I first heard Sax and Violins on the "Until the End of the World Soundtrack" and was blown away.
The lyrics are almost the perfect distillation of David Byrne's whole lyric-writing career, working in several of his longtime obsessions (and including that Philip Larkin nod).
― Walter Galt, Friday, 17 February 2012 10:09 (twelve years ago) link
I too would have voted "Sugar on my Tongue."
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 17 February 2012 17:37 (twelve years ago) link
think alfred wanted to poll the newly recorded tunes -- all of these were recorded specifically for the comp, right? sugar on my tongue was recorded in '75.
― tylerw, Friday, 17 February 2012 17:40 (twelve years ago) link
Are they newly recorded? I do remember reading in the liner notes that some lacked vocals and others were assembled from leftover parts.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 February 2012 17:48 (twelve years ago) link
oh maybe? are they "naked" outtakes or something? I thought the new tracks were begun with the idea of being for a new TH album, but when that obviously wasn't going to happen, they added 'em to the comp. could be wrong.
― tylerw, Friday, 17 February 2012 17:51 (twelve years ago) link
from wiki: "Sand in the Vaseline: Popular Favorites is a two-disc compilation album released by Talking Heads in 1992. It contains two previously unreleased demos ("Sugar on My Tongue," "I Want to Live"), two tracks new to compact disc ("Love → Building on Fire," "I Wish You Wouldn't Say That") and three newly finished songs ("Gangster of Love," "Lifetime Piling Up" and "Popsicle"). The latter three tracks were all based on outtakes from previous sessions and had been polished and finished exclusively for release on this compilation."
― tylerw, Friday, 17 February 2012 17:53 (twelve years ago) link
"gangster of love" and "sax and violins" were the newest tracks on sand in the vaseline. both were recorded in 1991. only the former was an unreleased track, as "sax and violins" had appeared on the until the end of the world soundtrack album the previous year.
"lifetime piling up" is a naked outtake ('87) and "popsicle" a speaking in tongues outtake ('83). the two other unreleased songs on the compilation are "sugar on my tongue" and "i want to live", both demos from 1975.
― Little GTFO (contenderizer), Friday, 17 February 2012 17:59 (twelve years ago) link
oops, didn't know that the the naked and SIT outtakes had been reworked for SITV.
― Little GTFO (contenderizer), Friday, 17 February 2012 18:01 (twelve years ago) link
i think sax is the only one of these i still have
― da croupier, Friday, 17 February 2012 18:08 (twelve years ago) link
I like the weird keyboard parts in "Lifetime Piling Up" and that guitar solo before the second verse.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 February 2012 18:09 (twelve years ago) link
love the "sugar on my tongue" loop & chorus in "sugar (gimme some)". that's how you do a talking heads cover.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vfEwovOq4E
― Little GTFO (contenderizer), Friday, 17 February 2012 18:14 (twelve years ago) link
almost did a spit take when "sugar" came up on that trick daddy album the first time
― da croupier, Friday, 17 February 2012 18:16 (twelve years ago) link
at first i was like "who what how" and then remembered that being the first track on a greatest hits album makes a rarity less of a rarity.
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Wednesday, 22 February 2012 00:01 (twelve years ago) link
its pretty weird that lifetime piling up was an outtake from naked. I like naked but that song is better than 80% of that album.
― akm, Wednesday, 22 February 2012 00:15 (twelve years ago) link
No votes for "Gangster of Love" eh
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 22 February 2012 00:19 (twelve years ago) link
I appreciate the discussion of these songs, it almost makes me want to listen to them again and reconsider how deeply I hate all of them. Somehow everything I adored about the first four albums seems completely absent from these songs
― Fruitless and Pansy Free (Dr. Joseph A. Ofalt), Wednesday, 22 February 2012 02:55 (twelve years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Thursday, 23 February 2012 00:01 (twelve years ago) link
ha
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 23 February 2012 00:02 (twelve years ago) link
Perfect results- I couldn't decide between them myself (voted Lifetime, could have gone the other way on another day)
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Thursday, 23 February 2012 01:07 (twelve years ago) link