Talking Heads

yep that "New Feeling" version was actually released as a b-side back in the day

Yeah Disc 2 looks great to me… the four rarities from Sand in the Vaseline (which are a big deal in my life) plus a bunch of other stuff related to the album. I figure everyone either already has the full 1975 demos in some form or doesn’t need them on disc.

Talking Heads never really released b-sides, but Andy Zax said years ago that in the process of compiling the Once in a Lifetime box set that he came across scores of unreleased songs that Byrne wouldn’t sign off on releasing. Maybe he’s changed his tune? They have new management or are going to sell their publishing? Who knows

At the nadir of the Heads' uncoolness in the early '90s I bought Sand in the Vaseline upon release: revelatory.

“Lifetime Piling Up” and “Sax and Violins” are absolutely stellar

and "Gangster of Love," "Popsicle," "Sugar on My Tongue," and...

Popsicle rules.

ah the alternate mix of "uh oh love comes to town" is on the once in a lifetime boxset, so it's only the alternate "pulled up" that's previously unreleased

I think “Sax and Violins” is my fave of the last songs. I love how it starts off Until The End Of The World

xpost "Sugar on My Tongue" the Trick Daddy version is excellent and not surprisingly sounds a lot more like sex...

the second disc is just non-album tracks/alternate mixes etc. from that time? a pretty normal thing to include in a deluxe reissue. the only stuff that's unreleased as far as i know is the 'alternate pop' versions of "uh oh love comes to town" and "pulled up" - i expect "new feeling" is the 'alternate version' from the 2006 itunes compilation which had a horn section in the mix.

idk anything about the leaked rarities from the 00s though, so maybe those are already floating around? are those detailed anywhere

the last songs were tantalizingly great, you almost felt like "oh wait, maybe they really can be amazing again".

Most of them consisted of backing tracks recorded years earlier, though.

At the nadir of the Heads' uncoolness in the early '90s I bought Sand in the Vaseline upon release: revelatory.

Same. That album and Homogenic, both of which I heard in '98, were probably the two most eye-opening (ear-opening?) albums I ever heard

Same here too. I got it from either BMG or Columbia House. I mainly knew them from the "Love for Sale" and "Wild Wild Life" videos that would play on Friday night Videos. Yeah, it was huge and so much good music. "I Zimbra" kinda freaked me out.

Beautifully sequenced too, with excellent liner notes.

And an impossible to shelve shape. Oh, wait, I'm thinking of the one called "Once in a Lifetime," what a pain that was.

Iirc I bought "Sand in the Vaseline" specifically *for* the bonus/unreleased stuff.

I haven't listened for a while, but I was a fan of those later fan mixed 5.1 to stereo conversions that someone leaked out.

Sand In The Vaseline was one of those awkward non-slipcased Double CDs in two separate jewelcases with two separate booklets, which some people (not me) had problems keeping together.

Also an album that was always featured in CD club ads anywhere from Rolling Stone to TV Guide. I imagine most of the copies sold were through them.

I also recall how frank Byrne was re:drugs & the band's use thereof in his part of the liner essays.

Had anyone heard "Sax and Violins" before buying the comp? It had been #1 earlier in the year on the modern rock chart, thanks to its appearance on the Until the End of the World soundtrack. I hadn't, and my college station was pretty good at playing whatever hit #1.

yeah those 5.1 downmixes are quite good, they really open up the mix and reveal parts previously buried, like the bass line in "born under punches" which is only really clearly audible in live versions. they're not clearly superior (sometimes it feels like they got the balance of parts a bit off though some of that might be just limitations of working from the 5.1 mix) but they're always at the very least interesting. i wouldn't really object to new mixes of all the albums to add a bit more headroom because the original mixes are relatively flat.

xpost Yeah, from that soundtrack.

I read an interview with someone once that asserted that *all* stereo mixes are essentially 5.1 downmixes.

I didn't hear "Sax and Violins" much, but I definitely heard it. "Lifetime Piling Up" got much more airplay on my local "modern rock" station in 1992, to the point that I got sick of it. I thought, "this isn't even as good as the worst thing on Little Creatures." Listening now, it's not bad at all -- certainly better than most of True Stories -- but doesn't feel essential.

I like the salsa piano line.

Sax & Violins got played plenty on the radio near me that summer. (The Bad Seeds too, but less so.)

"Lifetime Piling Up" btw sounds like a solo Byrne track to me.

Yeah, Sand in the Vaseline was my introduction into the band. (I forgot I listened to that a lot before ever watching Stop Making Sense.) I still have my copy of it, and it is indeed a club version with the BMG barcode, but it looks like they redid the package so that it fits those old thick jewel-cases they used to use for all double-CD sets. You still have two separate booklets but it's nice that it's a single package that doesn't separate.

I owned it on cassette! Perfect car listening during the '90s.

My parents had the Fear of Music LP with the textured cover

best packaging trick, I have that one as well

that record blew my mind at age 13

Me too, that was the first Heads I heard. A friend at school lent it to me. At the time I thought they always sounded like that, having no idea till years later that they’d started as a minimalist pop group.

I knew "Take Me To The River" and "Psycho Killer" from the radio but FoM was my first exposure to their truly weird arty side

"Animals" and "Drugs" both kind of freaked me out

“Never listen…to electric guitars”

The new wave aesthetic does nothing for me but I have a soft spot for these weirdos thanks to my folks

that summer

(ie December-February, off the Wenders)

Animals think they're pretty smart

The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads live album was my introduction and it's still my fave of theirs - especially the later expanded one.

I really really need to get that, I only know the original 2LP

I listened to it today. Tina and Chris really are an all-time great rhythm section tbrr

I wish there was more band+Belew live recordings, I think that’s my favourite cacophony

Also it’s strange, my memory of TH studio albums (esp Food and Fear) usually harkens back to Byrne’s vocals and their idiosyncrasies, it’s kinda nuts to listen again and be floored by the hard-panned ticky-tack guitar insanity and the rock-solid grooves, no band went harder

Byrne was a great rhythm guitarist and an often great lead guitarist.

His rhythm playing on “Found a Job” is some of my favorite ever.

No surprise that they were inspired (for at least one track) by Joy Division.

supposedly they had never actually heard them though?

Yeah, that was the gimmick in writing "The Overload."

I'm glad Weymouth in the SITV liner notes observed that she wished Byrne got as much attention for his guitar as for his singing and songwriting.

xp Supposedly lol

It just occurred to me that TH and JD both heavily impacted the development of what I guess is called "post-punk," and there are similarities in style and approach.

I got into TH in 1990 (just before the breakup news) and bought most of their albums on cassette, but my copy FoM was on vinyl. These were the waning days where major label back catalogue was still available on the format: big Super Saver sticker, clear plastic inner. Probably the mystique of the black monolith, ominous title, and potential for damage (I had a history with vinyl) made it the more thrilling purchase.

IIRC, the original sleeve had texture to it. I always thought it was supposed to look like textured, painted metal.