Talking Heads – More Songs About Buildings And Food Super Deluxe Edition (3CD & Blu-Ray)

What does it sound like?:

Revved up and raring to go after touring with The Ramones, Talking Heads flew to the Bahamas to record at the newly opened Compass Point Studio with Brian Eno in the producer’s chair. They were a band in hurry, battle-hardened and armed with a clutch of songs they knew worked a crowd. Rather than separate into constituent parts, Eno recorded them as a single unit. The early run-throughs are the band playing together, live, all in the same room, with minimal Eno treatments. As a result, disc two of this set is fantastic: raw, frantic with energy, but as tight as a gnat’s chuff. The band clearly can’t believe their luck, loving their job and working in such a beautiful part of the world. David Byrne chortles away with delight at the beginning of the alternative With Our Love, hardly the cheeriest of songs, and the sense of glee pervades the whole project from beginning to end. It’s not often the work-in-progress tracks sound so great but these are definitely worth repeated listens.

John Cale had taken Eno to see Talking Heads perform almost a year before. A smitten Eno invited them to his apartment and seduced them with Fela Kuti’s Afrodisiac album. Back in 1977, Fela Kuti was barely known outside of Africa and Afrobeat was a complete revelation to the band. Tina Weymouth had tormented Johnny Ramone on the tour bus with Bootsy Collins era James Brown records but their own funk felt off kilter as they never quite managed to master playing on the one. Afrobeat, or at least their preppy, arty, New York version of it, came much more naturally to them. The polyrhymic bedrock was perfect for Byrne’s odd lyrics and peculiarly catchy tunes, helping considerably with the writing process. They introduced musical interludes, chiming guitars, complicated syncopation and sinuous basslines. Overtures, bridges, codas, all brought new elements of interest musically, better able to capture the listener’s attention. Eno’s affectionate pastiche of the Talking Heads’ sound on King’s Lead Hat from Before And After Science, right down to an impersonation of Byrne’s vocal style, might well have helped, but he sealed the deal by suggesting they slow down their cover of Take Me To The River, resulting in their first big hit.

The album itself is stunning. It is such a leap forward from 77. Every song is a banger, with no weaknesses, their finest collection on any album. Suddenly, this is a band with a sense of purpose and a clear identity. “Absolute trust keeps me going in the right direction.” The songs conclude decisively, only two of the eleven fade. There is no pause for breath between tracks. The feverish danceability never stops. Almost every track twists and turns, packed with rhythmic, dynamic and melodic variety, as if each song is several stitched together. Eno excels both with the production and his contribution as a musician. There are so many details squeezed into the most unexpected of places. Weymouth must have been delighted with the prominence of her bass. Frantz’s drumkit is treated as a lead instrument and the guitars and keyboards are dazzling. Byrne’s vocal tics, swoops and yelps are captured perfectly, as he grapples with trying to understand feelings and the meaning of love. He is far more comfortable observing human behaviour from a disinterested distance, as in Girls Want To Be With The Girls, Found A Job or Big Country. He mocks the creative process on Artists Only. His cry “I’m painting again!” rebukes the Rhode Island School of Design that rejected him, but where both Weymouth and Frantz graduated. Disc One is labelled as a remaster but this is far more than a simple removal of a patina and a buffing to a sheen. There is so much new to hear it seems like a remix. It all adds up to Talking Heads at their defiant, assertive best.

The live set, recorded 11th August 1978 at the Entermedia Theater New York, is a graduation. The setlist includes almost everything from their first two albums. However, though the playing is excellent, the Eno treatments are sorely missed, the rhythm section is less conspicuous than it should be and Byrne’s voice is mixed on top of the band, instead of with it, becoming increasingly strained as the performance goes on. It is not as awesome as their final gig at CBGBs, as presented in the 77 Super Deluxe Box.

More Songs About Buildings And Food is also available as a 2LP Deluxe Edition, the remastered album and a selection of the rarities, and a 4LP Super Deluxe Edition which corresponds to the 3CDs in this box. The Blu-Ray contains a high-resolution stereo version of the album, Dolby ATMOS and 5.1 surround sound mixes by E.T. Thorngren and Jerry Harrison, the real keeper of the flame all these years. There is a 25 minute promotional film from the Entermedia Theater and a 47 minute single camera video from Sproul Plaza at the University of California, Berkeley. A 60-page hardcover book rounds out the package, with previously unseen photos and new liner notes, including recollections from all four group members.

What does it all *mean*?

More Songs About Buildings And Food certainly deserves the full peeling-back-the-curtain treatment. This remix, sorry remaster, brings a thrilling new perspective on an already brilliant, pulsating album but it’s the early alternative takes that prick the ears.

Encouraged by The Typing Pool backing vocalists, David Byrne squeals: “Watch me work!” Great work all round.

Goes well with…

Blu-ray facilities and room on the shelf for six more.

Release Date:

25/07/2025

Might suit people who like…

Art Pop at its peak.

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