POLL Me Up Up Up Up Up Up Up Up – TALKING HEADS – ILM Artist Poll #82 - (The Results Thread)

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/chd1mxBD0HZfFmxvBNmL7OqwsbiqWMguLff1SKT_r5-zL_GmEadDdv58sUWpznmX9IGwuIgyFGi1GXti3AE7150_qRSMBmc_bt_aTpy0tcWG-fZiyqEMhpRPPGdEjYzY10IE4YsXvx9t4JeyGIBWya9ejorOG0k0IWDGiiiPEYP0AqF9v87AXQziocFB2X34HFLhBYAfdoqBiMIe_tTMvdSMgH_3DP-PXr-Kod7l3xE72aoo3WHIkfI31QT1C1wIhY_yw8rOsvdEZGIPTicDVOpUHJvmfxpR1NIc9YaLvNUFS28NMoFUESe55HAOO-dZqU816lRDx18b-QALAlO_-ItYBX1ubxgHfKZsn32nuk-X779aC8VqYPcS-0b5OvMBQGeY9_6FIcAnuSpp-mJmFd_Aq5ygpAEfUSnifL5TnyJAUiL-fUIPArMzEKurpj3n5krPrPaS2196fB6r3q8XR_-n50hbXDNybihjRiRx3EQQaCwbfyIBLm4GUD5qMgVIbDAGIv_L3Ecm8F6nNWS3miBAmGCzheK4A9nelc0xcEHdfC8gMz59UbS1Enxf6LCt9OI74qkO-amFt_RA9QP6P8l7h9AYIivoXK_SnUStXx6IsNJhX56UENAEyIGfF6l51vHfgsavdDG3g_o7FhN99dYXFGNDg7iEbWJHIJqu=w960-h540-no

65 Ballots Received (3 Unranked)
90 Talking Heads Songs Received Votes
23 Solo Ballots Received
84 Solo Songs Received Votes
47 Album Ballots Received
26 Different Albums Received Votes

Thanks for your patience ILM but I needed the time and had to work.

HUGE thank you to pplains my co-poll runner, in many more ways than one and for doing the pictures which will debut on Thursday.

Where this all came from: The Name of This POLL Is...- ILM artist poll #82 - TALKING HEADS - (voting is open until Sunday March 26, 2017)

Here We Go!

Wooooooo!

going to start with a Top 15 Solo tracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnE-HBh2C7g

15. On, On, On, On..
By: Tom Tom Club
From: Tom Tom Club
Released: October 1981

122 Points, 3 Votes

voted for this!

love the empathy of this song, and of the Tom Tom Club's music in general

hard to believe this is now 35 years old!

Great guitar.

nearly missed that on account of the percussion production travesty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB6b-0Fpee0

14. The Red House
125 Points, 3 Votes
By: David Byrne
From: The Catherine Wheel
Released: December 1981

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGPttl_Xao8

13. Lorelei
149 Points, 4 Votes
By: Tom Tom Club
From: Tom Tom Club
Released: October 1981

gonna listen to stuff from this thread at work all day tomorrow

This inspired me to pull out my copy of The Catherine Wheel. It's a lot better than I recall.

Yogi Horton is a pretty badass drummer. Possibly better than Chris Frantz. 😉

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBnAiks8Hio

12. The Carrier
156 Points, 4 Votes
By: Brian Eno and David Byrne
From: My Life in the Bush of Ghost
Released: February 1981

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIYSLr6AKiQ

11. Big Blue Plymouth (Eyes Wide Open)
163 Points, 4 Votes
By: David Bryne and Talking Heads
From: The Catherine Wheel
Released: December 1981

I love the interplay between Byrne's wordless vocal and the backing vocals at the end in Big Blue Plymouth

"The Carrier"'s an interesting mix of Dunya Yunis' "Abu Zeluf" (also sampled in "Regiment", and by M/A/R/R/S!) and the increasingly washy guitars. Glad it placed.

Would love a Spotify playlist of these solo tracks. I haven't even heard the Catherine Wheel OR the Tom Tom Club album all the way through. Worst biggest fan ever...

BBP should've been #1

On, On, On, On... is fantastic! Why did I never listen to this album before?? It's like the epitome of everything I like. I guess that's what these polls are all about

yaaaaaay

Let's see if we can get in a few before Europe punches out for the day.

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

10. What A Day That Was
170 Points, 4 Votes, 1 Number One
By: David Byrne
From: The Catherine Wheel
Released: December 1981
Also: Stop Making Sense version

BRRRRRRRRAAHHH
OH HO HO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-U2nKMGTHY

9. Qu'ran
By: Brian Eno and David Byrne
From: My Life In The Bush of Ghosts
Released: February 1981
171 Points, 4 votes
Also: Blade Runner scene with Qu'ran in background

Really like Qu'ran, had no idea it snuck into Blade Runner. Notwithstanding the controversy over this, disappointing on Nonsuch's part not including this on the 2006 reissue.

I think it was used a temporary fill before the official score was added to Blade Runner. I'm sure the religious groups would've have had something to say about that had it been released.

love this one, voted it high, great bass part

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtRjdWWFW5o

8. Mea Culpa
By: Brian Eno and David Byrne
From: My Life In The Bush of Ghosts
Released: February 1981
184 Points, 5 Votes

Hmm... These aren't the MLITBOG tracks that I expected to place. Help Me Somebody and the Jezebel Spirit yet to come I hope..

here's where I say I don't get My Life In The Bush of Ghosts. Everything Byrne-Eno wanted to say about this sort of approach they perfected on Catherine Wheel and RIL.

agreed

i mean, i "get" it, i just think those other records are better

MLITBOG was the largely the first of those recorded I think so it's not surprising they improved on it. it's definitely a shame that it's been remembered so much better than The Catherine Wheel

Mea Culpa is one of my favourites on it, I like the babble of the sped up vocals and the encroaching dread has a similar feeling to Listening Wind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L7IdUqaZxo

7. Strange Overtones
By: Brian Eno and David Byrne
From: Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Released: August 2008
186 Points, 4 votes
Also: A short film by Jon Yeo

now we're talkin

nice but a bit surprised it's above those Catherine Wheel tracks

I think Eno largely wrote the music for this, so it's a bit strange that it's probably the closest Byrne got to Talking Heads after leaving

aw I love Strange Overtones. Why's it not on Spotty?

I like MLITBOG but it's such a dense, exhausting listen. I can rarely make it all the way through. It's worth it for the highs though.

Stylus appears to be officially gone but my review of the reissue expressed similar reservations. Have always had a number of conflicting feelings about MLITBOG.

"Strange Overtones" is excellent. "One Fine Day" may be the only song on that record that betters it.

That thing where you always tie an album to a specific time or place? MLITBOG is a walk from the Excel centre in London across the Lea into Poplar. I can practically smell the docks and dereliction.

Love the chorus on Strange Overtones. Listening to MLITBOG feels like musical homework, where an this tune is just great pop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH0EqSbb46o

6. Help Me Somebody
By: Brian Eno and David Byrne
From: My Life In The Bush of Ghosts
Released: February 1981
205 Points, 5 Votes
Also: Sessions at West 54th Street version

xp Byrne cultivated a certain sweetness later in his career which he rarely hit upon during TH. Even their more delicate moments (Naive Melody, Air, Heaven) great as they are as songs, don't really compare in terms of this kind of melodicism

wow that live version of Help Me Somebody is fantastic

The best songs on My Life (this one included) have some absolutely killer grooves that rival even the best stuff off Remain In Light. I'm in love with the interplay on this track.

rest of the session is all bizarrely 90s arrangements though

yeah and some of them are HILARIOUSLY nineties

not really a fan of solo Byrne at all nor of much TH stuff post Stop Making Sense aside from the odd tune. these later Eno tracks remind me why. still it's nice that other folk like them so much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTFIzLKaZj4

5. America Is Waiting
By: Brian Eno and David Byrne
From: My Life In The Bush of Ghosts
Released: February 1981
229 Points, 6 Votes

Ok, now I want a "Jezebel Spirit" done by that Byrne band, with heavy breathing and everything.

Speaking of which...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k20qAQtse_k

4. The Jezebel Spirit
By: Brian Eno and David Byrne
From: My Life In The Bush of Ghosts
Released: February 1981
295 Points, 7 Votes

don't know if you're posting #1 votes, Bee OK, but this was mine! I still remember how electrifying it felt to hear this for the first time

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

3. Regiment
By: Brian Eno and David Byrne
From: My Life In The Bush of Ghosts
Released: February 1981
382 Points, 9 Votes

I love the way the density of the sound increases throughout the last half of The Jezebel Spirit, the whole layering of tracks/"rampant texturology" thing

this is another good one

I have to say also that I really don't understand the point of view that The Catherine Wheel is better than this album!

"Regiment" is my favorite track from the album, another killer bass part

WHAT ARE WORDS WORTH??

Well it certainly looks like Byrneno has this list all locked up, might as well just throw in the – wait, what's this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vl1m5FYlAo

2. Wordy Rappinghood
By: Tom Tom Club
From: Tom Tom Club
Released: Single, February 1981; Album, October 1981
558 Points, 13 Votes
Also: Live at Summer Sonic Festival in Japan (2009)

Brakes on a bus, brakes on a car
Breaks to make you a superstar
Breaks to win and breaks to lose
But these here breaks will rock your shoes
And these are the breaks
Break it up, break it up, break it up!

still, i like the song, the tom tom club album is gloriously weird

a chipmunk-voiced 'old macdonald'!

when a friend and I bought a used cassette of the first album in spring '94 it could not have sounded more exotic – we had no idea how to understand what we were listening to.

Can anyone vouch for the second Tom Tom Club album?

I only know the Drifters cover.

with the exception of Pleasure of Love I didn't think it was all that memorable

too bad "As Above, So Below" won't make it here, it's my favorite track on this album.

but the one that (I assume) will make it at the top is iconic so...

Ok, that's about it for now. Bee will be back this American afternoon to roll out the album rankings. And then crossing over into tomorrow, he'll begin the rundown of the Top 50.

Oh, and speaking of crossovers....

1. Genius of Love
By: Tom Tom Club
From: Tom Tom Club
Released: Single, September 1981; Album, October 1981
841 Points, 19 Votes, 7 Number Ones
Also: Official Video
Soul Train clip of guy dancing to this with a basketball.
Stop Making Sense version
Extended DJ Mr. Ice Remix (15 minutes long!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECiMhe4E0pI

Ok, that's it for the Tom Tom Club and solo acts! Happy to be here! We're gonna change back to the Talking Heads soon! See ya then!

thank you pplains!

so when i say bye, we gotta go!

okay bye!

will never forget walking into a record store and overhearing an already in progress convo about why Genius of Love is the greatest song ever recorded. "That first line... 'Whatchu gonna do when you get out of jail? I'm gonna have some fun!'... it's all there. it's everything."

Some of the vocals in the Stop Making Sense performance are... unfortunate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIW4skg3Ceo&feature=youtu.be&t=250

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIW4skg3Ceo#t=250

ILX doesn't do Timecodes I guess, so skip to 4:10

wow, lorelei got robbed. i left on,on,on,on off of my ballot because it always seems like the lesser cousin of lorelei.

no offense to people who have high-achieving cousins and feel as if they are somehow "less than" them in some ways

but lorelei is here...

oh, whoops! i missed it during the rollout somehow. thanks!

i know it's been discussed at length but what happens in genius of love at 4:10 is enough to ruin the song, permanently

i still put it on my ballot, in the way that jessie's parents on breaking bad fondly remember their son's life up through adolescence

genius of love at 4:10 in the SMS video whiney g posted, i mean.

yeah I agree, I had not seen that before

I remember seeing SMS in the theater as a kid after wearing out the cassette version and being utterly perplexed and horrified by the Tom Tom Club segment. Still, I love the album version.

Will also say that the SMS version of What A Day That Was is wayyy better than the original.

Thought Lazy by X-Press 2 would've placed, had it fairly high up my ballot.

I didn't submit a ballot, finally decided I couldn't quantify and rank all my favorite tracks, but it's been fun listening to all these today.

yeah and some of them are HILARIOUSLY nineties

― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Wednesday, March 29, 2017 9:53 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Can you explain this to me please? Bush of Ghosts was 1981, so I'm not understanding the description.

the live version of "help me somebody" being talked about there was from 1998.

wonder if tina had a hendrix vs. buddy miles moment in the studio with frantz

Ah, totally missed that hyperlink to the live clip, thanks. xp

Yay it's here. Like dl I'd embarrassingly slept on The Catherine Wheel before - got The Red House on just now and it's pretty great.

i was just about to post about the red house as well. it was my #2.

So is My Life's reputation as this ancestor of hip-hop sampling warranted? Was this thing really a touchstone?

It came out around the same time as Ant Rap so there's a bit of debate about which of these white guys invented hip-hop.

xps: i can vouch for TTC album 2. this is the hipster's choice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf7xZBHVik4

James Rizzi's artworks for TTC's stuff was crazy good, and his animations in the Genius Of Love video are the best thing ever.

sorry, finally back.

Top 12 Albums

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/IXN5A2FJTo1-RZBj53fi48J4AJTtIYJJS1PQxsRYOG2n-5eQe3qjmR02FRAenF6EwpKlQSKztEplSgthfjhOl9Tl509riErKLk_E6rqdDVgse8_PLE6y7YOsEJEKG30BPscTQjiaotIY0y1Q4hjrq1upAaAD5it1uEMRtl_ctCsjyogwMXK2TZT883D25r8WPoF04p5IhudD_4kwplrD2HpFO3CEr2oKDt_GQXuLcn233J_whvLCOaxVpQLH2t-3VID46nJ7P2BgemEpXqgihB16ea6_ljYCfBlVUVA21B7tLqzZ7cg1sAGQ2y-RjJ3t75KmTIfrEefMiwUDQ22DQAemPq4Bss3PD983pOPTX9Kw44f_8LWTw0SQqXpQUo3LSmc8a_moHuI48qN0qvoIQ3hf5axrSjGKGGkLfSwNbpCcU06qdc127XpnOETmDtIsCIKd-Qk7bBIaKlVwt3oT_1hEVAPoQc_MT0gBOljMVsIsTM9WU1nV2Yyx21b_dYFPo1FPsGly9bZiPjWA73y_Zyli0qfaqs1Fhzvmvi7IJgJIJS-AkkBtEjFeoFbpYixQMhzCY-WHTht6YP7tdqAELhlekWIpVnD9FALqFkeSRsCdYXUT27Y=s500-no

12. The Catherine Wheel
356 Points, 10 Votes
By: David Byrne
Released: December 1981

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/rR4Au_fs8MHIVfJTFwHd3x4XGXdjOa8Pve-ZxiwC-iiifT43d_IiQja31h5GwZI_QwY_z2pB-eALCPqaMknWdl9UjiA2j8S9SRktwQJRsBEmceNmKncub7iYyUynUG34E3RGXYUWY79PXWGle8m6sareVf5prmPw9RZSzodEtVYOHj5bK0pmemaFUHwtS7B-nLHhzIH0zzehkF3AwLyK-ndybC2LDjSP9_v4oJ9wtS5Ve276Hadq14iFUqE1YciOHT32yV7kwfUC4Wy9Vfahvyiduz-XAFMWDHdDWyw3w0mSbPAn8bTOo0G19M0pUe6zpfqHBDb4EVeux7HImAxs6Gy0l8gHoVXxE3nRP_SowAMCWiEru81GV273qPDa6F6U_b5LeIKXj1kTzZ6LpqnII3c8nj8PguJKRa90gtiUI9DOaC65zLciukenEEn0w0CftqfX62_19ZhwxMf-n_qKIrjWRP1kDVsN84El_v2vSR44ks-7kRqz8gJMtZlHMpDL2EI0cIJKEcPZCE_o_j6vkAcCPwWUeBsyq7EtIHfOsS5m3AIXn8QeaxBlnJklkqMQ2_7est7d2fcUItsELb9N8fFxfqIz_G48RECSc8cBW2XXRrDnfgg=s500-no

11. Little Creatures
497 Points, 14 Votes
Released: June 10, 1985

whoa, that seems low

would also have thought The Catherine Wheel would be higher! it's hard to believe there are 11 TH albums/side project albums better than it

Listening to my #1 right now

xp yeah I was expecting the later Byrne/TTC albums to be in these places

They had 8 studio albums and 2 live albums as a band. Even if 1 or 2 don't make this list, that doesn't leave many more slots.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/9rhixhf9-0Hh7CZj13DJuA-XCCn1nAkjz8fWR71y5c4ENZPseaHniRIUmhyzPCRAOMpQXyO2iHpLp8wuirDI02vn85wp9UgsI7ao7zyDTDdPtAseSJ8N0zICyRqztMHpQ5AhgkGxjzDpEFzNUrUMLy99drLHx-8zIOv51dhNxdFOqkqq8_PPJnSYUZrCQQLEv45itBcdOwWNdthq1Mhf6xxlpZ-ZJKWzVcZJJ8tqYqQFBVFFWRlrXCKmeKDqiLcMb11sIvjCMxeRrMoCttcN1X4BsfDRmCa4jMQ-jThhm22Cd7gNLQ_DqWTQvglTefKDYLPPNCzstWQ4S9KM9UD1JtFq2nYd-Qdp9fjaH3Lb2sVCW2HiOaL5lCTFMnT7iAYy2hJimVIgTmCqdNKpL-_oWI3dIgw9zdyo5_yoneerVNOxuHARYWafo2jeF1wu_tqeYLcNGMG1Y91EHNp_jvMOFACD9EJDAcf1HcNaG4x07Th8N9cxm_8JU-sqKoBKyYrYqtmu397foyragZerOcV8RhKXWPlRrtRmd4nOpwKcaDtS9Pq5lyU84Rlg4L6PP2XXBF04TKq22decVZZYdBHQnHTqUvCkWi_j7cOJMaOKrogwLjA_42k=w500-h495-no

10. Naked
Released: March 15, 1988
560 Points, 15 Votes, 1 Number One

i can't believe Naked beat Little Creaqtures.

that is a surprise

Dammit, now I wished I'd done an albums ballot. Little Creatures would've been my #3 or #4.

There was a time in my life when i would have called Naked my all-time favorite album.

TCW > LC >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Naked

There was a time in my life when i would have called Naked my all-time favorite album.

― Moodles, Wednesday, March 29, 2017 6:49 PM (twenty-one seconds ago)

and you said to yourself MY GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE

I still like it and think it's quite underrated

I also liked Little Creatures when it came out, but lost interest in it a long time ago. I really related to Stay Up Late because my little brother had just been born around this time.

i can't believe Naked beat Little Creaqtures.

― Bee OK, Wednesday, March 29, 2017 3:37 PM (eleven minutes ago)

prior to the conversation in the poll announcement thread, i'd have been surprised. now, not so much. it's smooth, i guess? that seems to count for a lot with certain folks.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/oxaeo02rTxHRLda2VOG9a_a0TVciw6be3njXrv6hy9rsfxHEpRIqauN-yK7qV1_tHqVzUjZ5iNhLCQxy4fwgrcRgoJZf8p1BtFp9K1SzUHJvJRzo8Vcz_tzPnB2G1kbieHmMZw5Hhm1fNFT-jyfEhNmWhiLkyVegFfXUrFyd3vjjpcsL50TG8-J-j2ck4DxDXpUett2OZbiw-Qo4ksxsOo0gxb4_5YBMan1tCpURpr6GHwAmvxrEQWOHVrJmzP5CQfADBJypFs2FWxVUxJJ4Sampj_Ln3sIIuFTNEwZzAabq-O7zVDiMNprGfGIKbZDJIQNdLYWM7PPIbdAmiHYOYhZy3FaO8dXylXkw8y7eCcVzG5DBEroqjDSyAoP6MUVVVdpL35sc3jezMxtqM0qvAfsBXVoRjhTREH8VsxSEcOcV_mq6v2TVDOpVC1z87Qrwul0jGxul8T95pmkZiOmbLd_I3GG7xFFCSWkcBPhFC1VxfAYbCwsy52ghFExcy7ngYGy84q48SNm_auLVOJqpyukqAQO8YCqu9EVmkbwWz-O-csxfrsiYp0JWP1hsGBlhyucjVgbV7KdYOkLExgdNYFiZHc_w-vtL_-5qIIeborS8wwOP6ZE=s500-no

9. Tom Tom Club
Released: October 1981
563 Points, 15 Votes

Re: Naked
I like how all the extra musicians help fill things out

I revisited Naked for the first time in a long while when putting my ballot together. The last time I heard it was when that white-brick box set of all their studio albums came out in, what, 2008? It held up really well. Much better than Little Creatures.

don't know if you're posting #1 votes, Bee OK, but this was mine! I still remember how electrifying it felt to hear this for the first time

hmm, not sure what happened as i was counting the number ones. i just checked and your number one is there and the points did count but somehow overlooked your number one vote. i hope that is the only mistake i make.

i also wanted to say thanks again to pplains for finishing out the solo stuff for me today. that was a huge help. even though i had the day off, i still had something to take care of this morning.

i will start at a decent hour, Pacific time, going forward.

xp
that's ok! this is a fantastic rollout, thank you so much for doing this!

so I'm guessing either True Stories or one of the live albums won't make this list

I didn't vote in albums, but Little Creatures probably is the catchiest album in their entire discography. "And She Was," "Stay Up Late," "Road to Nowhere," "Little Creatures"

Ridiculous

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/KGLldesd8oAXZgDvVu0b6wASwtfmZ85i6SKRbbWANhHMDdr1lZHlxfrC7sIV3LJTm1_1y23bBHf8AO0MEeCuu8OGZ5vg8MQISvyWA37sywB2fQiOcrwFc7JjEO_JrHIR6gnjvzKgEkmKK3JGTxguC7C9AgPyfiE0R2fmcx1TrGyd81X7QDGMtkjIe5-uQxq0xHS1_p9HMfcaXRxqN90WebPP9IK_06Eo5h--qErP9gWM_gzjO1b8fzrp0VsT_7JJB57NKZcuDVnrYkUaWUJsSyjYIxIf7u1-POBZsK6naOLoijircZKPghTZj--3z97zQgC-6o-7RdSfBQ3J67__CvYIYWQUARRZSJAF1HMz6sHcKiDdt_QB3qXl_5wKte2gEfM7lGFfJlBs99Swn2kmsFhHfvr6xIJ38hd2MRGvYKcnSYetUWnoOu684OtyF_NqpVxuNKMHLoXVhBCJLBo0dQ2qtra3hNW9zrzY5P1xd3qJGh87Ts-qjHYCGk8iFpdwz2abWhiswllkASuCTMFTwVW2k7QQLrHyjVz9RFkceGKYhNwQ4s0pJYdOC5xMCWn5xAFw2sJct71Fk-r6CU4G7hjzkw0VWlI_fwwQZGKpwFH8-Kc=s500-no

8. My Life In The Bush of Ghosts
By: Brian Eno and David Byrne
Released: February 1981
740 Points, 19 Votes, 1 Number one

god really?

i guess this ranking is justified, with as many songs form this album making the Top 15 in the solo part of this poll.

but yeah, i'm sort of shocked too.

Naked not being universally recognised as a return to form after LC and TS still seems kerrazy to me. Glad that ILM, collectively, got it right!

did people really love this thing thirty years ago? I'm wondering if post-Pitchfork hype after that reissue a decade ago didn't inflate its reputation.

I'm kind of shocked you guys don't think this belongs here. I was around 30 years ago and yes, people really did love it and talk about it then. this ranking is too low, in my opinion. I think this is really up there with the best of the Talking Heads records.

I guess it's hard to say in retrospect how influential this album was, but It still sounds amazing. The layering of ambient tracks, Eno's “psychedelic wash” gives the whole thing a spectral feeling. I guess it can be criticized for not having “songs” but it's so mesmerizing that that doesn't matter to me.

found an interesting quote from Ken Hollings in The Wire from when this was reissued in 2006:

"Ghosts have been drifting through the system since the time of Edison, but this was one of the first occasions that their condition had been articulated with such precision and through so popular a medium. Along with the indignant radio host featured on “America Is Waiting”, the unidentified inflamed caller, the smooth politician on “Mea Culpa”, and the anonymous radio evangelist whispering strange promises throughout “Come With Us”, the unnamed exorcist of “The Jezebel Spirit” occupies a shifting, unbounded foreground. Each of their individual utterances is isolated, and its delivery tightly controlled. What’s missing – or rather, what’s been carefully removed – is context. Put it another way: these are pop songs for an age where communication has become increasingly fragmented, and meaning more evasive and nomadic. "

I always got the impression MLITBOG was considered 'important' at least, years before I finally, excitedly checked out a public library copy in the nineties.

Christgau, a big fan, OTM:

My Life in the Bush of Ghosts [Sire, 1981]
Something fishy's going on when unassuming swell-heads like these dabblers start releasing their worktapes. As cluttered and undistinguished as the MOR fusion and prog-rock it brings to the mind's ear, this album has none of the songful sweep of Remain in Light or the austere weirdness of Jon Hassell, and the vocal overlays only intensify its feckless aura. C+

"worktapes" is the key word. These tracks sound like drafts of what the RIL and CW tracks do naturally.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/GA8wfJb7v7twEafHN69UJ79zmoYnYT9PaNVh99YZzN9BuG6WydjY_jvh_8c0OEIzPXJuXrQz9QnP9XgjQAMz6CZ6eYVXCm8vUzriAxDsffzLYyPPX3bTiVqI19MM4h3GKBuCFjPR2kz4FbheXmcnYI3D3oWurMfeCCyVL_cHWKUHf7_KmuQHakRLLkwQzZNJSWieX_x1xj6mU3TvF_KEaDrP1tzDSeyjOOGYJBCXPXCOxLVMWJ_8pCmWhd4vLtJE1Rh_AWq6IR0jsmFuPh0QRalIde_P6jpkBxEDZnNVSF_UXOTFVM8k-QUu30vLEplgnGAs4aYCH1AY35VElLqbJbV3X1-z0vYVepFZhCErmQ4ZdFTgxkv5Nyk09WqCzoL8mIpP0omHjozVIqkceWeIEc_fbcw-r-4yIBIMHaaaM4qeeavTObDgQO4TyGYBJ7UgoHYaSjkHyv5KrL6MFCRpVnoFxRA0Jt9Y3v1nD18zI9FFvAQPQ0qbPFusiX8Jq3jiONQvo9x8OAVt8uBCn-y4oiqsfBKd7dX7H8kq7F3G-dC5MoXfkcvE_HGl-znh9NHK4BplZIWxIhvsgtfZ2qCLE4ObNuDXxD7jNjnT4LFfaEnkgtGS-dQ=w500-h496-no

7. Stop Making Sense
Released: September 1984
1019 Points, 24 Votes, 5 Number Ones

i believe there were two votes for the Film version of this and not the soundtrack version.

I'm not surprised at MLITBOG being where it is, it seems like it's always been well loved (though idk if to the same extent as now), but very surprised at Naked beating LC. Clearly more people need to listen to The Catherine Wheel, which successfully combines the ambience of MLITBOG and real songs into a cohesive whole.

Stop Making Sense is a great performance but I don't rate it as high as I used to. The Speaking in Tongues songs on it are all better than the studio versions and What A Day That Was is incredible on it.

MLITBOG: TOO LOW

Stop Making Sense is my favorite film of 1984 and one of my touchstones but I didn't even vote for the album.

i thought Stop Making Sense was a shoe-in for the top three or four, so i'm shocked at its placement.

SMS was my introduction to Talking Heads and I was obsessed with both the tape and film for a big chunk of my childhood.

yeah and some of them are HILARIOUSLY nineties
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Wednesday, March 29, 2017 9:53 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Can you explain this to me please? Bush of Ghosts was 1981, so I'm not understanding the description.

― You're going to see a lot of love. Okay? Thank you. (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, March 29, 2017 7:39 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Stop Making Sense does seem like the breaking-wide moment for them

should have called it MILTBOG in the first place

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lojxwj9awien8dk/77%20m.jpg?dl=0

6. Talking Heads: 77
Released: September 16, 1977
1235 Points, 32 Votes

well that didn't work, was trying Dropbox for images.

anyways, that is it for tonight, will do the Top 5 tomorrow.

Talking Heads 77 - Surfer Girl
More Songs About Buildings And Food - Summer Days And summer Nights
Fear Of Music - Pet Sounds
My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts = Smiley Smile
Remain In Light = Smile
Speaking In Tongues = Holland
Little Creatures = Love You
True Stories = MIU Album
Naked = Keeping The Summer Alive

77 is too low, can't believe Speaking in Tongues is going to place higher

Alfred, much as I have a soft spot for Love You, Smiley Smile is an incredible work of art in my estimation that appeals deeply to my senses, so sorry I disagree that Little Creatures is better than MLITBOG.
But what's amazing is that we're even comparing these too vastly different styles of music in the first place

Also I agree with the person up thread who said that Naked sounds more like a return to form after the previous two. Sounds like a more natural continuation of Speaking In Tongues to me. It's paced in a similar way to RIL with lots of slower tunes toward she end but front-packed with bangers. Plus I enjoy every groove - I can hear Tina's playing again, which I couldn't on Little Creatures and True Stories

77 is too low, can't believe Speaking in Tongues is going to place higher

believe & endorse. i'm just shocked it's coming in under more songs.

I'm also a bit surpised although I've never completely loved Tongues or More Songs.

Remain In Light is actually Beach Boys Today.

Alfred a lot of ppl (including me) love and have loved Bush of Ghosts for a long time irrespective of Pitchfork or whether it's "important" or whatever, pls chill

Naked sounds more like a return to form after the previous two. Sounds like a more natural continuation of Speaking In Tongues to me.

dgi. naked places the emphasis back on funk, but the pop constructions seem of a piece w/ little creatures. just drained of energy & half as good (other than "nothing but flowers", which holds up fine).

xxp yeah I had a think about that but I figure RIL is the one people popularly hold up as their pinnacle (viz: Sgt Peppers also) and makes lists and is considered 'canon' and all the trappings and problems that go with holding a record on a pedestal.
I love RIL and PS an incredible amount but each had its faults. and as with both bands, their fans tend to have their personal favourites which aren't these albums

contenderizer - what about Blind? That is a corker. It came on the radio the other day while I was driving and I gave out an involuntary yelp and a fist-pump.
What about the tropical niceness of Totally Nude? the Sphinx-like eeriness of Democratic Circus?
I guess one of the big draws for me with TH is the rhythm section, and with Little Creatures and TS they seem swallowed-up by this boxy 80s-rock production which sounds really horrible to me.

xp RIL and BBT are my favorites and they have the same structure with a clear distinction between a fast and a slow side. BBT has better ballads and RIL has better bangers.

Stop Making Sense does seem like the breaking-wide moment for them

― Dan S, Wednesday, March 29, 2017 8:14 PM (fifty-nine minutes ago

like I said in the other thread, it went double platinum and spent two years on the album chart. Their commercial peak.

what about Blind?

2nd best track on the album. groove is nice, but byrne's affected delivery (esp the awful "blah-blah-blah-blah-blind" chorus) sinks it. imo...

the horn arrangement >>>>>>>>>>>>>> the rest of "Blind"

accurate

Dan pointed out earlier that his number one didn't show up in the solo countdown. i hit a wrong button and somehow messed up the number ones data.

so here are the full results of the solo poll with updated number ones.

Genius Of Love - Tom Tom Club 841 Points, 19 Votes, 6 Number Ones
Wordy Rappinghood - Tom Tom Club 558 Points, 13 Votes Number Ones
Regiment Eno/Byrne 382 Points, 9 Votes 1 Number One
The Jezebel Spirit (David Byrne/Brian Eno) 295 Points, 7 Votes, 2 Number Ones
America is Waiting (David Byrne/Brian Eno) 229 Points, 6 Votes
Help Me Somebody Eno/Byrne 205 Points 5 Votes 1 Number One
Strange Overtones - Byrne and Eno 186 Points, 4 Votes, 2 Number Ones
Mea Culpa Eno/Byrne 184 Points, 5 Votes 1 Number One
Qu'ran Eno/Byrne 171 Points, 4 Votes, 1 Number One
What A Day That Was 170 Points 4 Points
Big Blue Plymouth (Eyes Wide Open) Bryne 163 Points, 4 Votes, 1 Number One
The Carrier Byrne and Eno 156 Points 4 Votes 1 Number One
Lorelei Tom tom Club 149 Points, 4 Votes
The Red House - David Byrne 125 Points, 3 Vote
On, On, On, On... – Tom Tom Club 122 Points, 3 Votes 1 Number One
Big Business (Byrne) 119 3
As Above, So Below – Tom Tom Club 114 3
Make Believe Mambo 110 3
Mountain of Needles - Eno/Byrne: 85 2 1
A Long Time Ago (Byrne) 78 2
Pleasure of Love 78 2
Two Soldiers David Byrne 73 2
Life is Long (Byrne-Eno) 72 2
Rev It Up 72 2
Moonlight in Glory – Byrne Eno 69 2
Cloud Chamber David Byrne 67 2
Don't Want to Be Part of Your World 50 1 1
Eggs in a Briar Patch 50 1 1
Roadrunner (Modern Lovers) 50 1 1
They are in love 50 1 1
A soft seduction 46 1
Girls on My Mind 46 1
L'éléphant - Tom tom Club 46 1
Very, Very Hungry – Byrne Eno 46 1
A self-made man 43 1
Crash (Byrne) 43 1
Lazy - X-Press 2 43 1
Someone I Care About (Modern Lovers) 43 1
Toe Jam - The BPA ft David Byrne 43 1
Under the Boardwalk" - Tom Tom Club 43 1
Optimist 40 1
She's Mad (Byrne) 40 1
Who 40 1
Bonzo Goes To Washington 38 1
Carnival Eyes 38 1
His Wife Refused 38 1
Modern World (Modern Lovers) 38 1
The dream police 38 1
the man with the 4-way hips 38 1
Dirty Old Town 36 1
Just the Motion - David Byrne 36 1
Marching Through the Wilderness 36 1
The Great Intoxication 36 1
Angels 35 1
Astral Plane 35 1
Don't Fence Me In David Byrne 35 1
Ice Age 35 1
Ade 34 1
Dark Sneak Love Action 34 1
Hanging Upside Down 34 1
happiness can’t buy money 34 1
Hospital (Modern Lovers) 34 1
In the Future 34 1
My Big Hands (Fall Through the Cracks) 34 1
Old World 34 1
Suboceana 34 1
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Thievery Corporation 34 1
The last emperor main theme 34 1
A Walk in the Dark 33 1
Girlfriend (Modern Lovers) 33 1
I know sometimes a man is wrong 33 1
Lazarus 33 1
She Cracked 33 1
Strange Currencies 33 1
sunshine and ecstasy 33 1
A Secret Life 32 1
Booming and Zooming 32 1
I Should Watch TV 32 1
innocent sex kiss 32 1
Light Bath 32 1
Like Humans Do 32 1
Pablo Picasso 32 1

Wordy Rappinghood - 3 Number Ones

regretting not submitting a solo ballot now but it would have been something like this:
What a Day That Was
Big Blue Plymouth
Mea Culpa
His Wife Refused
Help Me Somebody
Strange Overtones
Big Business
Genius of Love
America is Waiting
Poison

the production on 77 isn't as good as the three Eno-produced albums but it's pretty solidly their second-best studio album on the strength of the songs

I like to think my unabashed praise of Naked in the sister thread has had the effect of swinging the votes in its favour, or, at the very least, making some take a good second listen to it. I still fail to understand criticisms of it - to me it's one of the great major, big-budget art-pop albums of that charmed late-eighties period for that kind of thing. I put it in the esteemed company of Passion, The Sensual World, Blaze of Glory, Spirit of Eden, Yellow Moon, The Rhythm of the Saints.

your praise was persuasive, but not so much as the free delivery grubhub coupon that was offered to anyone who voted for naked

Did everyone just plain forget about "Lazy" in the solo ballot?

yeah plain forgot

I certainly did! indeed, a strange collective... 'Amnesia'.

xpost - haha : )

I'm a sucker for mature, mid- or late-era works, especially if they are left turns of sorts, and feel strong and inspired. I'll be the guy cheering for Spiritchaser when a future Dead Can Dance album poll comes along.

Didn't forget about "Lazy" but did forget about the Last Emperor soundtrack. think the main title theme would have snuck onto my ballot

I didn't vote for any side-project tracks and stuck to TH albums for the albums vote but am kind of regretting it now. I love MLitBoG but have always thought of it as its own thing - there are definitely some Eno records that I think of as an interesting document of an idea/experiment rather than an actual great album but this has never been one of them.

The Tom Tom Club s/t album is a mixed bag - the four songs that placed are great, the rest of it I can take or leave.

aw man can't believe 77 placed below more songs but hey ho, good discussions so far!
none of the images are loading for me :( it's ok at the moment because i know what the album covers look like but i hope i can see the tracks images

Strange Overtones is a wonderful song. That album all feels a little stiff overall though, although I still really enjoy it.

re: MLitBoG, I'd been primed by listening to 23 Skidoo et al, and treated it as part & parcel with Fear of Music/Remain in Light. Always liked Tom Ewing's writing about it on Freaky Trigger back in the day (part one, part two).

The first half of Naked is great but the second half is just so boring to me. After '(Nothing But) Flowers' finishes it just really doesn't keep my attention, aside for probably 'Facts of Life' which even then is almost ruined by Byrne doing his best Miss Piggy impression half way through. I still couldn't tell you what a couple of the tracks on the second side sound like despite having listened to it so many times.

I guess you could say Remain In Light is similar in that it's front-loaded with energy then cools in the second half, but the songs there are still so much more captivating than the ones on Naked.

I don't mind those last songs on Naked. They're kind of cool and moody. Not exactly punchy, memorable things, but then I find the second half of Remain In Light a bit pale compared to the first half so...

as i said in the voting thread i find the second side of naked rough-going but "cool water" is basically my favorite talking heads song, more radiohead than "radiohead" or even radiohead

^ It's *so* good. Especially that final minute or two.

"Are we nothing in your eyes? Someone answer! Someone answer!" etc.

I'l grudgingly concede "Cool Water," thanks to the synth and the angry, growing riff

Off Naked I'll happily rep for Blind, Mr Jones, Totally Nude, Nothing But Flowers, Democratic Circus, Mommy Daddy, Cool Water. And it's not like there's anything actually GRATING about the rest of the songs, whereas there's stuff on LC and TS that have me reaching for the skip button.

i also like "the democratic circus" and "facts of life" which tap into the same doomy vibe if less successfully. it's the "big daddy mommy and bill" songs or whatever that cause me to tune out

that's an xp

little creatures is def better than naked

no

Actually I'm listening to 'Cool Water' and I'm not sure I like it much. That 'Work work work' refrain is lousy

:|

Naked is great

a lot of the songs on naked have really cool endings attached to otherwise pointlessly circling songs, e.g. "big daddy"

Here's the old thread w/good discussion: Talking Heads' "Naked" – Classic or Dud?

I may be the only one on here who really likes Big Daddy. I'm a sucker for all the horns and steel guitars on this album.

I'm trying to put my finger on why the post Stop Making Sense albums do nothing for me and it's hard to explain - I mean really it's just that I don't find the songs very compelling - but it's got me thinking about who I'd compare them to at that stage. A couple of people mentioned TMBG in the voting thread which seems OTM (they're also a band I only like a few scattered songs by) but who else? What would you even describe Little Creatures as? Post-new wave? Maybe not.

It's that horrible 80s drum sound on LC, stuff from that era still makes me cringe. I was hugely disappointed by Naked at the time. After not touching it for over a couple decades, I enjoyed listening to it last night. However, not a single track can really compete with the first five albums.

I feel Harrison's The Red And The Black didn't do well (to say the least, not a single track got a vote?) because it was out of print and hard to find for so long (it never did come out on CD). I messed up and thought the side projects ballot was albums.

https://open.spotify.com/album/2lm0ytMRpYQPcv11JFASDl

They just sound like a totally different band after Speaking In Tongues

and I agree, the drums are horrible and really offputting

I feel Harrison's The Red And The Black didn't do well (to say the least, not a single track got a vote?) because it was out of print and hard to find for so long (it never did come out on CD). I messed up and thought the side projects ballot was albums.

he's also a nothing singer

Little Creatures feels like an alternate universe follow-up to 77 or More Songs

^^^^ otm

i love the drum sound on little creatures, and also how prominent the drums are in the mix. they feel a little muted on speaking in tongues

I'm trying to put my finger on why the post Stop Making Sense albums do nothing for me

This is what I meant by the sabbatical in the last thread - the one between Remain in Light and Speaking in Tongues.

Maybe I'm just a big Eno guy and never realized it.

It's the E.T. Thorngren influence: listen to those Robert Palmer records from the same period. I'll agree, though, that Frantz uses the same beat on many tracks.

is there much written about the recording of Speaking in Tongues anywhere?

One of its charming qualities is that the tracks sound like demos, which makes sense if you consider it's their first self-produced album.

re SIT: Byrne was going to leave, thinking the band had exhausted its possibilities. Then Tom Tom Club became a bigger deal than anyone imagined – they got a gold record before Talking Heads did.

there must be a temporal effect for people who experienced TH at the time. Because I came to TH via SMS, I was introduced to their catalogue as a whole and therefore didn't really think of Speaking In Tongues as a 'comeback album', just another album of funk-wave songs after Remain In Light. It's also got some of my favourite SMS songs on there, so I can't really separate it in terms of quality from the previous albums. LC feels like the big break-away in terms of style because it's miles away from the funk-experimentalism of their previous stuff. Really it sounds like just a big AOR pop-rock album but it's hampered by the production style of the times.

It's that horrible 80s drum sound on LC, stuff from that era still makes me cringe.

In my half-assed, incomplete relistening for this poll, I didn't find the drums on LC cringeworthy at all. Listening to the SMS soundtrack, on the other hand, I was reminded that Frantz' live drum tracks were replaced with electronic drums -- "Girlfriend Is Better" sounds especially dated in this regard.

fwiw, I first heard both records on/near their release dates, but only SMS still sounds cringey-'80s to me in terms of production.

totally agree

There are some good tracks but SMS has always felt to me like a much better movie than album.

^^ very much otm, though the SiT tracks and "What a Day It Was" hold up on record

the SMS version of Crosseyed and Painless with the extended intro is great. the extended intro got cut off the Name of This Band version on the reissue for some reason unfortunately. the acoustic Psycho Killer is one of my favourite versions of it and I like Life During Wartime with the added keyboard solos a lot too, which covers most of it really, the only weak section is Heaven through to Found a Job, and Genius of Love. the electronic drums are definitely weird though but I think one issue of it has the original drums on at least some of the tracks?

Do people generally listen to the 9-track version of SMS or the 16-track version from '99? I think that for some reason the later version made it seem irrelevant — like it was a truncation of the film rather than its own entity like the original album (maybe partly because the DVD came out around the same time). But I haven't heard the original in years.

enjoyed reading the Tom Ewing article, thanks etc for posting it

also agree with Tarfumes above about LC/SMS, although I've made my peace with all '80s percussion

i don't mind the little creatures drum production. it's of the period, and it's not my favorite approach in general, but the album has a coherent, well-integrated sound. it all pretty much works, for want of a better word. agree that stop making sense is much more badly harmed by the dated, synthetic percussion.

are we ready for today?

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-G7gJ5kUGAxOWBmtO7EWu00Ze3KkVYgq3CAKGdnpGem8DruvB538JypTq_J2jMYtE56r8BtcK9rS9M_IzB6BwCKTimm7YPMpvo3wjQahAgSUlGMN9OO6F0zYPec-RLn-ceqMa3TJWfiFj0VP1HrW7Vnw8BxaMyFccNhPn7wkSG0I05-w6Nbin9f8sWPRCM9eD6I1C1th1D-m2CeJO4htTlXofACtsNjCJqR8kuFCEx8_mmYxSWoMMiBdZqXUfrrBWyjsiKTXL6Xg1R6E-AFqeP52zFLGyoMxh-mNG3UIegxQpjUXONerHLc0D2_M9EhM18cQws1lUQsGr4FSjyzhWV1OfJfbQvtkakmTLHwWY9lr0z-H47G3D5XskapjhA-lyszSvf9lvlpbwo8SrsDDtrMpJi-PXr_Q-TTdU5J_Hr3B46ml8ErznomnRihCbzuFQhFnVpU9tPND5ywU3ADQ1oZ0PUMjWX9tK4rM8ctHGsMGp_Dd-tnJt1Wl52nP6bwnZTpW0nHHXBNivop0XcQJRa1j8IBcsyHUH4N47tcZnTGUmoHQSVtWp6KYkXnmjQ2Ks8Q9VKh7WeBcPGWOyUfbut3bHR_qVUmUWwrOQdIBugo7kcRuHhzRU8ZDnH75unkPriBYeKYbzoB9ZVFNdtZ7_I832tgkdvSMSjlV-zG_=w500-h528-no

The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads
Released:March 24, 1982
1253 Points, 30 Votes, 5 Number Ones

too low

So glad this got such a great reissue and new attention. I lucked into a vinyl copy as a birthday present when I was a kid and always loved it.

the reissued/expanded "The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads" is by far my most listened to Talking Heads album. Came out just as I was getting into them and was a great introduction to the band.

i think i have worked out all the image kinks, let me know if there is anymore issues going forward, thanks.

that was #6, right?

yes:

6. The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads

no, sorry:

5. The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads

not having a good morning

oh right, my mistake

This was my number one--it has the best version of all the best songs from the first four records. It's almost unfair.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/kS7FMUHy5l3lrIEIeuzAkXNCQFNdI7raGF65nWnHtmJiEVePhwYI5I53bfqceJ6-daMIYO0_kLkEChcPhQOr2zFiWbGFpJ6fqVcitd6AqTyxwwtkYohrQX4v4Rb1Amzwjp15aH5z0_O-MoEuqJ7Las2c04REmjF97eHTH8PdZD_xgLaynrn86Eh53ma5ZN6_xgOElC_DObmZQU6Gm2nKi6TcrCcxWo6uN5TOVGlWIsf1nrIWSL8ClnvDV2kIGjlv0qC8RuxEVi0gyg77GPjjx7s1Pi7GKqgWuZf4_KUpGx874-0yE23EsrdtKJtv_KrYPmT4oxaUi8HQJHg2_f-Mdc0M4BUhcht91Fva7AVHeTNA9pSzjnG35rEGkko6JWCVToKMyTJbTUlepW2NRBpqTOX-TcOYN7eHhwJ3-x5sN1KowBYtjEFY0ZgtiOPVWYqkIJY1KaUTrcYSOgSM74N2_tQkTJuTtXAdTUk5h9fiIijkuBt1KOs6caibVFsOjKgvSzT_PsLQqaRLvA3SIdjQJvxiPxS-kEKEWBmSefBcZhnXr5evAh3HtbFSVtVUw3Fi2XR6JhUJwR5suQosXYgIJHxrOxGe0LxON6L1SqwRxbORugnOgiKGtgEdGAJ5DsxUsue2SlcZkGiCYau2bklsvgZiIsljvuAALkDO2Nek=w500-h496-no

4. Speaking in Tongues
Released: June 1, 1983
1389 Points, 35 Votes, 3 Number Ones

The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads needs to win the albums poll.

― scattered, smothered, covered, diced and chunked (WilliamC), Friday, March 17, 2017 2:20 PM

:(

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/5WSdTF9DdLyMr2jWFKQWfRMXj16UmMxhVfJJgDO8yfLsZhb5zUhGxYlWCIfdeQUKkbMuH5nNcFI0rWsPlOzhinQlSUrKLbMr-v8whcZxDiQAWzSBzrKPG5UPiQNFtuDGZUqy_Bz82IY2emQf3J5gbMFHiGsph94OZV9A13ETI41cUpiM89cdCzxNK2vEUAjFFPZtlTsbJFyTvn9dnmLLB_zdn21YjAqs0PufcQfPoBy-KIVzbEM6ug5Ig66kVMIYqvu_KJzRRvTXwXaUL4Zk5gKUGDG81hq2NBLYccxd9HU-UsH0iXyRHHly8qo9Q4iaxkdgzluqabgIh4d-w41SV-Lah-Fv-aw_2mkocDVrCrLA6WAO1BQzQK00SjbnsGYD1N9I02xkJqcRbNT5h9rWdtg2iOm3Go0Ewhzw1r8uCP97SYIz3mxJ2GyhmNwLwsAFUQsVbNX-fYiufvA8MgONxD8om-B8irhm8jtigdxj7YS8lIrQ9cQCuAv4i8TcvUdKkxbkLYAErPnqxSYcJdkq4sTPsQB_idXy6gO6pp2E22c9EnMTIymo8EWlGkjVQew8cHOV8nHXlb6JYWZCYOymkYGejcZn0FTEH66yGFXIWKyDFmEbifIZS0oG32y4cdPAshsLA21v3L7-bE0jg_rGH-RWNIwTP42OERH7Py2N=w500-h497-no

3. More Songs About Buildings and Food
Released: July 7, 1978
1532 Points, 37 Votes, 4 Number Ones

lol way too high

my number one as i felt like i could have voted for every song off this album.

Amazing album. Even though I prefer the debut, this one does a better job of sticking together as a whole.

I will reluctantly concede that point, the consistency stuck with me when I was re-listening

4. Speaking in Tongues

TOO LOW

there is no drama left, so we will finish this out now.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/2MTQ_zI7MjwwcBBS2aElauKahhqQ5UtJlFnGA34VMKRUcEgjg2IbPu7-AOsKt-tgwfq5GCM46kucSgs2sPwDiV3n-eqytrdqpOUAdsX1CYcS3q_2TqYY-jFYUga5zN9b4u91GxJ8MerdEdzkddptdXgJilbQcPEaFvwo_jCAEJPKLpQNDT_BLUFcn0b9RAWXKrmJM2P1Zy7ZqzmymRsN51meNuso-5-KWvQM5OExWmiJzqZyqnnYnbUvzPmswFxBbMD0AIM0WnqbbmMWg_1_chwEA9QTgdyZTxnHsQPazym_dl3F9DhRdSXQ4Nv3vRDdjyACxaaQOzXYxD_-aDCICU7eUGTN65HyYTiRdz4EzoqAQ3LTtRmqhPX6rbFfwpjqM10uxQ-WrYxYv1dJBO2FrJfDb3GG4s2UCv_8txiUriiRRZ7Vj3evGBx82vPWgM_fBvemt-vTxzznHi-mFTnUOJT4a_L0kJp49w1svu2AWrF5sBiOYGYQyVuY2X6nlARO6qK9_fP5jmHu1f867RJVyM4Wtzb7HLrtxUC8LZMBKQs9EfQKJjhsbRe9zFR3Bwn2qK7M7400m0LJfw8uAJlLmQMZd9eBucrh97DQKibl4gGcPrXz112ybTOQ0g9CVDC20u7k36l94252eKHSAwtEN97m5Gic9zW3zKBBsDOL=s500-no

2. Fear of Music
Released: 3 August 1979
1828 Points, 43 Votes, 8 Number Ones

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/TJCNkW-3q_tfCdc3C0--JPsI7GU9dOVMAdnRf6F4h0nz7lWWPZoHd0Kom1VTLa8sssxz2C-sZywsFWtC7kojRzWwde6KRl3Fz7Q8PIyc1I93QmtaRXadoOlJy4_KKFWWzy9vKgLKE0Pf7Az6dM6N5vsiEFVJPsZRsb9sMHNBj1lQK8sroQ_VFtCnh4fh5grK47ATUMDE5BadLxm0hxEbJhJVm6EuvLKdErii9OtvSiJQ39YBAkiBFku0vYV094CfHOBeQ97twIMlDr6RQX0-EkW7G4tqvTVFqNgGCINOaDI2KADYOX9Dh98tfBi-PRje8bHAvAQvyd0FLPp2LhCZ645JTWU-HIJdeVxmfYL_LPGoWB5RTtXgoJi5fI8_fjUK_JjnOxcotfzB02bnRXzr-WPiy8F3dAc3EG0XHbzqe0t7tsW3OhWRk-jaxDOxOvxNuB_tC7FAXEuKgprqqmW8tBp4k8ZSwh-MQKXVq4W6ee0wjIVAT_u8Fo1vto9FIBpFGaUL5aN3l0EXOiWe2RG9PGcUZusYS0pXkZIgG7PR-b_k5iyDHDpnkrVMiw0OiGIwuyG24fEL734Z2DjRMfzH9B1eJ6o9suIuTLRxajXnerc5UBzPs4lGeFhjtw65UfPDY-HAgNifGCeVWEPJWax9pK2b89-PEZlZkkH3yoNB=s500-no

1. Remain in Light
Released: October 8, 1980
2120 Points, 46 Votes, 20 Number Ones

damn that is a big jump in #1 rankings

Speaking in Tongues always sounded a bit lifeless to me, I much prefer the SMS versions. More Songs sounds fantastic, but the tunes aren't super catchy. Fear was my d1, Remain my #2, but that could've easily flip-flopped, both are perfect.

pouring 1 out for 77

MSABaF is one long and amazing track off 77. FoM has the best and worst songs. I'd rate MSABaF higher than FoM because I expect FoM tracks to do better in the next round.

interesting fact: Remain in Light was on every ballot but one, as i received 47 ballots.

SiT suffers a realiti vs realiti (demo) kind of thing where many people hear SMS first and fall in love with those versions of the best SiT songs.

most annoying thing about SMS version of "Making Flippy Floppy" is that the fucking bassline in the chorus never resolves to G. there's just an empty space where that note should be. fuck

i did give doing a Top 77 serious consideration but there was just not enough songs to really do that properly. for example song number 77 only got three vote. plus asking pplains to do 77 images is too much of a ask.

by my count all the studio album tracks add up to 78 total, so I think we're good with 50.

Top 50 Songs

thanks pplains!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/BSaWqwsgbQkriGN_mfv4m5ZO_RnTsIu1rfzqosGZtdtWjr65Vcv-K4jx4dz80MBk7PBLoSkLrM4Jmq6-x4C1NGKW1JccCHZuLhu1Jb6j8l6RZzofFhUUAgcZzgMk5KfPMwAbV2ZynD6UEQ6Z1e3aXBi_UHKHWz39LnOkF2vvqoWGDEQfoeTM41tsY5S6G4H44-wLQN2sfhLSNreNS1yq9S2BObC8grMYVoKqZzST5By5IIwkAdiGSeqgFen8DO8IoMkWtoZidG2X7JeDTFFmqNdR77xg7BnJtfBvCRjOodlZ1cOQdFYHLQjvyQnJskfJF2uFMz-SIA56xz_4QF321gH15QModyt2lHfiEJ6-VXS74amsOzzBmNEgpIYBOYk8EDGm0YYel6A2AsujARnDe_ig44GMHEKWt2MWL5fIJ_lveOEzL9tEEyY8xfQVlZsg1R0wkCe1W6useLFtF0etQBzPr6viEkmu0KVq7gvA8X5P065J_f0Kgwtkl8Y5yc_O3KcN7ru45qUB_aw23Tct8zlC-Hi6akmi3XxHX3EDjV98iLY1SEkC3MEk4SnLch4IezZRlfac7Kbom5ViS5GOWvZ__bi-gyUNYoGmBAnBRNc_AC5WxsohVuUA56LqXStKXY6TMyWfpfQJBpWk26NXZO2b6F9PVYCT937yZSKF=w542-h346-no

50. A Clean Break
From: The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads
Released: March 24, 1982
339 Points, 13 Votes

TOO LOW

my #13

That's a crazy picture, nice!

ok wow i'm looking forward to all of these images

also yeah TOO LOW

going to drop the "From" past as they are in the images.

No way are there 49 Talking Heads songs better than A Clean Break.

Fear Of Music was my #1 album. It is impossible to describe the impact that record had on my 14 year old brain.

yeah me too, that record totally blew my mind

a clean break was my #4. seems like the perfect combo of 77 guitar interplay and byrne mania. very surprised it's so low.

I think it suffers (votewise) from being less familiar due to the lack of a studio LP version

yeah, i agree with that point as i completely forgot about it.

I don't really feel the soaring chorus tbh. Number 50 is about right.

Clean Break was a late cut from my bracket, love everything about it but I loved other songs more

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/diiH6N_Df4D2cwvZ7bdpSuOiwgCsQIFhEctNld7DgwgDzUm4CdpbUUmrAbNQ_gfNqJwc8rgcaDLQZhIrafIa_jK3OafAAjZAgctbHtxuYbHH3TWdAxG9E6HXN6qG7WVScKFX5G-RL1u1yk3OGA4wWEqBvbBFMLauGfkoBkGWqXGPABGmYoX0ZJpciS6rSJMBTQv7uy3idgfHbcqluSTDpopl_NvkUDdDcbOUsxGTrfEvmxzT0sXlbnDGoYrLAvtaX90aDJzFjvBzhdYoSHnNnfjZqoCTyIy4N2LgW-alC-QUQzF3iifQTVUQ2h8v8MNQ-6kJjCurDZh-BlIVvFUttcNo4dg87mJ82gsLBe1UnDN3d57ZV_BU3lH9mBsNJp9XdoLZkpoWaA-FdbXGWtsq_nMZZbO0-xIliigzks2VFmeHMmhUYGmDVebIVuPoSarTo6pXnLkstEnDxIGFUvWi_VAmS5Dk7unGjOl9Ud9muAAiGKuSwkQBqEt6wdzRYPYpfh05fNc5pk2zysIKMenBFRMfUgnF5ZUiSC65TZwn-da9z8VgracDgWKOMZWSF-UabfYcr8aEdKvjSoaw-ZrdyREJweUUL7fBJMkco8L8DflG2eC9pS0yKgFv5VqXATb_2qSqDSEtWMIiuaBsZZTK3wlRME3E2_Cs0GPZYoFY=w803-h525-no

49. With Our Love
Released: July 7, 1978
345 Points, 12 Votes

Oh man, another one that should've been higher.

oh, he has the date too. he made my life way too easy. love this picture.

This is one of the MSABaF tracks that is amazing but also kicks off a run of 3 tracks that bleed together for me on the album. Each song is excellent but not standout TH for me. The creepy synth does kinda elevate this one, though.

interesting fact: Remain in Light was on every ballot but one, as i received 47 ballots

lol

It's no "Dark Star", that's for sure.

lol, i wasn't calling you out alex in mainhattan, just an observation.

Somehow i forgot a clean break in my ballot. Such a nice small song. Beautiful guitar play. That kind of break beat is so typical of them.

I never got dark star neither. ;-)

pouring 1 out for 77

didn't vote, but following the rollout for the images and pouring another out for 77.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_VA6Hx3q2utLnuUeU0WQcO2kHQSIBZrxYA1dlwBlvAKSvgaVsZjbn_I3O6tlq9kwQTgnqQMHYVIYyFGe7S3UP3GFxe4Quz0UCBrzISh5E1ElLjYRgnn_Bq-ArfijLYAMYbxGMemrvIePiwDqq6c3LqOGV2LxLMdTfKxzZznIwRFZKwTWbCoVidY-Si8y8RUyHW6CmsdtiDhGY-m0s99N3M5jbYnAWf5psMsaWaYdDr8o0Hnidr3ANMzivpIUy-DhIZTP24eqcBNRhCHcYemT_3oLxlyuEm1UlR3PpmvQ4kLzpzb9jU1g7-7IQay5KChJIw4J1kI74-Lgr8YXA45SBCyvCotYLfGDOlIyS_9nr8umzyOxHU5F4Joi5XkqTrMMFfxegszXu6nfquM93cI5UJQEDvRh1A29S9MNn108McZ87VWxx8l9uQjOTet47wp4CWSyw5CgRxmKGQR2Ljt3EcplkzJjAUtMZ7o3rI2ep63Iv6g-2dTDHm7jwnqZf1sHVcvp4Vq3JRVWdk0pwiCSCvNeTpTVSN0ADpqPChF7OJmNVnCA8EyViJQMziaYUm3DPdXyYSdW2gkRtUS__v1aShEnoXTUO7PEo9DcpdK_B_BlP-9SA4F1qoVC8sGDU9iABPTISjyPnjGEt5NgwC8cROPGB6NHu6JCalO2vNJR=w809-h510-no

48. The Overload
346 Points, 14 Votes

NO problem with rollout so far

A terrible signal
too weak to even recognize

^^^ helluva opener

this is a good song to hang around the bottom reaches of the list

Sorry to spoil the party. Yawn. They must have taken tons of sleeping pills for this one. He sings like someone who asks for a kick in the butt.

oh no you've started the roll out!

yeah the overload is dull

overload is a nice album closer imo especially for the mania before

it should start around 10 AM Pacific each day.

xpost

god i love With Our Love, too low for sure but.. nice to see it at all.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/YfBqNB2HnkbK0HJLLw9bkGHl2wvC0tXQR0aP2HD92P70cHGUXiEdpwYIUaDe77NEgCbPE2Oie8ashaf1tGWNAaJnSuK6--bjFhBPBxsRHLGvu8Gv79JJNAM9eYnf6RoBky2TnkL_SEm8RKFOavMIpbjKMK6yKalgTnEBBlE_saza6XBL9lk-1r8b1aiCbVw2H2oVj1Fa8vigIx8n-D0J9CvorJtsp3CVaOT7BoTMym85f2fMMbWNSwF8l1kJJ7XVMwuhme65BC2UzPB_lvi5kjrWr8GOLGbCgUWxDV0BGjEpIMS2YdwM7o3devjlcoTuc3ZwGdJtd61FN6kBDYYDSAqN7yqt8lVw9h2w1oVQs2o5sFHKMy33VIBV0r4ZvODgzHyxnPDdaaB8lzYL_y94-yDjUJztXQxiLRpj4r89PIUv6WRz9xC8K7KCidCRSquhMds08_kQc29ynbO9lpvpzbyrHokXd1H3UilEezO66hhTl7wyBk3vfaCQrHqcThBs4qZGpqt-zcr4BXdiuiqCQabbOwE3KMxHwZRd_ew3kWhChF8gTa6qmptjA6u3fftAWXpuq7epIC4z6wgCxmZ5CA4dTh8RSTCuJgHqQ_hJ4RNKZaCJk_EqJgm2cBfJ7D_Ng7gjCjWi0wMRFn00KqYIAo5hd8mqrdY65J3RlA30=w822-h524-no

47. What a Day That Was
377 Points, 12 Votes, 1 Number One

cued anguished cries

whoops "cue"

i messed up on the data and sent over "What a Day It Was" to pplains instead of "What a Day That Was." someone submitted it wrong and i never did correct it and that was the one i officially used.

my no. 1

wish talking heads had recorded their own version of the catherine wheel

Xp. Me too I love With Our Love. It is so varied. Like a Roxy Music song changing every 30 seconds or so and going into completely different directions. A little bit like a hare who is beating hooks. A rather slow hare.

I'll repeat:

BBBRRRRRAHHHH
OH UH OH

I really love this song, my favorite off of SMS. The extended band turns it into such an uplifting moment. Love the little touches like the slide guitar in the chorus and Worrell's sick clavinet.

The Overload is good but a bit too grim

https://open.spotify.com/user/beeok/playlist/0n0JepS6rR5XPRILAMQJVF

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/KZYktlM53FsqoaUYDmC5Oef7Ac5heLk7R7DCTWrUAqk_WSaITIWxY3UMiYbJmyokGsZtyvrj6W0gkSl35j-RqCyn3OXvzACLFPmYPSMF0lPZnrC97dWm0rOHMHa8l3Rk0hGt9eHkLLh85ecNUVIsoG69o7O0gOV-LVaujQjEw6M9EGFKAMkLt_YKqNuZ_tdo3VMcl26y9-PFoku5L2YjcQIj6kvCHklpk56xFcwl_uV95yfGgd27fJ90OAHlsPBVAMaIT0z79sFzlTyiCCoT4nodhaRPzUQ0AnDiNHRqk_NF6g5S4Xet_iVyKf1t8Lb3dhj1Wl7hl-CccUXOp59J1R_PDhNEY4D-K09MldxTrKPbNssj58RK-7Ehvd5hefDJriWmmo2S9oXDpvWFSh6tFW1ZzzvP2U4l622REg9NPJsgNOUEMT0ts-9IFWhF83aKYpJFXqXulCxGk32asntAjjBf3waRStZculeR219W_N36TvCvgqJyAOEKEe-3iDmbjOI_YUpaJwpWx_wMMxcMXTKKD6HXM4-4eXSw44lqWsN5p1YCLPDt12IpABxk7FYWhmPWzgvQJW7QUkH9M0VP4lsNQUvdC0kDor-OTtuOS-MJnLO9znqNgPBelVCkiaJeCgjPvahRAZEu99tsdnsMfb-0c_bfEPAEDHZ2Z85r=w500-h313-no

The Girls Want to Be with the Girls
404 Points, 16 Votes

blah

One of the better tracks on More Songs.

46.

I've been listening to the downmix of SMS this afternoon, and serendipitously "What A Day" came on just as it hit the poll above. OTM on the slide and Worrell. Song is just so joyous.

The fact that Bernie Worrell was part of their band for those tours is nuts. They were really lucky!

Joyous *sounding* that is, considering lyrics like
There are 50,000 beggars
Roaming in the streets
They have lost all their possessions
They have nothing left to eat

i love "The Girls Want to Be with the Girls" and ended up pretty high on my ballot.

I beg to differ. One of the lesser tracks on More Songs. So boring and repetitive. And it goes absolutely nowhere. This is a sketch of a song, not more.

Btw the song is called "The girl wants to be with the girls"

It's a bit tough to suss out exactly what "What A Day That Was" is about, the lyrics are a little all over the place. I imagine it to be about an ancient society in thrall to some kind of holy man, they are miraculously transformed from beggars to some kind of joyous, dancing celebration. Byrne was clearly interested in all sorts of preachers and faith healers, both exotic and domestic, and I think he saw his role as a frontman to be analogous.

Btw the song is called "The girl wants to be with the girls"

― it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Thursday, March 30, 2017 1:48 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that's not true at all!

yeah, i got it right.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/PAKGm7_826VLW6vZWC5XJpLSLGXDupWYVQbVTKlFMArW-w7wL4_fskiW0_xWfLtDmP9byp7aocqg76EQm1B2aT8dE8PxSSJgNPAvEtSSjyprtTX5wZtm56NGk1pdzS7fvQrAP6Bbsr9hrb1LESbBisjl2d1ykL3RM4cDOCjeXWw-SiMAYfb3kZdR3rj42ir1cTR7vrI1zSfl4hffD8SaOfF6Ywhz4As5Xe-M93vWm7tCzBH89XDM1daB6k8nasD8AIXePZaYIJeb3kK96SfwIKAnMnzBCScBd37ixyZBmWAzXHA5b0JXdzyq92BdJRE4AKhowASRP-N9rioxekGzXJYBGTYgQv_SjgX1qGu60HUVradjz_Gq81ypLska4EQjEnuseHNWAIyT-mV0h6U43KJG7jtkp1pXuOjbIh5acxjkfPemEpcVftdBpm8lt7CXwqAvIdys5KU4yj8Kck_Elc-y3BJXGglLIXGyxAqeZWOUccOgOOwzPXwvMar-jVm-QICMqjxdIuABABqlz6WMJaXbQmnDpslk1wjKbzo61bBrKjrv2JmQsnlsixlKEgFiLMUwAWwNVQWR2fBl89LItuYiWY7COMd3oe9BmMzBmFdE6V9ju-S4BSDaSM6hrmex9GXE2P-G1eb5kDBqSF5_BeCtd1cH88Bo3CqwlPC-=w809-h515-no

45. Animals
411 Points, 15 Votes

pplains delivers again

THEY'RE MAKING A FOOL OF US

I love how ridiculously pissed off he is on this song

did Byrne ever use an obscenity in any other song?

Animals think they're pretty smart! Shit on the ground! See in the dark!

who wouldn't be pissed?

Voted for this one. The FoM version is a welcome oddity, but the live version reveals it to be a fucking jam

xxpost

"Sax and Violins" contained an F-bomb.

Xp. Oh sorry shame on me than it is my streaming service deezer which got the title wrong.

Thanks for that explanation which makes a lot of sense, Moodles. Whenever Byrne switches into that preacher mode, he loses me completely. In the beginning he was just that nervous intellectual, that was ok for me.

They're living on nuts and berries!

I love Animals. The line "I know the animals are laughing at us, they don't even know what a joke is" used to reduce me to hysterics.

xp Agreed. Remain In Light is sort of the moment he becomes a preacher and it's crazy exciting but on a slighter groove (which is any ever basically) it gets obnoxious.

Blame the cocaine

did Byrne ever use an obscenity in any other song?

― sleeve, Thursday, March 30, 2017 3:59 PM (seventeen minutes ago)

People don't know shit about the air.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/g_Ydfe-1CYL4bPJnc1tFovubX6QkKfOTYHC0fDUqyMgtIVhjGhndnEohA5s90QlC8mMYyFQpk1d7-0dV8zU42Nq58G4WNp2xWZTqpRuPmF0wG4ZiP_coV-h4qXvfzqwfYaD_ApBmaC5DOftu4Xdb1Fh9JmmOF4iVOjw-7f6yT0R2_N1BBIlL575yvyFupUImmHY98VM2eRG9uV7ru_s45H9abBRqq10uxR1OavqznNVVcOsKbZKJ4hVJIycgOphTT9XSm_NAJ-Zm9ReopwnPsJw-_t_bVgjrXOeQgNc1-k2JIC4Tmq3d1-sALuWtrBCko84Q84cp_uDjCvtw33LGpTE3lPK5EzrltEVBNMPewk4mcKdWsiTa0ufN6bakmY9kHrjOgjMr0Pt60_oA7l39lbeBckgek7Hlathio41xeo9U7fKAj1tfajlaWilo2S1QoF-2DU_eHGaJDASWBGa2QgXkALgjhVa1FawonA8XdNi_I9s1-7sNuRAQdD5asqSeUsEMNhK3WMCflNomj90_9wRD1TxW4LejErsAWAjq_-_qxi0QH-bPrLMcItG3vQPnLO2lnMYH4UfEu82FWjXvnhr5GIPdgBHshpqAcYu_-JGSHVw9o-2fctl6NggY_QU6GZQHcpMwkLR_vlDDRYL200xeJPPPZMkh3iwjnw-j9g=w809-h528-no

44. Sax and Violins
423 Points, 17 Votes

Wow!

I know it went #1 on the modern rock chart, but we know that thing was rigged. Did anyone actually hear it on college radio?

the soundtrack was def in rotation back then

(I always played the short Graeme Revell tracks)

the soundtrack was one of the first things I bought on Columbia House, more than a year after its release. I only remember the U2 and Depeche Mode tracks on the radio.

xps really love the outtro to animals

i've never heard sax and violins until now! on first listen it's up there with the best naked tracks.

yeah imo "sax and violins" is perfect

weeeeee are criminals that never broke no lawww

I voted for it.

I don't hear many Heads-ish elements in it though.

xp re: Sax And Violins

hence its eventual inclusion as a bonus track on the reissue:

https://www.discogs.com/Talking-Heads-Naked/release/1644445

xps really love the outtro to animals

me too. the sudden change of the mix is exhilarating, something that it shares with the PiL song "memories". it's interesting that the two were released within a few months of each other.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Z2ZQ6OHxGP5FreAy_TI_TztiQoqBSSiX2sI2HmltUqKdzx4B8mFR_a4W8t0WtMSgQK6gB5axnpEGBE-j4RxzvCf3OeUOgiJCA6cTNQBn38fxGTs7_KJ3_9sZ9ZhCAYYKWnEzk8Dhc6owJUmgoUJZNvEpW8wU4FXtG3L2NmI20qwu7FPDu2G0W4GRFG9J3EgDCUVcbZGM_aQyFIJpnYL-07rdRbUXyKbQ-LrRmVpdvdsSboWYlykgSMXnSYvnP-Ldc29CSIKrubXvn4exKUniTayirOG_nbsS0IMU4XytE5vfM9r8Y-5vQ1SGXPjMofVpnm5UMtumHleUx9YNB6HJuy-e76m1fCoFWPUtgjEMOTt4WOgD9sDDWEfIWRFKIId6M7fh0UNN3qrPt30MziD3se-_JN8PAbayYYlkfNyaryS9hZAGCs0qiZYqR9B6jL3yfZa4AX0SctO9c1-Hz6S_KFcmWscdl2wL_kYK837ONC8Z67a0WWuWXTCx45NGgM83EQEPvzNR3tmKrElDe-77dCCwYn3iPlp_Uo46vSfYQLRNb2KtikZE3dETzjSBqdiCgKpLC3BT4DKr6ZESprzHHLpa2k3NlhBgwzJW_JUbgxK6DMkwUO9b3Ye-nRhg_6DHhw_tSMKndyWY8s1lsb8CkppYR5PB5r9-TD5z_TE9Gw=w509-h827-no

43. Wild Wild Life
437 Points, 15 Votes

on first listen it's up there with the best naked tracks.

― Karl Malone, Thursday, March 30, 2017 2:28 PM (four minutes ago)

true. if you include it, that album's got at least three good songs. maybe four!

never liked "wild wild life". makes me think of that shitty 80s movie w/ sean penn's brother.

i did end up voting "Sax And Violins" in place of a Naked song.

would like to have that last image as a light switch plate

Kind of coasted on it's wacky karaoke video, didn't it?

WWL otoh got LOTS of airplay and MTV time.

the video is way better than the song

I love the vintage images and graphics Bee OK/pplains! they're so evocative!

i always thought Animals was a pisstake of cocaine angst/paranoia.

yes indeed, a sketch about a man so paranoid that he thinks all the animals are laughing at him

good to see Sax And Violins get some love. it had a video too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FJ8x6wnZy8

i have never seen that before

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/BDpunACwcZMxG7BTbbEEOI_Hy7DvTYAvxL7Wi6rcHQ5Esolvw2hakuLzwoRO6QApdn4V8zbj355skuhBbXgrV_ltxCnpPjFcktNtYBkgao3IYOrG5057uucScYplhzo7eU9o7LZYGKcgfvAfsOTmsaAETCSxEBqjTHXz3SurCE8_cZ5e3iNnfeetZsPt9X2cw9du4yvR7aX1j60whKtys99yCGMkAGHYGF3VwGUP-3XPnOK799m5-Rxb8agNg7qP7HXJMP3BdLoXzKIwhvjzyx5m656wjuZ1zL5VsSqHpMw4eHda0j9cJTPsg0zCx667U87lwmbz2C4IpwQemIe39dFZz3r4eHoFTNzNLTss0IEaH9O9gy1sdWqIPK0dXDoimx-PDUxTh65nuoGNlrj6xn6B88HZhP2cpm-RdCLQgjRwe_p70plyvag2e1R31qfTFtQPjRuq8aTR1qcJugpsSSWt9JwJy57qrnGgpWCHKtKlU1S9auOyUjrluoPRfJVMOgAz7sqU1MrlXqW20RCU4Zn4FLgUztK80Tfe-YXcg7sVDKDMqq56RpNxv0rb8dtRBnfwXfBlyQwpk918VfE1nfEyMN7JHe2Ny9ZRHwx8bpBlw7Wj7u9kS6k0FjauiwIGHFOqnd_4qGScJUJM7KD1fUcj9y79la1xhIW9zwhlBw=w817-h522-no

42. Paper
446 Points, 17 Votes

"Paper" above "Animals" is a travesty of etc

Some pioneering guitar work on Paper.

And retro at the same time.

Byrne and Harrison's guitar work on this album is phenomenal

Paper is prob my least favorite on FoM, but it's got an awesome riff.

also like that it doesn't have a traditional verse-chorus structure. it seems to be composed of 4 separate four-line verses which then repeat

The Heads were pretty good at avoiding traditional song structure when they wanted to

and his songs often don't rhyme -- I didn't notice until a few years ago

I like how the guitars chomp forth like an army of wolves in this song in the "hold on... to that paper" refrain. Mean!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/HC9QQXVkBYpGxQiF3Kjc-Nxe2bTpO_y_yIUOURpjJHc1Lrka-qugnlk4p6GnVT6RgkxBcydCQogTmyuXsEYmhK2GloPndVA0Zds2KUQHedqOC-8CO04qdRdbvuj7-43pwXCXd7k8Mgb6ITAUChzTE0fg8OMUpkYcmFZP8Jxql9gwucnagEgBJS9eiy_6F7tMPLkac_6BkgETTuCb9IlL2SFh5V4tmEMPx4Mrro5cOK5kL76QOfENtUEK0TattatLpwDAYLDWQre4VNNlVwxC3JT7xcA0-oI0MvF1KB1lBujf-ib44ZqZRvGYKYfypB6zhrFHMlpdp2zkjAj_N4L1L7Wkx1QrSZp6MGIZFDvB-9Jgkaat4x-U2IxobvIpAk-Eko4MMHlFmilowYQ7aos0jL2UshM4vSWF8nV1Gv9rdrAcS-gDK3zgaUFFwKrLQcdB0i8T3iR1Ziz10_PblnwGDF6YqKJwrfDTjaTUrSP-o2KWlvH9D8_YiU66V80Pxj_r1pha_PEKUAuzeXRIqGS1nTtgyB5yLJ5qv3JfW_U5cxyZHqnIVNzO2ZF0EFujnznlGjYoYQhVdPK65-_-moxKmtAK1xDIeRuxkZ2OKoeJzKJ4lWKcaSsHr61G84t_k9YhhtQwvatu-6gFQzdmEXImok7rjwW1NWgu9tlW08iYqA=w628-h901-no

41. Sugar on My Tongue
454 Points, 18 Votes

Paper seems like an early song compared to much of FoM, could've fitted onto MSABAF or 77.

xp nice! still like A Clean Break more w/r/t early non-LP tracks

Wow, never heard of this song

voted for this. love it to death, for it is so gloriously weird

obligatory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE808HLqS-o

very happy to see A Clean Break and Sugar on my Tongue hit the list. Two of my faves early tracks. And, of course, TOO LOW

threw a lot of points at "sugar on my tongue", glad it see it show

That image!

A few thoughts:

Agreed on the guitars in Paper – pretty sure I voted for it on those alone.

/xps really love the outtro to animals
/

me too. the sudden change of the mix is exhilarating, something that it shares with the PiL song "memories". it's interesting that the two were released within a few months of each other.

This is an exceptionally good point! In the case of PiL, it's clearly two mixes spliced together. I'm not sure if that's the case here but the effect is similar.

never liked "wild wild life". makes me think of that shitty 80s movie w/ sean penn's brother.

Footloose?

I still love that Trick Daddy and CeeLo had a hit off a Talking Heads DEMO

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/AIVyPIvDupmNLXeORLCq_phOfcv63wMvLcfoKErBxG5rWkH10c6CUt1ierc2Hqr_9mGUdB8tqD3fQCCdryZBfgpwTWVlM5YOREUzt1STglTghk_IjEXX57L6fALW20yMYdfmvp7yEhA2oq1x3Vt8yrX4-rqm9XPmlmfekPTjariDan1palqcI92fZe0XyiPOvC_JrKqkSGL4CPdZ8li3518dI0g2iA-95RBTMyHL7z0-vwOopwqbPS4f95niccbQxryqSDBCpVwRB6bGUj3gYpBhwrqiUqQoN5mfFH54a1xQNiQDLhvpJm5HLpWegHCJbCvCE4Y5_q5Hqn3_2uWY8N2x4YRsMm7OJ0Fx7f_oHfJjMVdAi2rZlHC1lhovlO0hMbOg03GXKENgeBCiQXph3wDoXW8Yk3lXouL7MbmZAdGT9fZOgAgGOneBrXfCLCuX5B0Yp8rP5yJkTk-GL1qWkzLz-pStwHS0I4cM3w1AXikRBgztGgxampNBmDcIPFd3U11Q6P-k0yqoo8IuAfJCJMwPl1POoRVXjKS2hvj4y0aKDHQl81dWnsKzrv_XvlYJFDn9EN-jnILDj0eQJGYwh2EiLoQ0jVGiu5iKk1klfCTOjkjNLy3_flQ2bF3PI7jzUC7GvxB0YlYjV8aEMRQK-eN8WoQkJoYZU7tABVy-zA=w821-h526-no

40. Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town
501 Points, 19 Votes

I guess I can see people voting for this in their top 25, unlike some of the other placers so far. Not for me, though.

I always underrate this one. It's a manifesto of sorts.

this always seemed like the perfect opening song for a debut album to me

you know what to do when I SAY

with our love and sugar the only two from my ballot so far

that is likely a good sign for you

The marimba solo sounds like a producer's choice.

^yes, agree.

I like how young his voice sounds

If you're re ally smart, you'll know what to do!

have already hit over 500 points and at song 40.

Stock broker make a bad investment when love has come to town

This line cracks me up

marimbas are definitely a producer touch

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wfOsCltHtoG3U8N5lvcVoTEvLFjSpk3kKeTyWpVWLDukNGADQlGyoffgdlJEIY0W5MPKS_2-xq0DhZVTewJagoI7G3NHZunUK66MCYAIerR4F7okzJmFbeg3Slsm-ks6UzUY8oAmkDtu5FDf8DupdC5UQKbePt10Vmyp-89Qq2Jp5Lvuh0-YzqN0nvZo5qIHzB_OygJfHnCr1OvkyFzpnGx8bsyq21ByEpSip7FCNlBzPNFvbNxEmQtjF4BKNdrMflj03p72zesgnO3p8zXvm7nG9J7jyQAKqa1qI1B-XxmND-ITtJFpaYZLdP1k3mhMSl0pIORdCMswePAhrShGEHTd-2eDDP71YtpW4zwDVK_BAEs9umopkKq7jGt2AbK20Ya5lN9unPgXQ5dnIfmAhKdTeCKCJROsvnAH6wbkWXHFBRrW1KLofKmsESGPCxCf07GRbEnHRDSIKeRmNJbJtor_Wb8LBAsQEVN-mZ60k1y_tocMEHLaIfYmRHJe_04hK7bnUdyCqQcZS5Vjet5xfjFr952gWva081plmtw3dXEfv6Rp4V68iRss7kOOI6Ht1AHsBsRjctE6ezr76uVAKllXz_xYj4KSkwvXg2s7nwEnYxqi0VtDrSZ0lFg08wkuzFdazKQa4MPH787tHGemodyEu4M8_1RlWAbd97uJXQ=w818-h529-no

39. I'm Not in Love
539 Points, 18 Votes

turns out i didn't vote for this one, had to be one of my last cuts.

didn't the Toadies cover this?

I love this song.

Voted for this one, another brilliant bit of interplay with Byrne and Harrison

so many of these songs feel like they should be a band's best song. the ending amalgamation of jams is so awesome.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/PxG63Z5TVeXynbL1ddayxJTn3nXhwERoL4OadHHrkaDiRzBBjyekDU0Sz6oG2PVWpRJ1zgZXkNau0tTxsQMn1unmY9xkgYj1xqJ7uBVnZNBG5X2QJRyBTxRxzh2OMyYA7kpHhgtp-kkrT-QQ-XOh0NjdMZikNsSLndK_DhfDWIWdhalgC1RNlNluB-Tu532MXj_K4lWP4C_TNwD7mCYNfxP4rRphG5Pid5eXz3ejuI_n_QNe1pJQhfr1MdKJtIDLMPVCLibQZWutAy5-VhfAbJaxY7Zz4pahK_15XZNa8hlwyqBxqC1EDvTbruqqfNKQHg0okAHNOAlMHJd4UE07UpQhQuoA4T9BNRwVZlmxyE2myMvYW-5hzuVya9Q05LQJZ0JOcdzDxYdRoEG8pXS7phs1rD2C2BRrxc0M56pTSxkboU1Z6sEa6ACOTcGBwf5QGIHFCvmbOaen7mO5PpSVtJmuWhK--yg0snDSkdPfqDn4Idkea8en190C8-8eQcsiapQK1R9uuJ2n0z8Ndu4JxbO3Mj-7HZBUmADdQ5Itc5F_e6HXHGcZx6psf8fzQZY_0RSQr5UbRYmp1s5XLp9wf36hWKvAJeGmabTDRshRCY4eJtqm1WeBt9VFcYRZIx6A490OAjWg9zl08fJ8pN5Khvv0MVbecElAgH3c3vvuBA=w814-h517-no

38. The Good Thing
556 Points, 21 Votes, 1 Number One

i love the "uh oh" graphic so much

More songs from More Songs

I voted for "I'm Not in Love" at least partially on the strength of how Byrne's "okay" ushers in the rest of the band after the opening riff.

the good thing was my #1

i was hoping to get it into the top 25
i am disappointed but i understand

every song from More Songs might show up then i'm guessing. i mean considering the big hitters that lay ahead.

best thing about The Good Thing IMO is Tina's vocals being mixed in that really weird not-quite-lead-not-quite-backing-vocals way in the chorus. Eno's idea maybe.

the lyrics are pretty great too

xxp these feel like some of the big hitters

The Good Thing is amazing, was my #11. That chorus is sooo creepy

Yeah, it was apparently Eno's idea to bring in the studio secretaries for the chorus.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/dz6UlGfTrZ1X-z-uSTlLCSa_C0n_oS07gk6LVgIFlCByaSzHc7n1NWlrP8fNUH2aU9_5lVmx1gDl7OV7IVbNK9qsSfUuC5VBIJ3F10QBsKcJLAT5V68hQszGKf7C1tVxpGGKyI1PIagtOlIxFbKd_jsdkwyWk4S6KDfGV2fHg0-BaL6Ejol8dFDSqe3SKINJxhJIBdNI02GSATBza_OFL3ZE57sM9mq4wir-RVswrFn8q-fnn6j2t9BEUU4ktBog5LTHrJvLowgDc6EwZDAVmIQlV6SSUNCbjHXOCoRRxNPWQqUQe_WNN0CPpg_iGPURsfZ6c1Fk4K-ebVSen3mbFkiDeIpOVUGPxb9ebRFrbD_cVRfTk1wC7W-KFQZsCERxp6EnjQWS1x0yb3bUDFWLWPSb74gSG_hQViUa_-cXysiaO9U7NTJfpCkRBOE8nd8D5X36yj0EBmhjj7TMn1zH8_DdCOv2r3Slb8nDZi7SJJd_cM-OVRyo-f3r03aJZuMd35ha756VSaoATfBXCsPYAtzRdL9FHtcijeHyKkJ8H3ffd5dalxKnPLZUPG4HhHYNscbQp4o7x_xl4JD0aBdXaAXbsujTBJ2vhez5EG4hMFFWUDWvzxAxf052AmzxJz9fFrX-hjuNL0EA3_43CzY7qCpF7UPGxuPQLHJ6HFhRoQ=w518-h827-no

37. Seen and Not Seen
564 Points, 19 Votes, 1 Number One

another song with fascinating, somewhat creepy lyrics!

So fucking moving.

These images are great.

I looove Seen and Not Seen. I feel like it's sometimes unfairly dismissed as the throwaway on Remain in Light but there's something about the narrative mixed with that ethereal 'chorus' that's just so blissful to me and sounds nothing quite like anything else they ever did

not been able to catch up with the poll because UK. But holy shit pleasant plains these pictures are amazing. Bee OK thanks so much for your work on this. I'm really looking forward to catching up on the countdown tomorrow

The synth squeals! Oh man.

those background flourishes give it an appropriate sci-fi feeling

Seen And Not Seen my #1

a personal favorite, also one of Byrne's most human & profound "mistrust of conformity" lyrics. Love the bass, that percussion line, the guitar parts that drift in and out like sunbeams

it is perfect in every way

Seen And Not Seen was in my top 10, it has the same feeling as the Forest Temple from Ocarina of Time

last one for the day.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_r1V3eOl80iSwvHCsYVde1cR-OzJDq4cIgfxqjAtK-GNDlFEJjCSRkMRmB0Y0MQi9INwnxRf9d-8cM9UQrwoPzYiqdGvuQtQ3531EMp06AqMovx_0wJIwTGJ95FfhG2zrsMtAKZMPQ8kvLEBDw7U-g1NHY00H6TMsCw4PeV5F79sL2hUYla8ouNHYnHTS-T1NTteScwEURjc5P6bhN8rES_f3_3d1igsjSdasjviV4FVS7NZz-CfHnFQsfSgak1d4PtPLSO2o_RJ5KdX_nW_0-_o9vzZcPP9ip1fQT_hZdd3dWTu-zaO4TbuO-tOqVr2bqZR7L6f2o8gtro5S2X_x6m_oRCx5wRMfo7zLCvs-38BhnLsoTcMCCDcaWx5bcajh30j8lB2e16vGPBYUl-NGysDPSh4Gu7EZLYGQ2uyNxR-ApRYzQgYvhan3fFK9540IogZomhC0bkHhClzedp5xGvFDacvJVSkuG8xeHPw8blF73sDOBRGt1CMUIo5n8DukbXxWCTOuSN5bo6wNKBSBptvKBNwee8ZmlhzoO8TOuToEM8-_MBeNzjOT3mLK5XmU4umkdQ25A-X-h587XzKHwYnGQo9_tTZfcZmnGqRPq-gwNfYPjP_vUnX9zt-Vn3AZ_ZAanBI3FKOB4tShBWXBsIPNjJdMH0dqmc9zefE9A=w817-h518-no

36. Pull Up the Roots
565 Points, 19 Votes, 1 Number One

xxp my #7 haha I love the Forest Temple as well

Busta Cherry playing on this one? Has the same popping bass sound as Regiment.

Xpost, meaning Seen and Unseen.

I would love to have heard a live version of "Pull Up the Roots."

Cherry's not credited for bass playing on RIL: Weymouth, Eno, Byrne, and I think Harrison get credit.

I love how the music of "Seen and Not Seen" (my #2) giddily anticipates with those those frog-like pulses hovering above, while the narration, delivered as if by some obscure meditation guru, forecloses.

Pull Up The Roots snuck onto my ballot at the end of the voting process. Most of the songs on Speaking in Tongues sound unnecessarily choppy--Pull Up the Roots has a more fluid groove without sacrificing the hooks.

Cherry's not credited for bass playing on RIL: Weymouth, Eno, Byrne, and I think Harrison get credit.

two of my favorites in a row. i failed to listen to speaking in tongues much until recently, and i feel like an idiot because i'm pretty sure i was always mixing it up with little creatures (which i still don't like after more listens). upon rediscovery i got really obsessed with pull up the roots. it gets stuck in my heads for hours.

Pull up the roots is, to me, the nervous counterpart to Naive Melody and it works perfectly as a stand alone track. I don't know how many times I played the track for people to ask me who it was.

Pull Up the Roots was on my ballot. Epic satanic choral reggae (or something). quite a different lope for this band up until this point

PUtR such a great, great track. That and "Flippy Floppy" perennial solo dance jams when I think nobody's looking.

If the "Overload" made it, I can't imagine any tracks on RiL not making it. Whereas there is still a track or two from the other albums I can see not making it. Great roll out so far!

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

Pull Up The Roots (live 1983)

yeah great rollout so far i concur.

funny how the non-extended cuts from Speaking In Tongues are pretty obscure now; as the CD copies all use the extra long mixes from the original cassette. some are a minute longer, some almost 2 minutes. i'm presuming the new vinyls go with the same versions too.

looks like the vinyl has the shorter versions:

https://www.discogs.com/Talking-Heads-Speaking-In-Tongues/release/4620453

"pull up the roots" was my no. 4

xp oh yeah.. weird how neither the CD nor the vinyl sleeves ever seem to make any mention of these different mixes.

Since I missed the end of the albums rollout, I wanted to say how radical and transgressive Fear of Music sounded to me when I first heard it. If there was one seminal album in my life, this was it.

It set me off on a path of lifelong interest in experimental music

even the blank black LP cover with diamond plate embossing and the record sleeve image obtained using heat-sensitive photography felt like a new turn

I didn't really think of it in these terms at the time, but Speaking in Tongues was the moment I walked away from my emotional investment in TH. I bought it and the later albums and dutifully listened to them all but just never had the same enthusiasm for them after that. This in retrospect was unfair because there is a lot of interesting stuff there, but my overriding impression at the time was that all the later stuff was watered down and uninteresting compared with the earlier stuff.

dog latin is right about the temporality of it all, approaching them in different order at a younger age I think I would have had a completely different experience, with other favorites

xpost Speaking in Tongues was the first one I bought. Listened to it constantly. Didn't have headphones so just laid down on the floor with my head between the speakers.

thanks to this poll listening again to all of the albums has given me a new appreciation for Speaking in Tongues and Little Creatures

^^^ from the sleep of reason
a boy is born

pplains really hit this one out of the park, again. even though i sort have glanced at the images beforehand, seeing them reviled in real time has already made this poll so much better.

the images are excellent. Better than the song in some cases.

Reviled seems to put it harshly! ;)

Bummed I don’t have time to follow this thead for real but

Can anyone vouch for the second Tom Tom Club album?
― SSN Lucci (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, 30 March 2017 3:51 AM (yesterday)

The second album is basically the first album again, but not as good. Next few are v patchy but I looooove Suboceana (first Tom Tom Club I ever heard). You could make an OK best-of everything after the first album, probably? But No Talking Just Head actually hangs together better as an album and a solid listen than the later TTC records. The solo tracks poll should be redone with a full noms list tbh.

If anyone doesn’t know, but would like to know, the third Club album, Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom, features a cover of Femme Fatale with all four Heads plus Lou Reed playing on it.

Top 26 Albums Full Results:

1. Remain In Light 2120 Points, 46 Votes, 20 Number Ones
2. Fear of Music 1828 Points, 43 Votes, 8 Number Ones
3. More Songs About Buildings and Food 1532 Points, 37 Votes, 4 Number Ones
4. Speaking In Tongues 1389 points, 35 Votes, 3 Number Ones
5. The Name of This Band is Talking Heads 1253 Points, 30 Votes, 5 Number Ones
6. Talking Heads: 77 1235 Points, 32 Votes
7. Stop Making Sense 1019 Points, 24 Votes, 5 Number Ones
8. My Life in the Bush of Ghosts 740 Points, 19 Votes, 1 Number One
9. Tom Tom Club 563 Points, 15 Votes
10. Naked 560 Points, 15 Votes 1 Number One
11. Little Creatures 497 Points, 14 Votes
12. The Catherine Wheel 356 Points, 10 Votes
Rei Momo 126 3
David Byrne 120 3
True Stories 108 3
The Modern Lovers 78 2
Feelings 46 1
Close To the Bone 38 1
The Last Emperor 38 1
Uh-Oh 36 1
Dark Sneak Love Action 35 1
Bonus Rarities and Outtakes 34 1
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today  34 1
Look into the Eyeball 34 1
The Forest 34 1
Love This Giant  33 1

ah man this rollout has been great so far, cheers guys for all the work

seen and not seen probably my highest to place so far, wonderful to have on while going for walks at twilight

Loving the roll out. So many things, like A Clean Break, which I love but never think about. I even gave the Overload another listen and was won over by the atmospherics. What a great way to rediscover a favourite band. Never realised just how brilliant 'What A Day That Was' sounds live.

The Name Of This Band... was my number one album in the end. It pretty much works as a 'best of' and some of the live versions (Animals especially) really stand out compared to the studio versions. The idea of TH as a 'live band', philosophically speaking, is really important to me. And despite their pioneering work in the studio with Eno, I still think Byrne's approach to the live spectacle is the most interesting and exciting thing about them. The idea that SMS has a secret conceptual narrative - the idea of the small man being slowly swallowed up by modern society until the suit he wears becomes him - is so much fun. SMS itself is just such a hoot all the way through.

Speaking of Animals, I'm very surprised it hit so low. Always saw it as a major highlight on FOM, and my number 6. Love it when Byrne becomes these characters, in this case a sort of Doctor Moreau / Planet of the Apes chimera where by the end he's just grunting 'They're setting a bad example... They're making a fool of us'. It's hilarious and disturbing and weird and everything I love about this band.

Pleased Speaking In Tongues did so well. Song for song, it's maybe their best, although a lot of the songs are overshadowed by their live counterparts on SMS which is a real shame. I always skip 'Burning Down The House', but the rest is very cool. Don't think it deserved to beat-out the debut though.

skipped it due to tom jones / the cardigans perfecting it i guess

I think prior associations with Tom Jones will always cloud my impression of that song. The SIT version is also way too slow-sounding for me.

The lyrics on Animals is proto-Doges memes

I'M MAN... AND THAT'S A FACT
I FOUND OUT... ANIMALS DON'T HELP
ANIMALS THINK... THEY'RE PRETTY SMART
SHIT ON THE GROUND... SEE IN THE DARK

http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg622/bizarrogazzara/TalkingHeadsOnceInALifetimeVideo_zpsi1puu26b.jpg

Pull Up The Roots my number one - maybe there are TH songs I've loved and thought about more in the past, but over the last two three years that groove keeps coming back to me, above all the little bump in the chorus just as he's hitting 'pull up the roots'. Fragments of the lyrics stuck in there too… I don't mind some slight disorder… everything has been forgiven… miles and miles of empty highway.

Probably helps that there isn't a SMS version… never got as worn out as Making Flippy Floppy, Girlfriend is Better etc.

I am greatly enjoying this thread, thanks for y'alls hard work, it has me poking around in lot's of places I haven't been to in years.

Most of you would know this I'm guessing, but just in case - someone produced stereo folddowns of the 5.1. mixes that Harrison made for the reissues, they can be grabbed here as Flac files.

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

Quite a bit of variation as you might expect, some even have different vocal takes.

oh wow, thx!

the 5.1. mix of Fear Of Music sounds like a completely different album (not sure if I prefer this version or the original, but it's certainly different)

Thank you for the link, MaresNest!

the Fear of Music downmix is the biggest change yeah, it sounds much clearer and brings out a lot of the background ambience that wasn't very apparent before

They're all on Youtube I believe, for quick listening.

wtf @ Byrne's weird yodel at the end of the remixed version of The Lady Don't Mind

<3 u for that bizzaro gazzara

It's so funny that the TH downmixes have gotten so much attention. It seems every message board I post to has made a big deal out of them – even the ones that aren't about music!

It's particularly funny because just about every "classic" artist has received the 5.1 treatment at this point – and while I would agree there are some special things that pop out of the Talking Heads mixes, they aren't as unique in that respect as you might imagine. Most non-Eno produced artists have alternate tracks and vocals that show up on their surround mixes too.

All that said, I really enjoy the 5.1 mix of Remain In Light that I bought a few years ago. That record is particularly suited to the format and Harrison (who I believe was charged w these mixes) did a nice job.

thanks again Maresnest, I needed that 5.1 version of "Life During Wartime" but had all the rest.

Former ilxor JBL alerted me to the downmixes a few weeks ago but I'm just now getting/listening to them — really eye-popping (ear-popping) stuff.

Do you need a special stereo to play the 5.1 mixes?

they are 2-track stereo "mixdowns" from the 5.1 version but you can still hear the differences in the mixes

so, no.

sleeve, do you by any chance have "once in a lifetime" RIL version you cld share? i re-downloaded RIL a few times and that song seems to either have been removed or corrupted?
xxpost

yeah does yr ilxmail work? gimme a day or so.

I had the same problem with a different track

yes. ty so much!

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtDh1R-OgY6aCapg4plkg-n_0IxLc9AKk here's all the downmixes on youtube

Do you need a special stereo to play the 5.1 mixes?

I was just saying the actual surround mixes are pretty cool. Listening to all the parts in Remain In Light panned across the surround field is pretty revelatory.

lol "I'm Not In Love" now has "Don't Fear the Reaper" levels of cowbell

really eye-popping (ear-popping) stuff

i heard these (the downmixes) for the first time these while bathing in talking heads over the past few weeks, and they've quickly become my "official" versions. not for the differences so much as the clarity. even on crappy equipment, they sound much more vibrant and dynamic than any other digital version i know of. it's almost like hearing the albums for the first time again.

^^^ A big chunk of my music listening is at work on cheap earbuds, and even on youtube those downmixes sound amazing.

Hearing The Overload with next to no reverb is pretty wtf

Hearing these 5.1 downmixes has changed my life.

by economizing the number of channels, efficiency is multiplied

Yikes, the downmix of "Memories Can't Wait" is blowing my mind.

I'd imagine the downmixing process was like left = LeftFront+LeftRear+center+bass, right = RightFront+RightRear+center+bass. But there may have been hilarious things you could do if you could manage to almost isolate single tracks by combining the 6 channels.

^^ otm

Xp, about memories can't wait

"by economizing the number of channels, efficiency is multiplied"

lol

i'm late but i'm up

I was late
but I'm up
polled up
polled up

ILX is right. "sax and violins" is good. I am excited for whatever today's "sax and violins" will be!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/NJ4XONXluwUgh-lpCjL2f0tTwRnSZ68uPtz3rqIBOqR0nnU-UtBA_VCO40toZyFHhXS10LDGSq-qYXYkQd-RW9GXY1jnru_OBUlOx2sg9iuW5IUZV5pXOvnPHlsG1hhN7TP0GwgHKArowCIqNunEN1ACn-KAheoVPdckyzVv98PP2GX9_IdI9U0VGQ0_1Ed0LX6ACZt4tHaUXE7_e28rKnsw42BHlh09ghXIJR3d07ikDqNPgbv-cVGy0_TrBdFy0kDqicaETxV3Woe7mG2-BXL0gKpA7mTQceh0_hhK027nMePOyIRqk5nrMs3s-OtyA3pHB2iXV718acrNLOgNqUn6NhL9mTe256IInEW0sy7t-EYYYtdxHUCHeHskuS3MZWF647km1_wbtMJwcTkJp1WpOOJxNEYRmGY39DJa3DYFQAUw0bngM4vTAVSHIZy8oYC1b55eNLb_INZWEjADN9Z-4oMGQZ_D-4B5V73DzJU7C1Hhru_UbYf3kE26IsXZq79QSzaJCOJqfPR9yP841gUmVGYKHjA1XNAFTHO178lH7QNc1DfvfGoa8alUKFWOgeAzHbdVE2uKKwzpbxDMZ_EwHaVB-igH4tIjRA6svHkld9qFtofpEHTG8tCkE0PEzx-mLZZq_araBEtbX-yat-mUk6jkXl7wdOU-qTtaEA=w809-h505-no

35. Stay Hungry
580 Points, 50 Votes

i think this is the more songs song i voted highest. live versions are all incredible

Too busy to have voted but loving this poll. Also: the images are fan-tas-tic.

Stay Hungry was one of my late additions--that outro is so deliciously creepy

"Here's that rhythm again/here's my shoulder blade"

yeah, I love that part

so many great outros on More Songs

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/VQKFbKmtNslOnobmA2vnMr0i_qWxqX9UYG6gMbM4278QqQtoGVDTOZTIDGZs6xSXqN-Em3cNIx9Fuzr-virUOiLbgNWFa7B7ISKxLSwc1rEW2MAtPQJzLKHAw0Za2sydU-kn9-uMSBxTb4A-0Gnff4fVwCm4drJjQ5TxhxOPnfs_oYQb5Qm57tlNWWCJLdpRtre6CZzt0vqeFBHjhe12Jb7m_QmWT_vGPJlz-1Pug7xQCeHndbBS9Sl9mQ9EAj2cuTeygbwGTHszI5gyjLFaEoyVXc8J4tzcWyY16gDhAJyRMlopkNk-Rkp_PlRZQS6pDK8x6KTgH_Y8dZrqrrb4psAOsdOyu6zy5jNmKIhAjoLjF_6nvS9ILrQF9aLEzBUbjmlmUNZK8fZ-4Y2sY3XmMf1KpbULknuHeAgTGgLYPX2Gqs_JSMWZIJo0ZPHHSWINa7rNimGrVwWUgNEBFl_RSbTkf68edhAKIr7SLv1m6Ykkli0GyGWt21dJeNf0LEh2se3HRiEBZPWZF1UR9EVMlis3I7K6U9X97QtMix_fo_7A-Wl4D6i6lYCpQ-RT7SbEdvhxmgrLbEazdWA5vzeN-2CyIMRPthiLjCaiDFnkUBmukZnGupTig0ppj1K4mXQB_GgLfIjA9OpWWQmVWyTI7wmrVgR34jj5Kwr9c9BaLg=w817-h532-no

34. Air
584 Points, 20 Votes

Think I could happily listen to the Stay Hungry on a 10-minute loop.

Kind of want to do a 'too low' for The Good Thing & I'm Not In Love, but all of the tracks so far have been great and pplains' images are perfect and it's a Friday so why waste time being a dick?

*Stay Hungry outro

Nice pic--Gateway Arch interior!

https://open.spotify.com/user/beeok/playlist/0n0JepS6rR5XPRILAMQJVF

aaiiiiiiiir

hey Bee OK, did Stay Hungry really get 50 votes or is that a typo?

no, 20 Votes not 50.

thanks for pointing it out

it's interesting that more songs from More Songs have shown up than for any other album so far

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/yRW204QB00Ei0JZV0n4xLZ5JFReT7hLHSu5zaYxjpdotNIWoroeqP36BV7JkARlD45rC9EiKDqSuaLlbET--D5qN-4SG-hHDLewZbDxdTanqlfwTVvM72dk78I4zKhfCFx2EWyNv-ZcXAPX0Qeu81ps0Vxs9rOCFwnx5bRJK7qFuPUD445hQeUKEM2qfhPiiD1HIQBPyK98gUtqAvYeEGJv8kR7YpwyUcG4zbEb_Nj0UoZNdtdIOYKwdkgm_xGExR7XUbg1qLfoJwsfjtn8hR9pR1mzOYHa_RIE-jr5hH29adzD1lM28RzCIYeDW-NgoEgf5uX6NsS38FLY3_WSI6A7IUt3qt0bXVoiucbc43wSq2ZEMG9wo_lIpmdIZOXWSvwoUWHj01TcoXRdqrvmMoVuSAbd07YZ_p5g3LaIPv3V4Ht-8auBPftEtsxHTWHI_qlCjaiL689nXgpMC4HpEwXicsqBVyL4EzYdCJKKxnnpRCEB8_oS4ATJHj3c2HgItoQZ2OIfXiFsqq7eTop3tnLWgHcWDjZPJbX3CLH5qc5T7G7zEEiCXX8PMi1VLQkyq_zyn819G0LxE-2P0pNifeoZqgI72shIwsddnwfjZrWUYfVE-bkK3V9aXWb-Ye2L-ex7CN0V2xW0BMLGhCFqLstkbdubiH4hqvBWBGM2uOw=w809-h532-no

33. No Compassion
601 Points, 21 Votes, 1 Number One

love that pic
thinking now my number one won't place but hey ho
love air

Ahh nice, voted for this but wasn't 100% sure if it would place.

lots of guinness in that pic, is it popular in north America?

Ha the Arch transported me immediately, great image. Saarinen piece has two super recall pieces for me, that cabin, and the little elevator capsules. Unforgettable.

I don't know if Harrison or Eno played the outro synth in "Stay Hungry," but it's one of the most haunting bits I've ever heard.

i think Guinness is pretty popular here in America. it's sold everywhere.

xpost

ha cheers i had no idea

what i found really funny is that i was in Dublin it seemed like all the locals, in the downtown bar we were at, were drinking lighter beer and the tourist, me included, were drinking the Guinness. You could walk outside and see the brew house.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/32MLfUQKcJ3zKKT_F7U_ykA2zL3ZKo1T8DcqkXVCCOIbHXZP1_xR0brkA3A2CcCiK4assGPpQ7y87z5ChWBVLBIhhte7q7Khk89D0EwptibRnhIfn_2XYyeHSTZN1t2-GUFNtpKqXf_fPVt0cktY7x-LKbM2H_krxdqmHippBbMXPzbwKddaK3ymrtQLXZiBe-5oLd0OH3-ny0EuRnppSHD9Nn5Np7rJcL_Dn4AYOevFhXGEYr6NKxrLKvdTdubbvQZ3jaUt3rRSaL1esBlnVGDYYGdGjwRYAVBPmRzQsWWXbup9Br--NjzzOb-YF6YxLeUpupIVcdeXwjIk4dpJdOYQ0ZqiJy8pAb_BYcoiCwRkeCVMHNBxOsyYmtMgjHyD_EH_cDJjKPpSh8Mo06Hy5jWvxLLbD7OnrWumQw79YKNO6akN9qEROq7z4G6J4JOnQSoKkTW3tqggHctx918qMJEd6b2QDGtGKBkln4J2dKQW4fZRnklkO9-XfJyCklKDpRL4tm2sA4S4CXGeDxFY31_nI8f6-zfG7-HFS4X2aErkS_4fyumaVXN-Oz0lFo35u9CnNTLs-SDjK2bfTGJp0ONEmqTi8zzITdEtGbA6-nIH2qhVrr7vCGaF83Es8WHDWLfxZY9e-HyQnMQ0nX0nYQkUF_bNUO5zSQvn8XNVQA=w809-h516-no

32. Take Me to the River
624 Points, 22 Votes

surprised this one is showing up so soon.

I can't stop thinking about this

http://www.infinitelooper.com/?v=XIW4skg3Ceo#/250;265

that placing surprises me but hey this is ILX

yeah surprised! didn't vote for this because I thought it would place highly anyway.

at least in SF it seemed like this was played on the radio constantly for years after it came out - throughout the '80s anyway

what i found really funny is that i was in Dublin it seemed like all the locals, in the downtown bar we were at, were drinking lighter beer and the tourist, me included, were drinking the Guinness. You could walk outside and see the brew house.

― Bee OK, Friday, March 31, 2017

otm. The locals drank Bud, I drank an embarrassed Guinness.

the Guinness there tasted different, maybe the freshness or my imagination.

iirc Guinness has a different recipe as brewed in Ireland. There's also a third different recipe brewed in South Africa.

so it was different, good to know after all these years.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/X5u4t61UoQl1N6r0GduC_NjFajPIHh4nNnujPQMsCE6579hIQTtLzeUCQTWl3ttGTsjAPALoiVUYvt_RqTBu2FWN8hkHPayrmLb9v2b_BmWj-zEnQAKtQ0cljD6jzFmTHZxGWNzvAfI8OB1nblwEwLNhgi_ow1Kis4aOQOgqW5YmswNGiS9iuDreO67pVzEXA4A33YLRDC2rQcDba4z0OXc4jE5I4ifS1FvraYWVhPPle8seVJCFrj0h3jcvkh1RhBmHTTIdiK9OnWsUGP90fqTXQ6lbDEN5iWce1vTt0sUCTlAx2Gi-wXBgJli15yF0BSgX6lIrSVdhMas5xdVQA-yfYCNbaFYv9GdVcSdEpDb5XPN14Ij7SB_owbzE6qTAdN7MKtBlpXr_mL-cQWxTwgNBeFtI8T_lTbXNwfxutcCGpKyewJCMfCmqp01k2vajkQ49VJtQJvRDPDC07pul2jkGfQ07SJROmDCIgShkXmln6fJNUQxgiV3R9tGThFJtIvShPstLESOZgVv_9x4DWE2M4_0neMSzECbo_qnnaJi4zB4Mp65DVmlZMtolAR2Z-MX7JLg6hGiDkS7NbZtyEQipoMq5Xfkgs8VsJyXF9ayJdgisBVVASQ3GqQlZ6oEMi1pdBKBioPo5dHDS7W7btKUQmyHh0d6aTMlHVOiacw=w724-h454-no

31. The Big Country
624 Points, 22 Votes, 2 Number Ones

my number one, way TOO LOW

i really thought this would be in the Top 20.

correction: 631 Points

My number one also. I really had no idea where it would place though. Approve of the image choice.

auburn prison!

both TMTTR and The Big Country are waaay too low.

surprised at these last 3, i thought they'd be locks for Top 10-20s

Name of This Band version is incredible.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_Fr--oqyHbBiLWafS02fw5mBLR941MznXrCDiMA3PnVL07lYCvR2Sr4mH68hy_xJMvAX6y2_v4HrxBQHkBXPJu1Cxyiyz8G4YtqSSpcuvujfve8Z9vu2LT_DZgeQ6QxLqJauQaymsV658y4kdk3WVDBQAy62SYlSxk8yB4mdWDQaIfjiSabIr-qLORc8J9MRXJyeiPPhcR_T5NpyWDRh-SC-BSC5o8R6K7rANILPb_SqDfjdSEhuY907WpZxu_9zM-RKorQWCh8maOq-qWmHB-kMKfrln24J4qOP3VR4tkkE19ovUSyn4sRFeo7xBbi2sWrN_l0oMejMsNUmuwV6JOr3IIVPDAooz009KY_bQOcu_IkKxhuIAZZoJuljHtKKRNN3OYfoFkmiGf3k5OZgxSpUYRpKQTf2CfkRWVPNGBmjfRSlBuw3490WF2cta7mZFbFJcpJ37FJRvGzVpUa-mDlRM6hxF8j-144epXMJRTc0ffMp5klS3kcWkHxNZslJN0rTk62Uy9zKv2Ywp-NqmqeV8vaGOz23Yt5GE8Iy2Q7gDtx87ZEHYEczZLGnRIHmPNrdlQT5XvGKRJ3IyXJ1NnppnCLwVLBtOEDW6ruxvm7NlucAVbd10oAAxU8xTy6yCDuuNm7Iwp-VlF0pwdGijYBUd3Mj00WUDEBb98bZ1g=w813-h521-no

30. Thank You for Sending Me an Angel
643 Points, 21 Votes, 1 Number One

As much as I admire its craft -- especially the way the melody/chords change for the big payoff -- it's not a favorite. Too damn long.

re "The Big Country"

Now that I've heard the 5.1 version of TMTTR, the intro keys will never be the same. That PSHEWR PSHEWR PSHEWR effect on the key percussion is so perfect.

i feel like "thank you for sending me an angel" is a good summary of why the talking heads are great

More Songs is shooting it's musical load early. I figured Big Country to be top ten fer sure.

Please ignore that apostrophe. I know the difference between it's and its.

And by the way, Paper, No Compassion and espicially I'm Not In Love are all far too low!!!!!

the SMS version of "Thank You..." is charm incarnate.

thank you for sending me an angel is another great album opener! TH very good at opening songs

I think only three tracks from this album haven't shown up, wonder if they'll all make it

looking like quite a few good surprises might appear

Made a quick top 11 ballot but found space for The Big Country and Take Me to the River. Love Al Green but what they do with it is still special imo.

Whenever Thank You For Sending Me An Angel comes into my head, it always starts to morph into See No Evil by Television because of the chord pattern. It's a standard sequence I guess.

I do like TYFSMAA a good deal, but sometimes it feels a bit like boilerplate early-TH to me, I dunno.

I'm especially enjoying the album texts on each image in homage of each album cover

xpost
yeah the bass/organ on Take Me To The River still sound amazing

MSABAF is my second-favorite of theirs, but the highest placed song from it was at number ten. It's a great album statement in my book, but it doesn't have that many standout singles.

fearing the Top 10 is going to be all the Little Creatures/True Stories singles. be great if none of them showed up at all.

It's a marvelous dance album; it's sequenced like a buncha 12"s.

why change now?

Papa Legba is a lock for 1.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/tcqWb-Chi-xXILb1nvWJRBlstqBUprePI1641QEjhFuMs-K2dK_r-vKXpNWzK-8GcxKjRynIg-lDoJS1r5YOe4fw8y1sWLjAWT5-9I4XH9YW27D_135D681UnUIHS2U9bkgdqcRB0P57b-86noRWvzg7ZsZ91DWfZRpY6MPkOcOuiSnTWPl0WP7m7Pt9xbV3LczObWNndPwg-zd57XweuohmqnYv-ajFkSs2Pg-_c6oquRdeCJDEYpODMwI7fy6z3dA08iBMA1VvtGPKLZ1P-G2MxPhMxF3EToBgx1DqNF3YN0GKfS1Nw1BQ2U8GqoIsMotQEouskxlQKzlIkA8-LGi1dyCvI-tLver4z14VSZxpDr7gvu4UwdCBvAWrm4ikp_kohA5GTYFvyvLwa6QhSP1pFl9NTV2570qEvYAjzQPPudcMb_QurF0Pjt2lhi_HDnTY8FHH2j42ycW0p5UXCMsiUNVuRMMxew7ug3RzJjZzDNNtvnkoFx5OZPUjXZcDn0zuqWFTNcYjUxHcztuuCeruU1PQ-isU8J-c7dXbUTjveMqDTU66-Pk0t2zlOTJvY3Qa3h2NEiSFMYue7nOXlhXPkpDU1Cjk12Ez6DW8uV1bJsh_f5w5Rsm70CjQgfZhuC0KNtXDX2NqsOWeFQkaBoNi9N4RfhXKnJ5E_WAlEQ=w551-h346-no

29. Warning Sign
668 Points, 22 Votes, 1 Number One

fearing the Top 10 is going to be all the Little Creatures/True Stories singles. be great if none of them showed up at all.

― piscesx, Friday, March 31, 2017 1:32 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

excuse me

"wild wild life" already placed, i can't see anything else from true stories making it

also "warning sign" ROCKS

I knew I wouldn't be able to stump anyone here on geography.

otm. The locals drank Bud, I drank an embarrassed Guinness.

You sure you hadn't just visited the Gateway Arch?

Road to Nowhere will be in the top 10.

good, it rules

Chris Frantz wrote the lyrics for Warning Sign.

Warning Sign is so queasy and uncomfortable but I love it. Glad to see it place as I was starting to doubt.

I always sing Thin Lizzy's Cowboy Song over Warning Sin

Roll me over and turn me around

Thank you for Sending Me an Angel is 10/0 classic all the way. An amazing, energetic way to start a great album

time to change things up

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/DEI_GJBSlQK2UlgkxUvvauz1DdYFX9N_7OzrYuCXVqwdPDK6h_wXmereBPuj96oNmmo3obqDBDPcLtzDTtkwzmhdXg0RSCtlfn3sowzR8Z2cDp7vnV-LNOgFyJNvFm0YKj0kHhN2ug8VbNGJuRp1nFnnngj0AjbWcDdl_Oher6i5AQ49Lu5QPJWz8kj0aAlM6OrbrDmqSfkQfJUO57Kv_s_qWbDyRwKKLFbz6Y5xGCqFGSwlwIHnzPr6fYwIssrsfTLjyzyoMzvqK0G4O5BtUp9RigUDm2KPO3bbwKkrBevs3FLR3cTi08MO_BHDGnV37HG8I2ZlkCDdzqbZlGAjZQuguk8cRTyhWWyPCXyJRg3P6pY4YizKv619becvOnBZQkGgRAaeoAaQAgJdUkJoS5LLOvTsIDRt8bgYHz2jaULQAwgS1cxhI9CRXKJBbrCzGfEECOWEeacpqKu3zYU_KFTolV8OtSBdrFjqkve4dsgbSH14-zSlPRJAegRKZUvUddhdANSvSPeGAbLAPZMJr81eo9pgCKpHS7NO36KHogl41sxehx_Un8NKq_iaCKGHNeZUTFQpN99JWzSiSSAzYLhg2uNlMUYT7Mu7CbKt5bHGpJ1LUhrg-wt0S-wRQ0Djb_xDxu7PerUvvgFNMgIB6e6YhcUrMpTqFZkiSlKwvQ=w524-h819-no

28. Listening Wind
679 Points, 26 Votes

talking brexits

Does pplains have a different internet to me? Where are they finding these images?

http://bad-postcards.tumblr.com/

creepy-ass song

Mojique

Whoo Story Book Forest! My little brother was Terrified of that Jack-in-the-box when he was about 4 yrs old.

most unsettling talking heads song

remain in light sure ends up in the uh darkest place

This song is perfect: the burbling electronics, Belew's guitar, Byrne's vocal strategy.

I like the jackhammer sounds at the end, a perfect lead-in to the helicopter sounds in The Overload

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/j-XXnCobFDbhTQAp6HjLWS_GWbOTrNg4nNkNfSzKXptbvVRTfcAhoogWuAxEjUD7a7eNoUhGgJblB-L1Mz4-kKgK_8A_m-MenuZaS_I8E2pIgtl5pZm1e1ckiy1TV7zknhsOwh2kygpdIJg0_tWPuIBh98SNcyQgLJqWugBM1tQPaatY-yIoR1VNx8utg2OVFR5oojvi-F6sN6yt_fF9Kmu2LRQbGHelGbEPEXVNvplAdrTlw5GjiEHdxQrFUqF9iN5vzqGzcyRzpp8OBTt0-xp2swGHC21zHHk_JPBCPlhkXmA6C8RRwhJ-TP4bO_grvqyNmPMk7JJNaDrxXi3eYWpfb2jUKatE6xSUVj9IPJK2vmU6ASrCxMjSXwhJ20feM5QDydiBlyImUz6-dhrhaCwfUHtIcgWcNXFvLrR41n0gBo1gILdlaMCbJlJIJ9NkIL8vYs0g5eSgwD71dn4rWDDZyDS3W7MErmSoOkZdEIdaZJmKZpxC3dEaFcW60p99g3i1dhYf4p1n4n2EnmOpGhpnrbTDDcFDlP1YwkG5UGWa7Hp0xwBb73YHrI13Vp62EgkVlMf9FnNRW8jnTs7FK-MFVca8NH3-uCPFoV3mBEknXMqJu9dY95RJlYeGvFUd1EJjMJqHDAC_QlTwTP112vJfRBa-3AeJZWASvNktUw=w829-h520-no

27. Drugs
680 Points, 22 Votes

oh i felt bad for not voting for this but i think it landed in the right place anyway

One where both the spacey album version and upbeat live version are equally enjoyable.

RE: Listening Wind. It's a small thing but I really like the part towards the end where there is a rush of noise after Byrne says Mojique waits for news in a quiet place.

Big fan of Drugs. The song.

Guitar freak out at the end is awesome.

RE: Listening Wind. It's a small thing but I really like the part towards the end where there is a rush of noise after Byrne says Mojique waits for news in a quiet place.

― that's not my post, Friday, March 31, 2017

it's a listening wind!

And all I see is little D'OH D'OH D'OH D'OH

In general I love the 5.1 downmixes of these that I can access on youtube, but in the case of Drugs, some of the great sound effects, like the demented aviary sounds, are obscured

And all I see is little D'OH D'OH D'OH D'OH

Re. Listening Wind, the similarity between this and Passengers' Plot 180 is interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRjorAHi4Ok&feature=youtu.be

Didn't vote for Drugs but in hindsight probably should have. The Name Of This Band.. version definitely helped unlock the song for me.

jeez there are so many good songs already. how many good songs can be left

Man listening wind gives me chills every time. Would be in my top 5. I don't know how many other TH songs have lyrics that stand out as impressive outside the context of the music and vocal delivery. Not that I generally separate the words from the atmosphere of the song, but the feeling of tension and release is still there when I read the lyrics alone.

So far I've had 7 of 25 siw up, so I'd say plenty left.

xp

yeah I think only 7 or so of mine have shown up so far

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/zLuCGJUHmalmHtBFUjNAsppSzFQSC-qeesGjY3s-oTdZe2qIslWKuWT1Yy-xpPBWTjbIV8xzqJ3Fium7wyNGxSeUO4v9bveJ_DcwJLBAXQVz5O9O0vHi0Xo6wsHpH6fqmAFXC5f3iMMLTC0MyIs1zMkVhmWWW60lPbZEEGgaQOs5FgvysLcjLE7urZgIjCBNqFvm4Ww1knQrn77GAF93W4g2_W1v3CUtNdZioMX6xcF5YkCeOf-Rmd_LSRJrrkAkHCEX5vQ2MbFfswJRM43tRaJSThl_EBXDPJJyLxFP3ls9xWgEWm6EU0mcfsltZEaI-K6eoJ_jX40ZDiLnPwCNi9Qh3Ws4Scgcto6KrCDfplIjTWa9IuMU054_Mt80O3Rb_nd7tGczGvjLa6WSXeQQonSBBLXT3rQ8NpSN-5TeLP4RFyLDX41CUObvDBJKE3lA900D-nBugrAf1-rJDKLITOnhTNxrniGY_ZwhY7uKcWqKpxYBZU7bg1gW4iBtLuiSzp3FjIyUnG9SotMM93yHqJrdPXfQypK_vUG7w-ppDbwE6kcNAoogOssOguAbQDzx0a0Bv7yi008YTvFadvyDelCljjOFvSFYpwiib5EMObhw096F4jgseSgRoxtZ1vnDoSE0xpt1GGMgB0qkrgV5q-Y8Jnxhq997qzyUx5GjYQ=w809-h505-no

26. Making Flippy Floppy
700 Points, 24 Votes, 1 Number One

this was very high on my ballot.

Somebody is waiting in the hallway
Somebody is falling down the stairs

hehe such a fun tune

WE KILL THE BEAST
KILL IT

id like to know the context behind this image

Marketing material for the manziere

A little late but just want to say this: have always liked "The Big Country" and planned to vote for it, but listening to it again for this poll and really engaging with it word by word it really doesn't feel interesting and distant and persona-y the way e.g. "Don't Worry about the Government" does -- or rather, I think the first chunk of the song DOES sound like this, and then it just develops into straight up "mid-country yuk" in a way that's not very appealing. Or am I wrong about what's going on here? Anyway, can't really argue it doesn't belong as high as 31 but I'm glad "Government" will beat it out.

otm

making flippy floppy was my #1. one of the best choruses of all time, specifically the bassline and the synth ah-wah-ah-wah-ah-wah's.

I always found The Big Country a bit dull

lovely write up xps and so happy to see don't worry about the government mentioned for the first time in all these threads :)

I always liked the sense of barely disguised envy for people living normal lives that seems to me to be at the heart of The Big Country

and the pastoral sound of it is beautiful and somewhat unique for them

also a very lovely analysis

See I WANT to read it as barely disguised envy, or, better still, as a kind of passionate ambivalence, but I just don't really buy it when I tell myself that.

so happy to see don't worry about the government mentioned for the first time in all these threads

not the last time surely! it's their definitive song in the "art student / abstract" mode

The second half of "Big Country" sounds like the narrator is struggling just to get through the song. "It's not even worth talking/About those people down there."

Top 25:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/4SqJ-Uw1D1vzVdHuWzDaUn1O0avUPXl6-6DSqavVHBlKgbC63qNz32hifJseviR5jk2soPNZP0OB6uzVDfUWwGWBGwXQj7b64DOfwdrnN63Yf_ALiaFWqz1bc-JL3rAlOAtz6Mb_jsmJSVBw1T16sbk7QzV493KJ5UpcifvWpNUaoIuLlNmfXdCTRkqbMOAaFn1XxFTGYKUU3Juc7IzGrm2CIEldAHCYGHVqOSeHI-Zok9Yfq9T6Mu6x5IPK8mTf8NVD1lACd6sjX8ems1qsCVZB3iAlHh68u88S8xSOcecfi-sqo80TKwhZeshhBd0DlR1GlVIRD-vWAYmBbIw3-tPdai-yM-cxYa4l07dGnO3GewPyNylLM6eQArKU3MjrqlJFRO1eNgq7MrcphS-od8Ksd7P7RwiBgLuUI_STDgXs_GaMvleil2g979tkrgLn8sAg5qnqeMhFndDPpP8xmY_ovuxzxmflg5RWAWstIsp89sv4hKIz3OzSgvDOPn_yFh__DgJib3LIbhzlK7k7fH6SfuVXTi-F4WDDICRf1kstM8juppQy8ocBr0kd0YuHzI_guLvf-WvzbLaLOXoYPX5SObPvTMC9bwqj3k2XKLzgwlFbGqyLb4k_i1LRw-quC193UJgaJjbd3NFG-y17tDSRCLCcF2O0I7i5xQDVRg=w809-h518-no

25. The Book I Read
707 Points, 24 Votes

Wooo, wasn't sure if this was going to place.

I realized how much I love "Book I Read" when I was ordering (and reordering) my ballot, it's really beautiful!

Great melody, one of their more romantic songs

love this song mostly for the nah nahs

Not to belabor the point but the This Name version works so much better, with the narrator losing his shit at the happy dull lives of the people down there, rather than just sounding tired and plaintive.

Look at them EAT IT! I BET IT TASTES REAL GOOOOOOD!

uh like a million xps

this song is perfect

the burst of euphoria for each chorus is incredible

Re; Making Flippy Floppy. The line "our President is crazy, did you hear what he said" reminds me how well Byrne's outlook from the 70s/80s fits our current time.