2:45 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Andy Partridge has since claimed in a tweet that it was he, not Weymouth, who made these calls.

on "Morning Joe" yesterday Donald Trump in his call-in segment admitted to doing it iirc