Talking Heads - The Name of This Band is Talking Heads
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Free Music Notes for The Name of This Band is Talking Heads
Free Music Review: Better late than never!
Hit: 5 Stars
I have been writing to Warner Brothers for years wondering why TNOTBITH had not been releaed with the rest of the catalog. Turns out my patience was greatly rewarded. Not just has this been remastered, but it's loaded with bonus and previously unreleased tracks.
And you may ask yourself, why another live album? Unlike many live albums which capture a single night or tour, this album actually features the evolution of a band. Disc 1 captures the band from 1977-79 where they are essentially the four man band. The music is fairly stripped down and comparable to the songs they recorded on the first three albums (TH 77, More Songs About Buildings & Food, & Fear Of Music). You hear them in small clubs and gradually larger audiences. Then of disc 2, they tackle the material of Remain In Light with more complex African rhythms and funk beats. Here, the band is forced to double its size with the amazing Steve Scales on percussion and Adrian Belew adding fantastic guitar solos. Some may wonder why some songs are repeated on the album. The early version called Electricity which is more rock later becomes Drugs, the ambient version featured more like on Fear Of Music. There are other repeats here, Psycho Killer and Stay Hungry. Again we see how the songs evolve over time and the difference with a small and big band. All featuring great sound and remastering.
Another bonus is the booklet. It barely fits in the jewel box as it's stuffed with photos, liner notes, and several reviews of the various shows. This recording is as much an autobiography of a band on the rise as an essential live album. It's a great bookend to Stop Making Sense. Pick this up!
Free Music Review: ABOUT TIME!
Hit: 5 Stars
As brilliant and as much fun as STOP MAKING SENSE was if you were there or just saw the film, this double disc of both early and middle period TH is just as incandescent. The original double LP was my favourite TH set, and now it finally arrives complete with expanded material that represents the full concerts from each epoch. And what a band they were! Punk was never this brainy, articulate, fun and edgy before or after. They were as important to 20th Century music and culture as any band , and quirky enough to move your mind as well as your butt.
The first disc lays out the mission statement of attempting to be as experimental as Bowie without the psycho-sexual identity crises. David Byrne, transplanted Scot, is about the only creative artist able to do that. The music is angular, at times, especially with the early compositions, amateurish, and yet absolutely convincing. There's something not-right about Byrne and it gets inside of you and makes you consider your own existence with a sense of humour.
Disc 2 is just astounding! Maybe the best Live CD ever! And the star is Adrian Belew. Nothing in their canon would have prepared you for FEAR OF MUSIC or REMAIN IN LIGHT (BEST CD of the 70's and 80's). When they took the show out, only Belew could have made it real, and he is simply amazing. Elephant Talk? Hell, the entire herd ran rampant throughout his blistering solos and his insistence on pushing the band as far to the avant-edge as it was possible to go.
This collection is so good with the added material that it was worth the wait. If you were a fan, stop reading and order this RIGHT NOW. If you're new, oh boy, are you in for a treat!
Free Music Review: Episode IV: In which the Heads attain musical sainthood
Hit: 5 Stars
There's so many brilliant records out there in the universe, but this (once-lost, now recently-restored) live classic is truly something special. It's a great live album, a great piece of music history, and a great chapter in a band's (and a songwriter's) musical and spiritual growth.
The first disc is live sets of the original 4-piece Heads doing their early classics; and it's got some great moments ("New Feeling," "Electricity" (an early version of 'Drugs') and "Memories Can't Wait" seem to particularly stand out).
But the real fireworks don't start until Disc Two, when the Heads unveiled their multi-piece, Afro-polyrhythmic, punk-meets-funk expandable band, featuring the great Nona Hendryx and Bernie Worrell, and the utterly sublime Adrian Belew on guitar.
Words can't describe the magic that starts to brew on tracks like "Houses in Motion," "Born Under Punches," and the too-good-for-this-planet live rendition of "The Great Curve." A mysterious master-spirit hovers over the band as they cook hotter and hotter (or could it be two spirits? --those of Fela Kuti and Brian Eno?). It's a dazzling performance from start to finish. As David Byrne sings in "The Great Curve":
'The world is near, but it's out of reach.
Some people touch it, but they can't hold on.'
For one amazing moment, Talking Heads and their gigantic band touched the invisible heart of the world. They couldn't hold on, of course, because Byrne is right-- no one can. But hear this for yourself to know what it feels like to grasp the urgent root of things for that one magic, fiery instant.
Free Music Review: Glorious.
Hit: 5 Stars
As a cash-strapped college student having shelled out for the first four Talking Heads albums, I considered this album a "nice to have," but not necessary -- until I heard it. Immediately I considered it the best Talking Heads album to date, and I loved 'em all. It had it all: often-superior versions of faves from the albums, plus a fantastic version of "Love --> Building On Fire," one of two songs not on any Heads album at that point. It was an up-to-the minute overview of the band, and could've served admirably as the one TH album to get, if you could afford only one.
The early material (sides 1&2, on disc 1) was particularly beguiling; the clear and intimate recording made it sound like they were indeed in your living room, just like the picture on the cover. And while I thought "Fear of Music" bordered on over-produced, the tunes from that album were delivered just right: clean, economical, edgy. So, 22 years later, here it all comes rushing back, only with more songs, each one glorious and beguiling. Every song and performance is great -- but fans might particularly swoon over "Found a Job" and "Mind." Among others.
And that's just the first disc. As for disc 2, well... hey, are you still reading this? Time's a-wasting. If you liked this album back in the day, you've been pining for the CD for 22 years. Buy it this instant. Put it on and spend the near future with a rapturous smile on your face.
Free Music Review: Heads fans get back their 'Name'...with interest
Hit: 5 Stars
In a way, I'm glad TNoTBITH never got a proper CD release with the rest of the band's catalog at the end of the '80s. It might have been just the original album slapped onto two CDs, or {shudder} even one disc with a cut or two omitted for space (a la Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me or the original CD edition of 1999). Instead, we had to wait a mighty long time for the digital debut of this gem, and our patience has been rewarded manifold.
I've only spun my copy once as of this writing, so I'm not prepared to go into detail. However, I feel I'm fully qualified to report that this is already one of the most crucial CDs in my ever-expanding library. As if the original track lineup weren't enough, the bonus material is jaw-dropping and revelatory. The handful of previously-unissued cuts at the start of disc two, featuring the unmistakable guitar textures of Adrian Belew, are of particular note.
If you're relatively new to Talking Heads, this album has always been a better representation of their onstage abilities than Stop Making Sense (a tremendous album, to be sure, but the movie is the more complete document of the two). It's also a generous primer of their early years. If you've ever owned this album, regardless of your fan status, wait not a minute longer and get reacquainted. And prepare for one curveball after another.
Now let's have a proper commercial release of the Warner Bros. Music Show!