Talking Heads- Classic or Dud?

"Butt Naked" and "Back in the Box" though

Can't remember the last time I listened to Naked. I'm willing to give it another chance at least, which is absolutely not true of Little Creatures.

"Blind" is structurally interesting; basically a soul song but with little bits of Afrobeat and salsa thrown in here and there. The horns are better than, say, the horns on a Phil Collins album. Byrne's hoarse voice, though... he sounds like he heard Rain Dogs and nobody told him he couldn't pull that off.

A friend of mine who liked the record more than I did (and who might still be buying Byrne albums) regarded "Cool Water" as one of the great "final songs" of a band's career, with its apocalyptic message.

"Mr. Jones" sounds like it was slowed down by the engineer. It should be maybe 5-10 bpm faster than it is.

"Totally Nude" is a mix of things I like (Hawaiian guitar, juju guitar — this song is massively indebted to King Sunny Ade) and things I hate (Caribbean/soca rhythm). Would be better without the synths and steel drums, too.

The message of True Stories ("Aren't suburbanites cute?") hasn't aged well either,

Haven't watched the movie or listened to it in some time, but I remember it being a little more nuanced/weird than that. Maybe I'm projecting but I always think of Byrne's attitude on a project like TS or a song like "The Big Country" as really having it both ways: he's critical of suburbia or whatever part of conventional life he's observing, but also just fascinated enough by it to hold back from pure mockery. Like he acknowledges that he doesn't get it, and therefore can't partake but also can't fully judge those who do. Part of the whole Aspergersy-alien thing, I guess.

Even the repeating chorus line in "The Big Country" - "I wouldn't live there if you paid me" - I jump back and forth between imagining him unironically identifying with the narrator, and being critical of the narrator's condescension. But like I said, I may just be projecting.

Sure, there's a lot of subtext there, but I can't imagine Byrne (or a comparable contemporary cultural figure) not getting harshly criticized for making his red-state satire so gentle if such a film came out now.

ha, I think I misunderstood your original comment. in that sense, yes, I agree it hasn't aged well.

i never imagined that he identified with the narrator of the big country, i always heard it as a randy newman-style character study of a pinhead. by the end of the song he admits he's miserable, while its clear to the audience that the people hes looking down on know something he doesnt. it even ends with a joke at the narrator's expense: "its not even worth talking about those people down there" (after talking about them nonstop.) plus if the big country is meant unironically then you have to believe that "dont worry about the government" is meant ironically, which i cant buy

"Don't Worry About the Government" is in the same category! I hear it both ways. The song is able to skirt irony, but then the title...

The title + the swell of music that comes in on the final "don't worry 'bout meeeeee" at the end of each chorus

The "Silent Majority"/Mr. Businessman archetype that he explores in that song (and others) doesn't really exist anymore either, does it? MAGA certainly worry about the government!

Don't you live in Ontario?

Well, Doug Ford's Conservatives are also trying to dismantle government. "Conservative" no longer means "apolitical/satisfied with the status quo".

Half of the greater Ottawa area is probably described by "Don't Worry About the Government".xp

We had a long convo about The Big Country lyric a few years back (maybe on this thread)

I just don't think that this kind of satirical lyric:

Check out Mr. Businessman
He bought some wild, wild life
On the way to the stock exchange

reads as sufficiently critical these days; now we'd have to know the content of Mr. Businessman's investment portfolio and who was exploited to get that wealth.
I'm not saying that Byrne was naive about these things at the time, but this Mr. Normal character appears again in his Talking Heads lyrics (and persona?), and it reads differently now.

Same with Ray Davies.

"Don't Worry" isn't about conservative ideologues; it's about content suburbanites and civil servants, whom I see everyday.

Also, Doug Ford p much ran without a platform (other than "buck a beer") in the only election he has won so far!xps

xxxxxposts

The only song on Naked I'd bin wasn't on the original LP anyway, and it kind of sounds like a B-side ("Bill"). I love both sides of the record equally, if differently. "Mummy Daddy" is a nice thematic sequel to the "middle America" era. Seriously, just reminding myself of these songs, they're so great lyrically - to say nothing of the arrangements and musicianship involved.

Yes, "Cool Water" is really a stunning (as in, it stuns you in your tracks) final song. Although "Sax + Violins" is a marvel as well.*

*Does anyone know why there are only Byrne and Harrison in Wenders' "S+V" video? At the time I thought it had to be some conceptual sh*t I couldn't quite get, but it could have also been the Byrne vs Tina+Chris rift kicking in heavily by that time.

I loved "Make Believe Mambo" and the Rei Momo era as well. I liked Uh-oh well enough (the heavy-rotated singles/videos were absolutely rad) but the keyboards on it are often preset-cheesy. That album seemed to me like a retreat'n'regroup album after the previous one.

My favourite solo Byrne albums/eras are the eponymous one from 1994 and, probably even more, the follow-up, Feelings (1997). Both albums are, to me, prime examples of a middle-aged artist tapping into the zeitgeist as successfully as 'Outside'/'Earthling'-era Bowie did. And both tours were awesome - musically, and the Feeling one conceptually as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUiUx4c6Imk

The version of "Help Me Somebody" on that Sessions at W 54th video is incredible. Byrne does the preacher's voice.

my take on byrne is that his cool detachment brought out out and celebrated e a hyper-real version of the american striver, which jibes with the band's success and the 80s generally. i think there's less criticism going on in what he did than i used to.

and honestly i don't feel the need to go back to talking heads and haven't for a few years, not enough alterity for me in what they did.

See, I don't hear detachment, cool or otherwise, in his early shrill punctuative vocals -- I hear deep anxiety.

affected or not, doesn't change things

yeah I immediately thought of "Cities"

Sometimes, he's a little freaked out.

also, in my judgment, detachment is the posture of the defeated, not the winners.

Meantime, literally on Twitter just now

EVERY MEMBER OF THE TALKING HEADS, AT ONE POINT OR ANOTHER: (doing cocaine) there should be a little rap part here.

— Patrick Cosmos (@veryimportant) June 25, 2021

I think he (sincerely) engaged with yuppie tropes using various degrees of irony and subtlety, in a way that probably wouldn't go over in today's just-tell-me-what-I-want-to-hear climate.

i like him in the true stories movie for some reason but find him insufferable in most other contexts.

Very, very interesting points, morrisp, Alfred, and esp. L+J Rocco's "American striver" hint.
Also the discussion re: 'The Big Country' more above.

nothing says brazen truth telling like engaging in yuppie tropes during the reagan years

with irony and subtlety to boot

Exactly my point—I don’t think he was going for “brazen truth-telling.” Lots of other bands were for those who wanted it, though.

The thing that always confuses me about "The Big Country" is it seems to describe a functioning farm-to-table relationship between local farms, grocery stores and consumers that definitely doesn't exist in the middle of the country now; did it exist in 1978?

I think he's idealizing. The character is a city guy who doesn't really know how it works; his thoughts are drifting as he looks out the airplane window.

I also think Byrne really like(d) the idea of smoothly functioning industrial processes, daily routines, etc.

(as artists often do)

I can't listen to Strange Ritual without pondering the Byrne/scat rumour

Don't know about that one, but there was a very brief-lasting rumor in the Italian press when Feelings came out that he'd been dating Kate Bush - never substantiated and quickly gone. My guess is that happened on account of the b/vox on "Wicked Little Doll" uncannily sounding like Kate.

Can we discuss the awesomeness of Weymouth's bass line on the live "Born Under Punches."

dude.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO7N2tFb0X8

That was absolutely insane!

dude.

📹

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR8jgFGmqvU

I'm sure this has been discussed before but I wish that whole Rome show was available as an official release. Absolutely insane.

The whole band are on FIRE. Belew is demonic.

Busta + Weymouth play the solo. I can't separate them.

i used to figure the odds were pretty good that they were sitting on it for an eventual release, but i'm less certain now, feels like the moment may have passed

So Busta plays the solo. Cool.