Talking Heads - True Stories

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I have much love for this album. I was playing it a lot over Christmas and never tire of it even though I've had it since 1987. What do you think of it?

― MarkH (MarkH), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 15:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I have never seen the film however. I don't recall it ever being on TV (unlike Stop Making Sense, which I've seen several times).

― MarkH (MarkH), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 15:37 (twenty-one years ago)

radiohead, I'm picking up something good...

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 15:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I think my favourite is Dream Operator, although I don't really think there's a weak track on it. It's odd really because I can't imagine anyone ever thinking the lyrics of this song profound, yet they are strangely moving....

When you were little
You dreamed you were big
You must have been something
A real tiny kid

You wish you were me
I wish I was you
Now don't you wake up
The dream will come true

Every dream has a name
And names tell your story
This song is your dream
You're the dream operator

― MarkH (MarkH), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 15:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I like it.

But cf JtN's review in UNCUT. Were that online it would be worth posting somewhere here. Perhaps it is.

― the coxfox, Tuesday, 6 January 2004 16:05 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.uncut.net/thismonth.php

It's true -- you can get no reviews from the UNCUT site, as far as I can see.

I must admit that this makes good old-fashioned sense to me and makes me more likely to buy the magazine, which I'm nonetheless not going to buy.

― the bellefox, Tuesday, 6 January 2004 16:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Mark H: btw, I love that LP, esp. all of side 2.

I once accidentally stole it from a would-be Goth from Chelmsford who had declared, "It's not my most-played tape". I never returned it either.

― the blissfox, Tuesday, 6 January 2004 16:32 (twenty-one years ago)

The Sounds from True Stories album (the not-to-be-confused-with-the-Heads'-True Stories item) sounded rather fab as well, I recall. At least I found that mixture, of mostly Byrne-written synth-muzak and a coupla pieces composed by M'Monk and the like, positively pleasant.

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 16:51 (twenty-one years ago)

As I've said before, I hate it. Hate it so much that I never again felt the same about the THs, and never listen to them anymore.

― Sean (Sean), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I have that record too.

Where is it??

― the headfox, Tuesday, 6 January 2004 16:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Sean - which of the 'Stories' d'you mean then?

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 16:57 (twenty-one years ago)

I guess it's the studio version? The one with the giant typography on the cover. Hate it.

― Sean (Sean), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 17:15 (twenty-one years ago)

The versions in the film sung by Pops Staples, a bunch of schoolchildren, that dude from the Cruzados, that preacher and John Goodman are way superior (the only one I prefer Byrne's voice on is "Dream Operator.") "Love For Sale" is a'ight but "City Of Dreams" really annoys me.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 18:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm with Sean on this one, I like the movie, kind of, but the record was annoying. So was Little Creatures, to be honest.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 18:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Sounds from True Stories is great. "I <3 Metal Buildings" is an amazing song title.

― Matt Boch (Matt Boch), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 18:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm listening to Remain in Light right now, and it's reminding me of how disapointed I was with everything they did from Little Creatures onward. The film, "True Stories", was sort've alright...I suppose, if a bit aimless.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 21:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I bought the movie used from a mom & pop video store a few years ago and have never been able to sit all the way through it. I wish I'd have bought Suburbia (1984) instead.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 21:24 (twenty-one years ago)

this record is where i stopped giving a shit about the Talking Heads. (i loved ... and still love ... little creatures). i don't think that my mind would change, were i to listen to this one right now, 'cause i remember it being pretty awful (esp. "puzzlin' evidence" -- DAVID BYRNE SINGS GOSPEL?!? OMG WTF!?!)

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 21:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I like the album but I agree that the film versions of the songs are often superior.

John Goodman's dead-on Roy Orbison vocal take on "People Like Us", hell yes!

The film itself is visionary, both paranoid and sweet.

― Kevin Erickson, Tuesday, 6 January 2004 21:29 (twenty-one years ago)

"Stay Up Late" is one of the best songs Talking Heads ever did, up there with "I Zimbra", "Psycho Killer", and "Once In A Lifetime".

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 21:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I know I typed this on some other thread, but I much prefer the weird/paranoid/sinister Talking Heads to the naive/cute/child-friendly Talking Heads.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 21:31 (twenty-one years ago)

"Stay Up Late" is ULTRAFUCKINGCREEPY; you keep waiting for the point where they eat the baby.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 21:32 (twenty-one years ago)

i wanna video
i wanna rock and roll
TAKE ME TO THE SHOPPING MALL!
buy me a. a rubber doll now...

hey now, hey now, hey now now.

Love the film not keen on the actual True Stories album i would probably prefer the soundtrack record but i haven't heard that.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 21:32 (twenty-one years ago)

"Stay Up Late" is ULTRAFUCKINGCREEPY; you keep waiting for the point where they eat the baby.

Hmmm...I never heard it in that way. In fact, after spending a week in barren Texas (not too different from the town depicted in "True Stories," bizarrely enough) with my wife's family, we were often so starved for entertainment that we wanted to go wake up the eleven-month old and make her stay up late! Never once did I feel compelled to canibalize her. Well, maybe just once, but it passed.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 21:39 (twenty-one years ago)

yer also not David Byrne, Alex. knowing that it's David Byrne is what makes the song creepy.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 22:06 (twenty-one years ago)

but I much prefer the weird/paranoid/sinister Talking Heads to the naive/cute/child-friendly Talking Heads.

Alex, what's your take on Naked? As that shows pretty clearly both sides of their persona. Quite literally, as it's one of those LP's like Low which has totally different facet's on each side.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 22:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Never picked up a copy of Naked for myself, actually (only listened to it in my friend Jay's car on a few occaisions....when he wasn't blasting Red by King Crimson). `Twas alright, but I'd sort've given up by then. Worth checking out in detail, Billy?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 23:10 (twenty-one years ago)

"Wild Wild Life" sounded good on the radio. I dunno, I think it's a passable pop record. Much inferior to Little Creatures. And so far removed from Remain in Light that it's almost silly to compare them.

But as for the "David Byrne singing gospel WTF?", uh..."Take Me to the River"?

― spittle (spittle), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 05:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I've had True Stories for years now. Never listened to it once because I just assumed it was a lousy sounding album.

― may pang (maypang), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 05:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I like the cover though, as generic looking as it is.

― may pang (maypang), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 05:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Alex. I think you'd enjoy side two with it's twisted, edgy funk which harks back to their remain in light days. I'd guess you'd hate side one though.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 11:40 (twenty-one years ago)

sorry...I never liked anything after "The Name Of This Band Is..."

― Scott Bloomfield, Wednesday, 7 January 2004 22:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I also am fond of 'Stay Up Late'.

― the headfox, Thursday, 8 January 2004 13:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not that big a fan of Little Creatures and True Stories, but I can't dismiss their latter-era material altogether because Naked truly fucking ROCKS in a lot of places. The juxtaposition of the uber-organicness of shit like "Blind" and "Nothing But Flowers" against the mechanical grind of "Facts of Life" has always struck me as particularly distinct.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 8 January 2004 14:43 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

I just heard this for the first time in aeons. Christ, "Hey Now" and "Puzzlin' Evidence" are repulsive things.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 01:49 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

The preacher singing "Puzzlin Evidence" totally sounds like pissed off john cale

― babedad, Thursday, 11 October 2007 02:57 (seventeen years ago)

three years pass...

heyyy, does anyone have mp3s of the "sounds from true stories" lp? been digging around on the net with no luck.

― tylerw, Wednesday, 17 November 2010 02:44 (fourteen years ago)

miccio otm.

― kkvgz, Wednesday, 17 November 2010 11:52 (fourteen years ago)

tylerw i got it off a blog some years back, god knows where. maybe this is it i can't tell as it appears to be En Espanol:
http://lodepituco.blogspot.com/2007/12/david-byrne-sounds-of-true-stories.html

― piscesx, Wednesday, 17 November 2010 12:39 (fourteen years ago)

it's also on private torrent sites. can't tell you which ones though or I'd have to kill you.

― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Wednesday, 17 November 2010 12:55 (fourteen years ago)

I never play side 1 of True Stories but side 2 totally rocks.

― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Wednesday, 17 November 2010 12:56 (fourteen years ago)

thx piscesx!

― tylerw, Wednesday, 17 November 2010 16:06 (fourteen years ago)

Una película que hay que ver!

― tylerw, Wednesday, 17 November 2010 16:07 (fourteen years ago)

ha did it work? brilliant!

― piscesx, Wednesday, 17 November 2010 16:26 (fourteen years ago)

it worked! i'm actually working on a feature for the film site notcoming.com covering a bunch of "rock auteurs" and True Stories is one of the topics ...

― tylerw, Wednesday, 17 November 2010 16:29 (fourteen years ago)

six years pass...

ok so THIS is great

http://redlettermedia.com/true-stories-review/

― piscesx, Tuesday, 10 January 2017 14:55 (eight years ago)

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