Talking Heads studio albums poll

maybe this thread will convince me that any/all of the last 3 albums are worth owning but i'm not counting on it

I find LC as good as SIT -- I'll add a challops and say I prefer "Creatures of Love" to "This Must Be the Place" -- but, yeah, there's a drop in quality.

These days I listen to FOM most, but it could be any of the first four.

my ranking right now is More > Fear > Remain > Speaking > '77, but the #1 is the only one that never changes

Took the controversial option of voting speaking in tongues.

Really can't stand little creatures but I like most other albums

naked is worth owning. I loved it when it came out, then hated it, now I'm back to loving it. Little Creatures is pretty blah though aside from the singles.
voted FOM, could have been RIL or More Songs though.

i really like the first two tracks on naked and the sledgehammer political one. true stories would have been great if it had actually been the soundtrack.

and had included the two spalding grey monologues.

My ranking: Remain In Light > Fear of Music > Naked > 77 > More Songs > Speaking In Tongues > Little Creatures > True Stories

I could vote for any of the first three, but I'll go with the debut because it deserves a vote.

More > Remain > 77 > Fear > Speaking > Creatures > True

never heard naked.

Love the first 4 nearly equally though, tbh

i would have liked to vote for something other than remain in light. between this and the 70s dylan poll i am the most boring person.

the first live album would have given me pause. the reissue of stop making sense would have given me more.

remain > fear > more > 77 > creatures > tongues > true stories > naked though.

Best Talking Heads Studio Album

damn my bad -- i tried to search if it'd been done but was not very thorough. mods feel free to lock/delete etc.

Only know the first four but Remain > 77 > Fear > More imo

then you sir are my enemy

Remain In Light is the best by a mile or two even tho I'd rather just listen to TNOTBITH these days. LC always gets kicked around whenever these guys come up, but it's my favorite post-RIL. One of the better pop albums of the 80's. True Stories is the only one I never had much use for.

speaking in tongues > more songs > fear > remain > 77 > 'and she was' is p catchy > not heard

Went with Speaking in Tongues, but didn't arrive at it easily.

Damn, this reminded me that the DVD for "Stop Making Sense" has 3 tracks NOT on the CD! I hate when they do that, grrrr... Anyone have a nice MP3 rip of those tracks? ILXmail me, please!

True Stories, big childhood album for me.

Gosh. I got all of these on vinyl - every single one of them - on eBay about 3 years ago for £20. All in better than VG+ condition. Never really listened to them enough buts that the way with artists like this when you have a whole glut of their work thrown at you at once. I've learnt a lot in coming to older artists from fresh from this Talking Heads experience - i.e. enjoy it and slow right the fuck down.

So it'll have to be the only one I knew as a teenager - Fear of Music. That's the lame indie kid pick, isn't it? I know. Sorry.

Speaking In Tongues is my second favorite behind Remain In Light

SIT - school days favourite.

I bought Little Creatures when it came out, and only being familiar with Stop Making Sense, really dug it. Is it generally considered a failure in their catalog?

It is yeah, but I think it's pretty good. Like someone said upthread the three singles are great pop songs and the track 'Stay Up All Night' is pretty cool as well.

Yeah, I love the singles, but had trouble remembering what else was on it, so I just looked it up. "Television Man"? I couldn't hum any of it if my life depended on it, and I know I listened to that record about 400 times.

"Television Man" is the Lost Talking Heads Classic. I love the instrumental breakdown.

The world crashes in
To my living room

I forgive Tina's slap bass.

SP EAK IN GI N TO NGU ES

About four of these are some of my favorite albums of all time, but I gotta go with Buildings and Food.

Naked is underrated, no doubt.

Naked will always be underrated and unnecessary.

the slap-bass is crucial on Television Man, and I forgive you.

Is (Little Creatures) generally considered a failure in their catalog?

(Tarfumes The Escape Goat)

It is yeah

(Doran)

This isn't true in the least. It won the 1985 Pazz. By a considerable margin too.

That's part of what confused me about how it was received/how TH fans rate it. But True Stories always sucked for me to the point where I wondered if everything else they did sucked and I just hadn't realized it. Fortunately, this wasn't the case, but the way LC is viewed by some made me wonder if that was supposed to be some cliff-drop that they never recovered from.

television man is really good. maybe that album is better than I give it credit for. it was disappointing to me when I got it though (which was after naked came out).

Little Creatures is TH firing on all cylinders through 9 breezy pop jamz that are totally disinterested in boundary-pushing or Statements, making it all the more listenable. Really hope it gets a little love here.

Is (Little Creatures) generally considered a failure in their catalog?

(Tarfumes The Escape Goat)

It is yeah

(Doran)

This isn't true in the least. It won the 1985 Pazz. By a considerable margin too.

― Kevin John Bozelka, Monday, June 13, 2011 4:48 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

- is it considered a failure?
- why, no: over a quarter-century ago it was enjoyed by a section of music critics

Nobody considers an album enjoyed by Music Critics, a failure.

People do consider an album that sells well but gets negative reviews, a failure.

Talking Heads: Little Creatures poll

my pick is "Creatures of Love."

voting More Songs About Buildings and Food.

I bought a double-single with "Take me to the river", "Found a Job", "Psycho Killer" and "Love goes to a building on fire"

I never felt the need for any more than that.

Not really.

I like all the reggae bits on Speaking In Tongues.

Little Creatures is TH firing on all cylinders through 9 breezy pop jamz that are totally disinterested in boundary-pushing or Statements, making it all the more listenable.

this.

- is it considered a failure?
- why, no: over a quarter-century ago it was enjoyed by a section of music critics
(history mayne)

You're the evidence queen. Back it up, miss history. Or does the (now-squandered) potential for a zing deflate your boner for the tyranny of evidence?

xpost

that.

I love the singles from "Little Creatures," and "Creatures of Love" is ... lovely. But in general I find that album catchy and competent but vaguely uninspired, especially after five albums of pushing boundaries while still offering plenty of pop pleasures. After all these years I've never been able to get into it, and gravitate toward "Naked" well before I'd considering listening to "Little Creatures." It's not a failure, by any means, but it fails to engage me.

does the (now-squandered) potential for a zing deflate your boner for the tyranny of evidence?
^^new board descrip pls

Hey idk much abt the recording sessions etc. someone once told me tina didn't play on the records. That would make me sad she is one of my bass heroes. Is that just sexist bs or is it true?

Regardless of whether or not Tina played the bass on the recordings, she rocked them live.
I voted Remain In Light because Adrian Belew elevated that band in amazing ways.

pretty sure tina played on the records, at least the early ones. on some of the later stuff/live there are sometimes two bass players, tho.

Remain in Light, the obvious winner. True Stories the obvious low point. Naked is underrated.

Tina played bass on every record. Things got complicated in the RIL-SIT era when members switched instruments.

remain, always, but whoever said they listen to tnotbith more than any of the studio albs these days is otm for me too.

Naked is definitely underrated (and I think well worth having) but there's no way I could vote for it over either Remain in Light or Fear of Music. And I think Fear is gonna get my vote here.

"Fear" packs the most surprises for me, given how much I've listened to "More Songs" as my favorite and "Remain in Light" as canonical.

Good discussion here:

Talking Heads' "Naked" – Classic or Dud?

Thanks to this thread I revisted a bunch of TH albums yesterday and today.
David is a very strange singer. I don't think I like his vocal performances on the first three studio recordings, esp. compared to later live performances of the same songs.
The remaster of Remain In Light is really bloody amazing and blows the original CD master away.
Tina plays different bass parts live than appear on record, which can mean anything, really.
In this interview, http://www.bassplayer.com/article/tina-weymouth/mar-97/5958 , she says that she played bass on Remain In Light (but not on "Genius Of Love"!)
I can't think of a weirder bass line than the one on "Born Under Punches".
And my bf is really into True Stories.

speaking in tongues getting cruelly shafted itt. i mean, if naked is underrated, then...

I can't think of a weirder bass line than the one on "Born Under Punches".

Busta Jones might've helped.

True Stories is one of those records I listened to over and over for days on end, trying to find something likeable about it, and wondering what the problem was. I didn't have that issue with any other TH records.

I have fond memories of the movie but they're probably overly rosy

yeah... i watched it recently and UGGGGHHH

i mean, there are plenty of good parts, but it seems like 3 hours long. and most of the actors' vocal performances are :/

Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. I have no idea what this Pazz/Jopp that American writers always talk about is but I can hazard a guess. You'll forgive me for not really equating what writers thought back then as the whole picture.

In the UK, amongst my friends and peers, over the last two and a half decades I've formed the rough opinion that LC is seen as their 'shark jump' moment, I'd presumed it was the same in the States but apparently not. But then the same people see my choice of Speaking In Tongues as laughably gauche compared to the righteous, canonical post punk Eno stuff.

"Speaking in Tongues" is thoroughly great, but perhaps because it comes at the tail end of greatness it seems lesser by comparison? Like, rated just right, as the least of those first five, which are all great? I mean, in reality, I can't really choose between the first five records at all. I love 'em to death.

Thoroughly great despite "Moon Rocks," "I Get Wild," and "Pull Up the Roots"?

It's an A-/B+ record, I think.

A+ all the way, their best fusion of funk & pop, and, in "this must be the place", their most affecting song. the lack of punk cynicism and art-darkness would curdle into grating whimsey on little creatures, but SMS gets the balance exactly right.

So it's a perfect album then? No duff tracks/

I love the other songs on SIT, thanks to Stop Making Sense releasing them from the Heads' awkward self-production

I'm not sure an album with killer singles and Stay Up Late on it can really be called a failure, unless you're judging it as not living up to whatever you idea of what Talking Heads should be.

Little Creatures is their highest selling album in the US and three of its songs remain radio staples...so even though they were popular before that and weren't ever really seen as 'selling out' it's definitely kind of the moment they stopped being cool and even if they still had a lot of critical momentum at the time obviously critics don't rate it much in retrospect

xpost

highest selling studio album, i should say -- both it and Stop Making Sense are 2x platinum but i don't know which sold more

They were definitely on an upward trajectory, peaking in '86 with David Byrne appearing on the cover of TIME as the Thinking Man's Rock Star. Until R.E.M. broke in '87, TH were the biggest "alternative" band in the US.

i don't think little creatures is a failure by any means, but i don't love it anywhere near so much as SIT. while the singles are great, some of the in-between tracks are just that, filler, and i miss the funk/sex tension & energy.

xpost I like every song on Speaking in Tongues, yes.

Were Talking Heads that big? Or I should ask, how big were they? They never played arenas, that's for sure. Right?

How big were the venues REM was playing pre-Document?

I'm not sure an album with killer singles and Stay Up Late on it can really be called a failure, unless you're judging it as not living up to whatever you idea of what Talking Heads should be.

Because "And She Was" and "Road to Nowhere" were my first exposures to TH, I judged each album I hear subsequently by them, and other than David Byrne learning how to sing professionally and the band getting strummier, I don't hear any philosophical differences between the LC singles and the pre-SIT stuff.

I love the other songs on SIT, thanks to Stop Making Sense releasing them from the Heads' awkward self-production

― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, June 13, 2011 7:23 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

see, i'm the opposite. though i LOVE that movie, i think the album versions are superior in almost every case. too much unnecessary filigree on the SMS versions, the name of this band is my go2 for live heads.

xxxp they played pretty large places on the stop making sense tour, i think, and probably could've played even bigger places had they kept touring through the 80s.

If you judge TH by their RIAA certifications, they were fairly big. Three double platinum records -- an impressive achievement in the eighties for nerd pop.

I like every song on Speaking in Tongues, yes.

Hmm, looks like in 1986 REM played the UIC Pavilion here, where I just saw Arcade Fire.

From Byrne, on Pitchfork a day or two ago: "So many more people saw the film than ever saw the live show. In the film, we're playing in a 2,500-person theater-- we weren't playing arenas or stadiums or anything like that."

Yeah, but remember: STS was filmed in late '83. The band had JUST entered its commercial peak zone. Had they kept touring into '86 or '87 (as Tina and Chris wanted), they woulda been near-stadium level in terms of popularity.

yeah, i dunno if he's right there, i have a recording from that tour where they're playing at least a 5,000-seater. not a football stadium or anything, but still.

Let's put it this way: they outsold the Clash and Elvis Costello.

TH were pretty popular but i don't know if they would've had some up up and away trajectory where they could've become a Springsteen-level touring act, even if the albums after Little Creatures hadn't kind of stiffed commercially

Certification figures in case anyone wanted to glance at them.

other than David Byrne learning how to sing professionally and the band getting strummier, I don't hear any philosophical differences between the LC singles and the pre-SIT stuff.

― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, June 13, 2011 7:31 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

i'd agree that their pop songwriting doesn't change drastically over the course of their career, and as a result, there's a great deal of continuity to their singles. the albums are a different story, though. i hear a much greater emphasis on punk funk, darkness/irony/cynicism and sonic experimentation on their pre-LC singles.

Looking around, it looks like the sizes ranged from 2500-5000.

xpost

Oh, I'm not suggesting that they could become U2 or the Police (Tina once again proved her insanity by allegedly telling Paul McGuinness: "Bono is everything we wanted David to be"), but if they'd cranked out LC Pt. 2 instead of the tentative soundtrack for a baffling art film and a more overt worldbeat exploration as a swan song they would've maintained a steady level of quasi-mainstream success.

*could have become

FWIW, I think the Clash were playing similarly sized venues before the end. The Clash actually could have easily become U2 or the Police. Talking Heads, not so sure. But I guess is REM could do it, so could the Heads.

Fear Of Music it is

but if they'd cranked out LC Pt. 2 instead of the tentative soundtrack for a baffling art film and a more overt worldbeat exploration as a swan song they would've maintained a steady level of quasi-mainstream success.

― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, June 13, 2011 7:40 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

think this is OTM. if they'd stuck w the little creatures sound, it probably would have served them well in the late 80s and early 90s, perhaps placed them alongside the likes of REM in the alt-pop sweepstakes.

while the clash were certainly poised for a massive US pop breakthrough circa both london calling (79) and combat rock (82), they twice failed to follow up with anything commercially palatable.

Actually, Combat Rock was their SIT: a top ten single and their first platinum album; a consolidation.

yeah, that makes sense, especially since it found a commercial expression for the more experimental tendencies of the previous album. they didn't really have a little creatures.

yeah that's true

I like every song on Speaking in Tongues, yes.

I agree. "Making Flippy Floppy" is my favourite song in their catalogue.

I love pull up the roots and wild wild gravity. Both are peak th tracks for me.

the speaking tongues stop at my hometown was the first concert i ever saw! set the bar pretty high for every band i'd ever see afterwards. it was at the local basketball court (at unc-ch, same place i watched jordan play college ball) that place sat, what, 3000? <checks> nope 6000+ actually, at carmichael auditorium arena ...hmmm, apparently the "carmichael auditorium" was renamed "carmichael arena" in 2010 - does this mean we can critically re-evaluate the taking heads as an "arena -level rock band" now?

remain in light > spe aki ngi nto ngues (or however they spelled it) > fear of music > 77 > more songs about food and buildings > little creatures (not a great album but good singles+ another couple good tracks on the album = not bad) > the other two

From around the time True Stories was released:
http://img.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1986/1101861027_400.jpg

Hmm, looks like in 1986 REM played the UIC Pavilion here, where I just saw Arcade Fire.

I was there...no, wait, I was at the '87 REM UIC Pavilion show, post- "The One I Love." But in '85, I saw them at the NU basketball arena, which was roughly the same capacity.

TH could have easily filled a place like that, even after the relative commercial failure of Little Creatures. Hell, Lou Reed did ok at the UIC Pavilion touring behind Mistrial, fer chrissakes.

That TIME cover would be evidence of him having lost his way in most right thinking people's eyes. When you look at the kind of people from the arts that they feature it's usually an indication of massive sales/wealth, mainstream acceptance and a middlebrow product. Bono and Damien Hirst for example.

But just to restate: I'm a big fan of the album.

these guys had a really acrimonious breakup following two albums people don't like and that time cover's whole FRACTURED!!!! thing is pretty accurate honestly because i think what happened, and i am making this up, was that david byrne got really distracted by art student polymath ambition and the rest of the band were gradually pushed to the other side of his autistic wall of mild-mannered contempt and had lots of having-to-talk-to-his-secretary moments. even if time magazine just means it as praise.

i love true stories the movie though, especially spaulding grey at dinner and the "puzzling evidence" scene.

spalding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2TyF1CbsDs

remain/more/77/fear/tongues/LC/true/naked

Don't forget, by the time Byrne was on that cover he had won a frickin' Academy Award.

the relative commercial failure of Little Creatures.

?

right thinking

?

Well, in light of it's charting below SIT, and after the buzz around SMS, yeah, I'd say it's a relative commercial failure. Meaning, they shoulda sold a lot more records given what led up to it (and who knows, they may have if they'd toured).

TH could have easily filled a place like that, even after the relative commercial failure of Little Creatures.

It's not though -- it outsold SIT. It's their highest charting record too.

Don't forget, by the time Byrne was on that cover he had won a frickin' Academy Award.

he won the Oscar in March '88.

xxpost I'm honestly not trying to be snarky. I'm just trying to to understand. So even though it's their biggest selling album in the US, it's a relative commercial failure because it should have sold even more records than it did, right?

I don't think it's a commercial failure. I think the majority of music fans see it as a partial artistic misfire but I'll happily concede I have little to back this up. Well, until this poll comes in at least.

Um...kind of, yeah. It wasn't their highest-charting record (SIT #15, LC #20). As for sales, I don't believe it outsold SIT at the time; in the last 25 years, yes, it probably has.

xp

Well, it's got their two most famous hit tracks that aren't "once in a lifetime"...

xpost It actually did outsell Speaking in Tongues at the time. Little Creatures went platinum on November 13, 1985, not even half a year after release date. Speaking in Tongues didn't go platinum until over a year after that on December 15, 1986, 3.5 years after its June 1, 1983 release date.

Ah, then I stand corrected. Maybe it's perception: SIT seemed a lot bigger at the time than LC.

Well, SIT has one advantage over LC: a top ten single.

he won the Oscar in March '88.

Anyway, by the point of the mag cover he had expanded his purview and profile well beyond that of the Talking Heads.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwaujgtW47M

Time to say that the Live in Rome show from 1980 that's posted on youtube is not to be missed.

Another vote for RiL.

http://youtu.be/9RlZ4-ZbRog

embed fail. try again.

http://youtu.be/9RlZ4-ZbRog

Yeah that Live In Rome is pretty all-time. Basically just TNOTB with visuals. You can buy it too but IIRC the video quality isn't very good.

I've got this on cd. Soundwise very acceptable, but I don't think it's derived from the original source. Still great to listen to/have of course!

Regarding the poll: late 80's me would have gone for Fear of Music but every time I put on Remain In Light I love the soundworld I get lost in, it really is a very special album - even though I now tend to pull out More Songs About Buildings and Food the most when I reach for my TH fix. I also really like Naked, "Cool Water" has/had a huge emotional pull on me for some reason. An arrangement that, well, pulls me in.

Live in Rome has this hilarious habit of panning to the bass drum (or Tina's ass) every time Belew solos.

Only know the first four. I definitely play "77" most, so cute and adorable that record. Can't work out why everyone thinks "More Songs" is so good, sounds great but where are the hooks/tunes? Lyrically, "Fear" is about the funniest record ever made by anyone other than Lou Reed, musically brilliant. "Light" obv. classic. Don't know how to vote 'cept that it definitely won't be "More Songs".

I'm going with Fear of Music...like anyone cares.

I care. But I care about Killing Joke more.

This.

Can't work out why everyone thinks "More Songs" is so good, sounds great but where are the hooks/tunes?

combo of "The Good Thing" into "Warning Sign" (prob my fav Talking Heads song) is incredible. Really the entire first side is pretty much flawless.

Maybe it is, maybe it's me, I just can never remember how any of the songs go (with one or two exceptions)

Live in Rome spoiled at times for me by the shrieking backup singer. Also, nothing wrong with Tina's ass.

combo of "The Good Thing" into "Warning Sign" (prob my fav Talking Heads song) is incredible. Really the entire first side is pretty much flawless.

This cept "The Good Thing" is prob my fav Talking Heads song. Not sure about hooks per se but there's undeniably a tune there. And a more perfect portrait of Go-Go-Gadget capitalism has never been achieved.

But I care about Killing Joke more.

As fucking well you should.

VOTE FEAR OF MUSIC U STUPID FUCKS

i love fear of music, but remain in light, without a doubt.

yup, sorry Lamp!

Remain In Light. I may have played it more times than any recording I own; certainly in the top 10. Went through a long period in '80/'81 where I played it in the car overandoverandover.

This thread is inspiring me to relisten to the final 3 a bunch.

Not a stupid fuck, but I care about Killing Joke and fear music, so my vote is obvious.

(But only because "The Name of This Band..." is ineligible.)

I'm going with Fear Of Music, but on a different day I might go with any of the first four. (After that, I've never really cared -- and that includes the live album, which somehow became definitive for a lot of people somewhere along the line, when I wasn't paying attention. I haven't heard it in forever, but I don't remember ever thinking it was such a huge deal back when I used to own it. And I don't think I was alone in that, either -- for instance, it didn't even place in the Top 40 of the Pazz & Jop poll in 1982, when the studio albums before and after it both placed #3. And though they were rare, it wasn't unheard of for live albums to place: At least ones that were huge deals. You'd think, if people thought it was such a masterpiece back then, it at least would've placed higher than Ted Hawkins or Ronald Shannon Jackson.)

It got good reviews at the time, but there may have been so much TH product at once (RIL the year before, The Catherine Wheel and Tom Tom Club in '81) that it overwhelmed voters...? Also: the album went out of print fairly quickly. Finally, when rereleased in 2004 it coincided with the peak of the Heads rediscovery by this new generation of fans, so it made for a dandy two-disc compilation.

Fear Of Music, mainly because The Overload drags RIL down where it shouldn't be dragged

Yeah, what Alfred said, I think maybe it's gained in stature due to the fact that it was OOP for many years. (Although I really like the first two sides of core-band performances a lot.)

Fear Of Music, mainly because The Overload drags RIL down where it shouldn't be dragged

This is otm. RIL has higher highs maybe, but FoM is solid start to finish.

Christgau awarded it an A- ("Five years and not a misstep. Think they're gunning for world's greatest band?") and the SPIN Alternative Guide an eight out of 10, and I've read the original RS review.

Yeah, I never said it got negative reviews. (It had to be reviewed, and they were obviously one of critics' favorite bands; why would they pan the thing?) I'm just saying they apparently didn't love it enough to list it in their Top 10s at year end (when I assume it was still in print; got to #31 in Billboard, so it's not like it just vanished into thin air on release.) But yeah, I do get how that 2004 remaster might've reeled lots of new fans in, decades later.

Btw, I just realized that I probably voted for The Catherine Wheel on my own first P&J ballot, in 1981; weird huh? (I definitely at least put it in the Top 10 I did for my college paper that year -- at #7, so I doubt I would've bumped it between then and ballot time.)

I never really minded "The Overload" (which I still think of as "The Overlord," 30 years later) back then, despite its dragginess -- thought the idea of T-Heads doing a Joy Division dirge was kinda neat.

Also: Jerry Harrison's The Red and the Black released too! Not sure who bought it or who cared.

I bought it!! (Last year, for a dollar. It's not that good.)

The thing is, nobody really seems to act these days like that album, or even The Catherine Wheel (#13 Pazz & Jop in 1981!) or Tom Tom Club (#22 in 1981, with a #6 single) were the zenith of the Talking Heads' career, like some seem to with The Name Of The Band Is.... And none of those other albums came out in 1982, so it's not like the live one was competing with them. And if critics were as overwhelmed as you're suggesting, somehow that overwhelmingness had been cured by just a year later, when Speaking In Tongues finished #3. So the only conclusion I can come to is that, as Talking Heads albums went, critics must just not have thought of the live album as all that major a record.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

You're probably right, but, to quote, ABC, that was then this is now.

would agree that the name of this band wasn't seen as a big deal by critics at the time. don't remember reading anywhere near as much about it as the first four albums or even speaking in tongues/stop making sense. nevertheless, it gradually became one of my own favorites over the years, in part due to its single package presentation of basically everything you might wanna hear (in the absence of an equally comprehensive studio career survey), in part due to versions that just slay their studio counterparts (like, say, "life during wartime").

the fact that it was out of print for so long probably did help burnish its rep though.

also became hip to champion it over Stop Making Sense

i actually do prefer it over SMS by a huge margin, though the SMS beatbox version of "psycho killer" is, well, killer

Although SWS is a top ten movie for me and I played the soundtrack endlessly, no way is it better than TNOTBITH.

name of this band was more obviously superior to SMS back before they fixed SMS with the CD reissue. it's hard for me to renounce all those beautifully inflated tongues songs. but oh man the live version of "the big country".

Can imagine the reason "The Name of this Band ..." gets so much love is that it captures a truly awesome live act that many (most?) people never got a chance to see. That's just another theory. So it's sort of like a best of the early years, amped up, but unlike "SMS," it's less of a production and more of a snapshot in passing. Personally, I can't see rating it higher than the concurrent studio peaks. I mean, I have yet to hear a Talking Heads bootleg that doesn't make me wish I was there to see it, and I wouldn't rate "The Name ..." as particularly superior to most of them.

"The Catherine Wheel" is crazy underrated nowadays. I only know the full-length CD version, not the abridged one that came out on vinyl in '81; I can't imagine cutting that many songs. It apes Eno something fierce (though Eno appears on a few tracks, you wouldn't necessarily know which ones without looking at the booklet), but I actually like it better than a lot of classic Eno, and even though it doesn't have any formal breakthroughs a la the sampling on Eno/Byrne's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, it's a stronger companion piece to Remain in Light than that record. Time for a reappraisal, doncha think?

that's interesting, i've only heard the LP that i bought a few years ago. didn't realize there was more material!

No arguments here -- it's Byrne's best "solo" album, and the band thought so much of it that he could impose "Big Business," "Big Blue Plymouth," and "What a Day It Was" on them.

The Enoid instruments in the first third introduced me to Eno.

the "What A Day It Was" from Stop Making Sense is so awesome, hearing the Catherine Wheel version was kind of a letdown by comparison so i never got around to listening to the whole album

I can't even imagine what "Big Blue Plymouth" would have sounded like on SMS.

I voted for Remain in Light, as that record was a mix of things that is pretty much timeless. That said I had a couple of really nice listens of the Talking Heads straight off the old FM radio today driving around for work hearing Born Under Punches and a tune called Sugar on My Tongue. I really got to get those reissues, that outtake was pretty killer.

i only know Sugar on my Tongue as the first track off of Sand in the Vaseline (my intro to Talking Heads, actually)...was it an outtake or the first single?

I looked it up, I guess they did it on their first demos as a trio. It's a bonus track on the new prints of the albums. I hadn't heard it before tonight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vei8LFj40jw

^ love that, have the 12" somewhere.

I love pull up the roots and wild wild gravity. Both are peak th tracks for me.

― Bus to Yoker (dog latin), Tuesday, June 14, 2011 11:05 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark

Anyone wanna talk about these? Being a reggae-disco man, these are absolutely my favourite Talking Heads deep cuts. Really don't see why SIT was seen as a drop in quality. Sure, a lot of the tracks have more oomph in a live setting but they're still great songs. I discovered the band via SMS and the majority of my faves happened to be on SIT - Swamp, Making Flippy Floppy, Girlfriend is Better... Don't think there are any bad tracks on there apart from maybe Moon Rocks which is just okay.

The first disc of "Sand in the Vaseline" is what I usually play these days when I feel like listening to the Talking Heads.

SITV is still a great comp.

i love "Animals" - the part where he goes "they think they know whats best/theyre making a fool of us" always makes me imagine a Simpsons-style close up of a squirrel nibbling on a nut when suddenly it turns to the camera and narrows its eyes knowingly

and thats why i voted FOM

I voted FOM solely for "I Zimbra", which is one of my favorite songs of all time.

yeah i zimbra is a top 3 TH jam of all time for me. i remember the first time i put that CD on and i was like whoa what the hell is THIS

I really love a lot of TH songs (esp the ones that appears on Stop Making Sense) but nothing really compares to the full-on rush I get every time I play "I Zimbra"

77

Mainly for Tentative Decisions. I love the heck out of that song.

Also for Book I read and Pyscho Killer and a couple others.

Tough choice though.

Play "I Zimbra" back to back with Echo's "Zimbo" (the version with the log drummers, preferably).

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Damn that poll! What a bad picture!

Really, now, who voted for "Naked" or "True Stories"? I can understand any other choice...

was not able to sway ILX massive to speaking in tongues ;_;

If it was "Vote for your 2nd favourite" I bet it'd place 1st.

exact same results as the previous poll, basically. glad everyone enjoyed this redundant thread!

Don't get upset! It's not a major disaster!

Animals is so good on TNOTBITH

lololol

some dude hates polls, so no one else is supposed to like them either.

um i started this thread and then felt foolish when i realized it'd been done before

Johnny Fever's in the bedroom, inventing situations.

:)

Remain In Light can't sit around eating fucking truffles all day. You're the only responsible citizen that made it fight for re-election so be proud, some dude.

only 4 for 77 = insanity

Only insane because the band's output was so insanely good. Someone always has to graduate last from West Point, you know.

I'm stilllll waiting...

only 4 for 77 = insanity

More fool them. I didn't vote 'cos I couldn't make my mind up in time.

Forgot to mention Memphis - home of Elvis and the Ancient Greeks

Byrne might be my second favourite lyricist after Stephen Malkmus.

i fucking hate this place

take a break, Lamp - seriously.

i fucking hate this place

We'll lock the door
We'll kill the beast KILL IT!

I approve of these results

We should repoll these next week just to be sure, though.

only 4 for 77 = insanity

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, June 16, 2011 10:08 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

Even though I said I was voting for 77 I don't think I actually voted so it should have been five but still :/

I think I do that a lot - decide my choice but don't actually vote.

Decide my choice?

I seem to have forgotten how to speak English today. Sorry.

nothing wrong with it.

I know. Just sounded awkward.

Remain In Light can't sit around eating fucking truffles all day. You're the only responsible citizen that made it fight for re-election so be proud, some dude.

― Cosmo Vitelli, Thursday, June 16, 2011 8:59 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

lol

maybe i'll keep doing this poll every few years until More Songs takes its rightful place at the top in 2048

Sand in the vaseline is a stellar comp--the rarities on there I would never want to do without. Sugar on my tongue was mentioned before, but this is one of my alltime faves by them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2JAAwTWvf8