Talking Heads- Classic or Dud?

I think the non-album singles from 1977 that are collected on Sand in the Vaseline are pretty essential.

are there enough hip hop and house songs that have sampled TH to warrant their own thread?

KC Flyte - Planet E

Old question - Who are the nineties/noughties TH?

I do agree with Dismemberment Plan and Radiohead. Would have to think about others. Going back to their own era, Talking Heads were a big influence on King Crimson for their Discipline (1981), Beat (1982) and Three Of A Perfect Pair (1984) albums.

Martha & The Muffins sort of paralleled the TH Eno trilogy with their work with Daniel Lanois on This Is The Ice Age (1981), Danseparc (1982) and Mystery Walk (1984). The first is available, and Danseparc will be reissued on August 4 in the UK.

I think the non-album singles from 1977 that are collected on Sand in the Vaseline are pretty essential.

Totally. "Sugar On My Tongue," "I Want To Live," "Gangster of Love," "Popsicle" – all great.

Also, "I Wish You Wouldn't Say That". "No Compassion" from the album '77 is another fave of mine.

I finally read Tom's article several years late - http://freakytrigger.co.uk/old-ft/essays/2001/02/africa/

Here's a comment I posted:

You likely know this by now, but My Life... was actually recorded before Remain In Light. It makes more sense as a sort of warm up to their masterpiece rather than a follow-up. The band supposedly wrote "The Overload" as their concept of what Joy Division might sound like, having not yet actually heard them. "Listening Wind" is by no distance the worst track. It's freaking eerie and haunting, and just another strong track in a nearly flawless masterpiece.

Wanna define...so say so, so say so
Divine to define, she is moving to define, so say so, so say so
Night must fall now-darker, darker.
She...has got to move the world...to move the world...to move
The world

so so great

listening wind is one of my favorite songs on that album

I think the Dismemberment Plan turned out not to be like Talking Heads at all... I don't know if they sounded so great at the time because I was younger or because so much shit has come out since then. The D-plan's legacy has turned out to be a, well... dumb one. The bands who picked up on a lot of their references ended up dumbing down indie rock instead of running with it in new directions (like RiL's influence on electronic music) or acting as a hipster reference for pop musicians.

I'm listening to "Sax & Violins" right now for the first time in a while -- what a great song! The melody is really very well written and honestly beautiful. When I was a much bigger TH fan (see upthread, haha!) I was really impressed by the Philip Larkin reference, partly because I was also geeked out on a lot of academic poetry at the time... I'm surprised to say I still think it's pretty well done! Not a lot of songwriters could pull that off. There will probably never be another Talking Heads, oh oh oh....

Fear of Music is still so amazing.

I must be the only person here who loves True Stories (the album).

"true stories" isn't bad ... it isn't great, either, and seems like a letdown compared to the albums that came before it, which is why it gets a bad rap.

boring and wrong

Talking Heads Live in '80-'81>>>>>>>>>>>>most other live music.

― cosmo vitelli (cosmo vitelli), Wednesday, September 20, 2006 1:54 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Talking Heads live in Rome 1980...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wp2qhoop9U

If you don't have time for the full concert (it's worth it!), go to 30:00 for Crosseyed and Painless or 48:50 for Born Under Punches then The Great Curve.

listening to Naked all the way through in a long time. I loved this when it came out, then went through this period where I thought it was substandard like everyone else. Certainly feels more like a David Byrne solo record than anything else they did but now I really like it again.

Good discussion: Talking Heads: Naked poll

Wow. The Born Under Punches from that Rome show xxp is extraordinary. I always wondered how/if they tackled that live.

Is there a decent-quality audio boot from that era?

just get the name of this band is talking heads (the reish) -- that's got a whole disc worth of awwwwwesome remain in light tour tracks.

Thanks

the Warner Music Show radio lp is a keeper too--six tracks from the FoM tour. Three numbers from the set appear on the expanded TNOTBITH, but it's all gold.

(part of?) that Rome concert is available on cd: http://www.discogs.com/Talking-Heads-Rome-Concert-1980/release/3762045. Non-official. Bought it a few years ago. Source unclear to me, I get the feeling that it might be a transfer from VHS. Still, stellar performance.
But definitely get the 2CD reissue of The Name of this Band... tyler mentioned.

The audio's taken from VHS? That doesn't sound like it'd be great.

1982 was an interesting year for TH live as well, you start to get weirder song choices like Jerry's solo track 'Slink' and DB's 'Big Blue Plymouth' and the fantastic 'My Big Hands' creeping into the set.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58oSPZO-qSo

and of course the following year was the Stop Making Sense tour, and the go-to boot from the era is the Saratoga one, recorded 3 months before the movie

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

xpost to ismael - well it doesn't sound bad, just find it/the mix a little weird. i can send you the files if you like.

That'd be fantastic, thanks: ismaelklata at gmail dot com

didn't know they played "Big Blue Plymouth" live!

Yep, here's a good example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HOvElJtxfA

unreleased surf(!) instrumental

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae_J3iPEE-A

This live footage from late '80 just surfaced, b&w but it's the full concert and sounds pretty good too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-_PC6TlIhs

So many great shows from the Capitol Theatre you can find online. This, Clash, Springsteen, Prince. Rush.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LJKXIHaKqE

Great to see them with Belew. His guitar is such an x factor.

seems weird that the album version of "Take Me To the River" was any kind of hit, it's so leaden and sluggish - possibly the worst idea/song on the album

otm

for sure

first album is better anyway

too far

Odd choice for a single, yes, leaden no.

First and second albums are the same album except the second has that swirling Eno production.

While I much prefer Al Green's funky original, I've always liked the intensity of the Heads' cover.

yeah I don't feel the intensity. the band seems removed from the quasi-religious emotional fervor underpinning the song, which is a little strange given that Byrne def figured out how to incorporate that into later material

I was looking up live performances of "Girls Want To Be With The Girls" recently, and kind of fascinated by the difference between this vs. concert performances just a year or so later. Also, this video pretty much confirms the origin of the Feelies' first album cover.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25XLlpAigWw

I just loooove the way the guitars sound on that first record and the way the two of them frisk each other

seems weird that the album version of "Take Me To the River" was any kind of hit, it's so leaden and sluggish

BASS LINE AS HOOK

In that old PBS Rock & Roll doc series, in the "Punk" episode Weymouth recounts a conversation she had with Bernie Worrell about why their version became the hit. He told her something to the effect that the groove they laid down made you want to move up on your lover.

https://youtu.be/Dp-dwcyFmig?t=8m33s

Can someone help me find those amazing fan remasters of the early albums that were online?

i remember reading about them here and there were youtube links and everything!

You mean those Downmix things? They do sound incredible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7okvbwIg9M

omg you are the best thank you!!!

Here's where you can download all the downmixes -

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

Many have different vocal takes and all sorts of antics