Just noticed that Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense is on YouTube. It’s great to see the sheer pleasure they’re taking in making great music.
Pity about the negative atmosphere around Chris Franz’s recent book. I haven’t read it but it seems he’s pretty bitter towards David Byrne.
Stop Making Sense
I saw this at the pictures. Great googly-moogly! Changed my life.
Byrne is on “the spectrum” and has only relatively recently started to deal with it properly. He’s basically the Sheldon Cooper of rock.
Of course, he may be an arsehole in addition to that. But he’s also a fucken genius.
So did I. How old were you? Twelve?
Actually, yes.
And the new David Byrne/Spike Lee movie, American Utopia, is opening at the end of the month, in Oz at any rate. Can’t wait.
One of the best gigs I’ve ever been to in my life!
Me too. Utter joy start to finish.
I’ve seen that… it’s mega. The single best thing he’s put his name to outside of Th’eads.
Uk dvd/vod is out mid January.
I was supposed to see it at the Leeds film festival this week. Until Lockdown 2: The happening happened.
In all this discussion around Chris Frantz’s book, the unmentioned truth is that the original four members produced their best work when augmented by better musicians. Stop Making Sense is proof but album 2 of the Name of this Band is Talking Heads is even more conclusive. The best versions of so many of their songs are on that album thanks to Adrian Belew, Bernie Worrell and Busta Jones. I get the idea that Byrne and Eno were behind this and the other three had their noses put out of joint.
Really looking forward to the American Utopia film. That concert was phenomenal.
Last note on Talking Heads. I was listening to Life During Wartime the other day and it occurred to me that, should Trump and his acolytes have their way, it could turn out to be prophetic…
https://youtu.be/jShMQw2H2cM
“I’ve changed my hairstyle so many times now, I don’t know WHAT I look like”
Do you think? When I listen to The Name Of This Band Is… I hear Frantz, Weymouth and Harrison thoroughly enjoying and excelling themselves with those extra musicians.
I only saw them as a four piece. By God, they were good.
I saw them as a four piece touring More songs about Buildings and Food and then touring Fear of Music. Both gigs were stupendous and I find it difficult to buy into the suggestion that the other three were displeased about the extra musicians.
That big band sounded quite extraordinary..
But I may be totally wrong…
I don’t think their beef is about the additional musicians, it’s about Byrne breaking up the band. And quite possibly their failure to make it as big without him.
Moral of story: don’t read memoirs of disgruntled ex- members of successful bands. Makes them look bad and tarnishes your memory of the band.
I love Talking Heads solo Byrne and Tom Tom Club – in fact those Tom Tom Club albums are very underrated and their extended version of Under the Boardwalk is bloody excellent
I think it came down to songwriting credit. Clearly, Byrne was the ideas man but the others shaped the music and the rhythms. By Remain In Light, they felt they had agreed they would share songwriting credit but, when it was first released, only Byrne/Eno were listed as writers. After something of a wrangle, that was changed and Eno ejected from the producer’s chair but things were sour thereafter. They became more Pop, a phase I really adore, and more successful. They were a superlative Pop band. Love For Sale is a brilliant single.
As for Tom Tom Club, their first three singles and debut album sold more than any Talking Heads up to then. They arguably had more artistic influence as well. Their impact on Hip Hop was huge.
Every early rap song which didn’t sample Good Times sampled Genius of Love. At least it seemed like that.
I’m often reminded of the comment made by Janes Brown when one of the band in rehearsals cones up with an amazing riff that he subsequently uses. “I like that – I’m glad I thought of it”.
Possibly the best concert movie I have seen I saw it on the big screen at a university showing. After Once in a Lifetime, everybody applauded.
Unfortunately never saw them live but have seen David Byrne live many times. Never less than stupendous, American Utopia was superb, but also The Songs of Byrne and Eno a decade ago was probably the closest to seeing SMS.
Once got to ask Jonathan Demme a question at a special showing of Neil Young’s Trunk Show that he also directed. It was never released. He was a fine director and is much missed.
C’mon, fella, what was the question?
“Have you ever found yourself living in a shotgun shack?”
I asked him if Neil gave him the setlist before the show that was filmed (he did)
(I didn’t say it was a particularly good question)
I’ve been listening to a lot of Talking Heads recently (the surround mixes that came out a few years ago).
One album that really stood out as much better than I remembered was their final album from 1988, Naked. I remember buying and liking at the time, but it was one of those that was never played much since. I guess that the previous albums, Little Creatures and True Stories (especially) were very much David Byrne albums, whereas Naked feels much more a return to the earlier “band” feel. Anyway, here’s the gorgeous “Cool Water” from that album…..
I agree with you about Naked, I might say that it is the best one they made in the 80s after Remain in Light.
Hmm, a few people seem to say that. I bought it, unheard, and really couldn’t take to it. Than I am very much a Psycho Killer man, loving the first 2 albums more than their later pop successes ( in the singles chart) Must listen to it again, after lawks knows how many decades. Knowing my luck I’ll like it…….
I grew up with the LP version and resent having the intrusion Bill and the extended versions of some of the other tracks on CD. It sounds wrong. See also Speaking in Tongues.
The intrusion of Bill.
I’m not sure that sounds any better.
I like Bill. First heard it on vinyl though.
The LP is better than the CD, I agree.
Funny, but I’m the opposite. I listened a couple of weeks back and was reminded just how cold and lacking in soul it sounded once you get into side 2. But (Nothing but) Flowers is magnificent.
Johnny Marr plays chimurenga. Lovely.
Loved, loved Talking Heads right from the beginning. Like many people I knew was uneasy when extra band members came along and it became clear this was now David Byrne & Co rather than our beloved four-piece. It took Stop Making Sense for us to realise and accept the “new” band was even better.
The Frantz Book is actually a good read and even accepting Chris’ righteous bitterness confirms that DB is a genius and a tosser.
I went off them after the Love Goes To Building On Fire 7″, which I bought.
I preferred the demo version.
David recorded that in my SoHo loft.
It didn’t capture their live sound, though.
A genius and a tosser… I believe he has that at the head of his Linkedin profile.
Classic Dom.
Take back control.
Get Brexit done.
Stop making sense.
I have been back listening to TH recently, partly because of American Utopia (obligatory “it was the best gig I ever saw” statement) and also because of the gloriously silly, but interesting, R U Talkin’ Talking Heads To My Talkin’ Head podcast.
Stop Making Sense is so well presented, clips like this are great to see the same band in a slightly less controlled environment.
Also, there’s raw footage out there from the SMS tour. Gives an idea of what it would’ve been like to be in the audience.
Great stuff…but in the Letterman clip David Byrne is giving off a bit of a Rik Mayall in the Dangerous Brothers vibe. Not sure if that’s what he was going for?
I Zimbra knocked my socks off when I first heard it in 1979. My familiarity has grown over the years. I was amazed when it knocked my socks off all over again forty years later on the Utopia tour. It was like hearing it for the first time. Stunning.
It makes me want to shout “Tuffm!”
I thought it sounded a bit stiff, rhythmically, in that Letterman clip. Didn’t bounce like the album cut does.
It’ll be that rubbish rhythm section.
Whilst I like all of Talking Heads’ music, my favourite period is around Little Creatures and True Stories, which probably just reflects the age I was when I first started buying their records. Difficult to remember, but I would guess the only one of their songs I knew was Once in a Lifetime before Road To Nowhere came out and blew me away. And then True Stories took it to the next level for me. I could watch the Wild Wild Life video on a loop. True Stories is one of many films that I’ve bought three times. My one gripe about the recent Criterion edition is that I had waited for years for the John Goodman vocal version of People Like Us to be released on CD and then when it was they cut the drum intro from it. It’s only 4 beats, but it makes all the difference! So I’ll stick with the version I copied from the B-side of the Wild Wild Life single for my iPod.
Really wish I’d gone to see his tour though. I’ll have to make do with watching it on TV at some point.
Congratulations. You like their worst two albums! Actually Little Creatures is ok, but True Stories is their weakest by far for me.
Mrs Beezer and I were waiting to cross a road junction in Greenwich Village in NYC during a visit in 1999.
Traffic eventually stopped at the red light and we walked across. One of the cyclists waiting for us to cross was David Byrne. We made brief eye contact.
‘That’s David Byrne out of Talking Heads’, I said to Mrs Beezer.
That’s my anecdote.
Well you knew where you were going, but you couldn’t say where you’d been…
‘Get out of the way. This isn’t the time’ He didn’t say.
It wasn’t the Mudd Club or CBGBs, he didn’t have time for that then….
I must watch it. I have had an irrational dislike of DB since I saw his studied twitchy New York art rock CBGBs and tight yellow t shirt etc performance of Psycho Killer on Whistle Test so I have carefully ignored Talking Heads ever since. I like Tina Weymouth though. I shall challenge my paradigm and try it, though old twitchy poseur will probably do for me.
I don’t think it’s studied. I think he’s a genuinely odd guy. Strange and fascinating, in my book. Whenever I’ve seen him live, I’ve been convinced he is giving it all. It may be an exaggeration of his usual self but it’s still true to him.
Tig, it’s utterly calculated. I agree he’s a grafter but this is show biz shloc with New Yoick ‘tude. He’s as odd as Vegas Elvis, which is quite odd when you think about it.
The Tina / Tom Tom Club feature is great. You can see the band relax and start having fun without you know who on stage, and you can quite see why he continually wanted to get rid of her – a much more natural performer, and a frisson of, well, glam into the proceedings. We can’t have that. We’re twitchy and from New Yoick, you know, CBGBs and Andy Wahol etc. We wear big suits and shuffle on in plimsoles. I’ve still got my Wordy Rappinghood 12″…
I suppose I should say overwhelmingly OOAA.
He’s a performer, of course, but his brain seems to work differently to most.
Tina has a natural warmth about her that does exude from the stage. Try The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads. I think she’s enjoying herself there too. The expanded band gave Byrne the opportunity to drop the guitar and just be a frontman. The rest could just get on with the music, which they loved.
I may be wrong, but I think the “Tom Tom Club” are playing along to a pre-recorded track, or it was dubbed later to the film.
You may prefer the earlier version @Twang but , as you’d expect, the fuller sound of this big band, funky, world music( esp Acrobat) influenced stuff is heaven for me.
Saw this full show in San Francisco. Album was just released, came with an arty booklet- still got it. The show came to melb a few weeks later with less of the staging – still excellent.
Twice in a month across the globe. Couldn’t believe my luck.
I don’t like the earlier version at all. This band is much be funkier and more grooving.