Rob Sheffield got this one right in the blue RS Album Guide: by '88 it was much easier to find Franco & Rochereau albums in record stores.
― Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 18 August 2010 10:36 (thirteen years ago) link
speaking of corrections:
Naked [Sire, 1988]
Where Paul Simon appropriated African musicians, David Byrne just hires them, for better and worse--this is T. Heads funk heavy on the horns, which aren't fussy or obtrusive because Byrne knew where to get fresh ones. What's African about it from an American perspective is that the words don't matter--it signifies sonically. The big exception is the glorious "(Nothing But) Flowers," a gibe at ecology fetishism that's very reassuring in this context. B+
Once in a Lifetime [Sire/Warner Bros./Rhino, 2003]
...Third disc loaded with True Stories and Naked, which I once thought overrated. I was wrong. They sucked. C
― Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 18 August 2010 10:40 (thirteen years ago) link
Also: Speaking in Tongues, Stop Making Sense, and Little Creatures are certified double platinum, while True Stories and Naked stopped at gold. Clearly they were stalling.
― Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 18 August 2010 10:42 (thirteen years ago) link
"Cool Water" has been scaring the bejesus out of me for 20 years now. So that.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Wednesday, 18 August 2010 14:08 (thirteen years ago) link
was a swine trying to find this image. you still don't see it muchhttp://s.dsimg.com/image/R-924172-1217001869.jpeg
― piscesx, Wednesday, 18 August 2010 17:55 (thirteen years ago) link
such a great album. Nothing But Flowers for sure
lol @ that Friedman cartoon, forever associated in my mind with Graceland and this record
― glitter hands! glitter hands! razzle! dazzle! (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 18 August 2010 18:01 (thirteen years ago) link
Where Paul Simon appropriated African musicians, David Byrne just hires them,
I don't get this distinction? African musicians are all over Graceland, it's not like Simon did all those Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes vocals himself
another weird thing that's always stuck in my head about this album is the Mr. Jones video with the monkeywrench spewing water at the political convention.
― glitter hands! glitter hands! razzle! dazzle! (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 18 August 2010 18:09 (thirteen years ago) link
no wait that video was for Blind
― glitter hands! glitter hands! razzle! dazzle! (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 18 August 2010 18:12 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah was gonna say. that video freaked me out way before I'd heard anything else by the Talking Heads.
listening to this album for the first time ever right now.
― congratulations (n/a), Wednesday, 18 August 2010 18:15 (thirteen years ago) link
video is here, though first I had to watch a skittles commercial with norma from twin peaks in it
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcuey1_talking-heads-blind_music
― congratulations (n/a), Wednesday, 18 August 2010 18:21 (thirteen years ago) link
I bought this album my senior year of high school on the day of release, brought it to my AP English class, and we all lisened to it.
― Bag Smart, Street Stupid (Eazy), Wednesday, 18 August 2010 18:23 (thirteen years ago) link
so far it sounds good, but not really like a Talking Heads album? it has lots of horns, good thing I like horns.
― congratulations (n/a), Wednesday, 18 August 2010 18:23 (thirteen years ago) link
a poll for 'Sounds From True Stories' should be next! that was better than the actual album proper.
― piscesx, Wednesday, 18 August 2010 18:31 (thirteen years ago) link
i was able to find the American link that worked, they kind of hid it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3t5nmgRVMs
― Bee OK, Thursday, 19 August 2010 01:55 (thirteen years ago) link
Or a poll for which version from the movie is better than the Heads version from the album. Except the winner is so obviously Pops Staples' "Papa Legba" that there's no point in starting a thread.
― Hideous Lump, Thursday, 19 August 2010 01:56 (thirteen years ago) link
i listened to most of this today. think of voting for "Totally Nude." i turned it off after awhile, the second side is really hard to get through at this point in time.
― Bee OK, Saturday, 21 August 2010 04:08 (thirteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Saturday, 21 August 2010 23:01 (thirteen years ago) link
Easily their 2nd worst album *cover* after True Stories.
― piscesx, Sunday, 22 August 2010 00:57 (thirteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Sunday, 22 August 2010 23:01 (thirteen years ago) link
A rout!
― Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 22 August 2010 23:07 (thirteen years ago) link
no votes for "Blind" or "Mr. Jones?" thought they should have received at least one vote each, but yeah the right song won.
― Bee OK, Monday, 23 August 2010 00:25 (thirteen years ago) link
Can't really imagine too many people tempted to vote "Blind" or "Mr. Jones" ending up not voting for "(Nothing But) Flowers" TBH.
― Sean Carruthers, Monday, 23 August 2010 17:01 (thirteen years ago) link
then again this thing had a solid if unspectacular finish in the 88 p&j so what i'm remembering as 'it wasn't relevant/discussed at the time' may be 'it wasn't relevant to/discussed by 13 yr old me at the time' when i'm way way way more interested in def leppard and luke skyywalker and sonic youth and new jack swing and inxs and whatever house i can hear on the radio and rakim and pixies and trying to find a copy of the black album and public enemy public enemy public enemy public enemy.
otm
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 February 2012 12:57 (twelve years ago) link
This album was part of the batch of 8-albums-for-a-penny Columbia House subscription I signed up for when I got a CD player in 1987.
I overpaid for it.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 16 February 2012 20:46 (twelve years ago) link
^^^^ Byrne quote?
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 February 2012 21:03 (twelve years ago) link
I was in high school when Naked came out, and I loved it at the time. But the cool alterna kids didn't listen to them. The only people that did were me and my music geek friends. We'd smoke lots of dope, listen to Roxy Music, Lou Reed and the Talking Heads. What a shock there were no girls around.
I do distinctly remember an MTV promo for 120 Minutes that showed a clip of their new video Blind, referring to David Byrne as an "underground legend." So even back then he was being ushered nascent the adult alternative genre.
― kornrulez6969, Friday, 17 February 2012 05:12 (twelve years ago) link
I've been listening to 'Totally Nude' and '(Nothing) But Flowers' almost daily for a month. I can't bring myself to like the rest of the album, but those two songs are irresistible.
― afriendlypioneer, Monday, 23 April 2018 16:01 (five years ago) link
Cool water tho?
― after party for the apocalypse (Ross), Monday, 23 April 2018 17:56 (five years ago) link
What about Blind? And Ruby Dear.
― kornrulez6969, Monday, 23 April 2018 17:57 (five years ago) link
i didn't realize 'sax and violins' wasn't on the original album! whoops. it's still my fave, asterisk and all
― Karl Malone, Monday, 23 April 2018 18:16 (five years ago) link
I like Big Daddy
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Monday, 23 April 2018 18:55 (five years ago) link
coooooooooool water
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, 23 April 2018 18:57 (five years ago) link
cool water seems dated to me now. ruby dear is one of my favorites on the record.
― akm, Monday, 23 April 2018 19:03 (five years ago) link
xp yeah Sax And Violins first appeared in the Wim Wenders movie Until The End Of The World, after that yeah it was added to Naked. The liitle-seen video makes it look like a DB solo project, although Jerry appears briefly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FJ8x6wnZy8
― piscesx, Monday, 23 April 2018 20:09 (five years ago) link
iirc it was a naked-era jam that byrne picked up after the band technically broke up
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, 23 April 2018 20:15 (five years ago) link
one of my fav heads songs regardless
Any of y’all seen the rock and roll hall of fame performance ? Damn Byrne didn’t want to be there
― after party for the apocalypse (Ross), Monday, 23 April 2018 20:29 (five years ago) link
Painful.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 23 April 2018 20:32 (five years ago) link
so was the performance
xp yeah, and he didn't wanna be here either for that matter (the actual last-ever-perormance-of-the-original-members before that night)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ephPxOu0uDQ
― piscesx, Monday, 23 April 2018 20:33 (five years ago) link
Per Byrne's transition to solo, didn't a track or two from Naked end up on Rei Momo, too?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 23 April 2018 20:36 (five years ago) link
Hmm, maybe not. What am I thinking of? A Rei Momo era SNL performance?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 23 April 2018 20:37 (five years ago) link
This SNL perf sounds more like a True Stories jam
https://vimeo.com/252646301
― piscesx, Monday, 23 April 2018 20:39 (five years ago) link
(from 1989 that one)
it's always struck me as weird how much bad blood there was with heads.
― akm, Monday, 23 April 2018 20:45 (five years ago) link
I got into TH thanks to Rei Momo.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 23 April 2018 20:55 (five years ago) link
xposti don't know, i definitely wish they all got along but i can see how they ended up as enemies. i'm sure byrne was really hard to work with in many ways, but he was also just clearly on a different wavelength than the others. watching a few docs, the non-byrnes always emphasize what a collaborative unit they were in their earlier years, before the collaboration circle got bigger and bigger as the ilneup expanded. they seem to have been ok with the expanded lineup, too (making a couple of the best albums of the century probably helped to ease the tension), but they probably assumed that at some point they'd revert to being members of equal standing again. so they all felt burned. but i can see byrne's side of it too. what are you going to do when the other members just aren't as talented but they're demanding an equal share of the creative workload (and credit)? byrne doesn't strike me as the kind of person who would handle that kind of dilemma gracefully.
― Karl Malone, Monday, 23 April 2018 21:05 (five years ago) link
Watching Tina play psycho killer with Frantz years later made it clear they still had fun. Byrne was just a bit of a dick
― after party for the apocalypse (Ross), Monday, 23 April 2018 22:53 (five years ago) link
"was"
― kurt schwitterz, Monday, 23 April 2018 22:54 (five years ago) link
Expected that yeah
― after party for the apocalypse (Ross), Monday, 23 April 2018 22:56 (five years ago) link
Yeah thats wild. Not knowing who played what, I always assumed his presence on that track was just a sort of a cameo. Maybe if the song had been a smash single he'd be bitter about the writing, but its nice that he just seems so proud of it.
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Monday, 31 January 2022 13:25 (two years ago) link
It's a top ten Heads track in my canon, and the combination of Marr's riffing and the high life guitar gives it its magic.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 31 January 2022 13:53 (two years ago) link
maybe he did get writing credit? i'm just checking the credits using spotify, and that track is the only one with a credit to "N-Jock"https://i.imgur.com/io1B8W0.png
― Karl Malone, Monday, 31 January 2022 16:48 (two years ago) link
He's the other guitarist, I think.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 31 January 2022 16:53 (two years ago) link
There's a Cameroonian guitarist of that name. I seem to recall some funny David Byrne story about bringing in an African guitarist based in Paris for the sessions and finding out only too late that he had picked up the wrong African guitarist. Anyway, there are like seven or eight guitars going on in that song, It's hard to know who does what.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 31 January 2022 17:05 (two years ago) link
Byrne plays the hard rhythm lines, Marr and Jock the fluttering things.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 31 January 2022 17:07 (two years ago) link
I don't know about this story, the bass line on the finished record seems to be outlining a definite chord progression...unless they re-recorded the bass and other instruments to the chord changes that Marr devised?I'd have voted for "Blind", anyway. A friend of mine said that "Cool Water" was one of the great career-closing songs (if you don't count the handful of tracks that dribbled out over the next couple of years) for its apocalyptic tone, Talking Heads and the world ending at the same point.
― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 31 January 2022 17:11 (two years ago) link
I seem to recall some funny David Byrne story about bringing in an African guitarist based in Paris for the sessions and finding out only too late that he had picked up the wrong African guitarist.
Theres a story in the Chris Frantz book like that, about a day they were expecting a certain African guitarist at the studio and a messenger showed up for something and bluffed his way into the session by answering "yes" when they asked him if he was the guitar player. They start and the guy cant do the parts and suggests they rearrange the song to fit his playing. Eventually when the actual guitarist shows up he is too polite to step in bc he doesnt want to embarrass the guy and take gig away from another African. No info on what song it was or if any of it made it on the album or anything iirc.
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Monday, 31 January 2022 17:22 (two years ago) link
https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/84/cb/0038cb84.jpeg
― piscesx, Monday, 31 January 2022 17:59 (two years ago) link
Sad that I missed this poll 11 1/2 years ago, but I would've voted for "Blind". One of my favourite Heads songs.
― raven, Tuesday, 1 February 2022 10:51 (two years ago) link
The anecdote's also in the liner notes to Sand in the Vaseline.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 1 February 2022 11:25 (two years ago) link
Yeah, that's where I saw it. Also where I first saw the picture just posted.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 1 February 2022 13:52 (two years ago) link
I spent 30 years wondering wtf David Byrne is holding in that photo and today I learned that it is the world's largest siamese pickle.
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Tuesday, 1 February 2022 14:14 (two years ago) link
Oh! i always thought it was the tongue of some giant beast
― lemmy incaution (emsworth), Tuesday, 1 February 2022 20:09 (two years ago) link