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Talking HeadsAlbums ReviewedTalking Heads '77 (1977)More Songs About Buildings and Food (1978) Fear of Music (1979) Remain In Light (1980) Tom Tom Club (1982) Speaking In Tongues (1983) Little Creatures (1985) True Stories (1986) Casual Gods (1988) Talking Heads '77(1977)New York art-rockers Talking Heads began their career in legendary New York club CBGBs, which almost singlehandedly spawned the entire American punk and new wave scene. Scottish born David Byrne and drummer Chris Frantz recruited Frantz' girlfriend Tina Weymouth on bass, mostly because she was the only person who was willing to hang around with two nerds, although her incessantly funky bass lines became a feature of the group's sound. Keyboard player and guitarist Jerry Harrison signed on after finishing his architecture degree, having earlier gained a profile as the keyboard player in seminal proto punkers The Modern Lovers, Jonathan Richman's backing band. While it's not as multilayered as Remain in Light or as insistently dark as Fear of Music, '77 is arguably the most inaccessible of the Heads' albums due to its nauseating sweetness. Anyone familiar with the Heads' later and darker work will be confused or creeped out by Byrne lyrics like "Watch out now baby/Because I am in love with you," or "I'm embarrassed to admit, it hit the soft spot in my heart." The only track on which this saccharine approach works is the opener 'Uh Oh Love Comes To Town', where the group's irony is obvious in its crooked intent. Jerry Harrison turns in an impeccably tasteful performance on keyboard, providing suitably cheesy lead breaks. The darker songs 'Psycho Killer' and 'No Compassion' sound most like the Talking Heads, although the latter's soaring guitar solo is also way out of character. '77 does exhibit some impressive tunefulness, most notably in 'The Book I Read', but 38 minutes of artfully detached and insincere Byrne love songs can be difficult to take in one sitting. '77 is bracing in small doses but it is far surpassed by the Heads' next four studio albums. Curiously, while '77 and More Songs About Buildings and Food are consecutive albums, and are hardly poles apart from each other stylistically, most listeners exhibit a strong preference for one or the other. 
More Songs About Buildings and Food(1978)After an uncharacteristic first album, the Talking Heads created their quintessential album on their sophomore attempt. The title More Songs About Buildings and Food refers to David Byrne's avoidance of writing love songs, so that there are no insipid lyrics like 'Who Is It?' from Talking Heads '77. Brian Eno's production also helps to eliminate the overly light mood of the debut, helping the group to explore the darker side of new wave. The sound of the album is relatively homogenous for the first nine tracks, before veering into left field with a cover of Al Green's 'Take Me To The River' and a languid country song 'The Big Country'. This time around Byrne's thematic palette is far wider, with anti-love songs joining attacks on rural America and artistic snobbery. More Songs About Buildings and Food gets off to a riproaring start with the fantastic 'Thank You For Sending Me an Angel', a thrilling new-waver full of punchy drum fills and neurotic energy. The remainder of the first half isn't as exciting, without the memorable melodies of the debut, but the group's sheer energy and Byrne's unique lyrics keep the album flowing. It's the second side that really takes off, with the amusing 'Artists Only' and 'I'm Not in Love'. The nervy, minimalistic cover of Al Green's 'Take Me To The River' is the definitive version of the song, the band not wasting a single note in a taut performance. 'The Big Country', recorded at a slow pace so that Harrison could keep up on pedal steel, foreshadows the countryish tones that would enter the band's repertoire a few albums later. Like most of the band's early albums, More Songs About Buildings and Food isn't an easy first listen, but it captures the band at the beginning of a terrific streak of albums.
Fear of Music(1979)The Talking Heads head further into idiosyncratic territory with Fear of Music; while it's even nervier and darker than More Songs About Buildings and Food, it also gives a real indication of the funk that the group would embrace whole heartedly on their next album. The album is dominated by primitive and effective dual guitar parts, where Harrison and Byrne lock into trademark complimentary rhythms. Eno's production helps keeps the mood dark, with a denser sound than on previous albums. A lot of the nerviness comes from David Byrne's ultra-paranoid lyrics; many of the songs are about phobias of specific objects, including 'Drugs', 'Heaven', 'Animals', 'Life During Wartime', and 'Air'. There's differing schools of thought over 'Heaven', whether its description as a place where nothing ever happens is complimentary or derogatory; its use in the movie Philadelphia accentuates the former, while Frantz's damage control liner notes in the compilation Sand in the Vaseline indicate the latter. King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp adds muscular deftness to the funky opener 'I Zimbra', with nonsense lyrics by poet Hugo Ball, adding up to my favourite Talking Heads song. 'Memories Can't Wait' marries a haunting atmosphere to a stomping rhythm, while 'Air' and 'Drugs' also showcase an increasing fondness for space. 'Mind', 'Paper' and 'Electric Guitar' all whack simple repetitive guitar riffs into the ground. The single 'Life During Wartime' features some of Byrne's best lyrics; "heard of some gravesites, out by the highway, a place where nobody knows." Even though I prefer the unabashed funk of the following two albums more, this album's so consistent and compelling that it clearly ranks as their second best.
 Remain in Light(1980)The indisputable high point in the Talking Heads' catalogue, Remain in Light marked the peak of development for a group that had evolved markedly over the course of three years since their minimalist debut. The funk that had been welling up for the previous two albums took the central stage for Remain in Light. Eno and the group created dense soundscapes, bringing in guest musicians including ace guitarist Adrian Belew (about to join King Crimson) who plays some stunning solos, notably in 'The Great Curve'. The focus is on rhythm; the rhythm tracks were written before vocals, guitars and keyboards were overlaid. The resulting product is a pot pourri of lushness, funk, creepiness, and originality. Remain in Light is a sonic journey; there is a progression away from the hyper opener 'Born Under Punches' where Byrne rambles inanely "I'm a tumbler," "I'm so thin," "I'm a government man." Each song is quieter than the one that came before; by the time of apocalyptic 'The Overload' the album has ground to a disturbing and menacing silence. Although there are a veritable library of seemingly random lyrics floating by, sometimes they hit an amazingly incisive truth. 'Once in a Lifetime' warns of the dangers of floating through life; "and you may find yourself living in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife. And you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?" while 'Crosseyed and Painless' informs the listener about facts: "facts all come with points of view/facts don't do what I want them to." Remain in Light has everything; it is continuously complex and intelligent as it travels through a coherent cycle of styles. It's easily one of the best albums of the 1980s, although curiously the Heads never sought to reach the same ambitious heights again and headed for a more stripped back sounds with their subsequent albums.
Tom Tom Club: Tom Tom Club(1982)After four moderately successful albums with the Talking Heads, Frantz and Weymouth examined their bank balance and were underwhelmed. Their funk ensemble the Tom Tom Club, also featuring Adrian Belew and Weymouth's sisters, was a shameless attempt to recoup some money. While Tom Tom Club sold comparably to contemporary Heads albums, it isn't a particularly good record. It features an opening pair of gleefully inane and catchy singles, but the rest of Tom Tom Club is horribly slight. The worth of Tom Tom Club is further diminished by the inclusion of a superior and punchier version of 'Genius of Love' on Heads' live album Stop Making Sense. Therefore if you already own the expanded version of Stop Making Sense, the only song of interest on Tom Tom Club is 'Wordy Rappinghood', an inspired combination of funky retro keyboard sounds and 'Old McDonald Had A Farm'. Belew also tries his best to salvage the record with some innovative performances, including his trademark elephant in 'L'Elephant'. While Tom Tom Club is not without merit and shows the musical contribution that Frantz and Weymouth bought to the Talking Heads, it lacks an observant muse like Byrne to make it engage the mind and it's too shallow to interest most Talking Heads fans.
Speaking in Tongues(1983)After Remain in Light, the Heads underwent a three year hiatus, during which they all pursued solo projects. Brian Eno was not rehired and the group are less ambitious, resulting in a more mainstream record. While they'd become a lot less interesting after this album, here they're still somewhat in arty territory. The funk influence carried over from Remain in Light, albeit in a simplified form, is a becoming style, while two thirds of the songs are memorable and stuffed full of terrific hooks. The title Speaking in Tongues refers to the randomness of the lyrics, which often consist of incoherent imagery. Welshman Tom Jones heinously slaughtered opening track 'Burning Down the House', which was inspired by religious-like ecstasy that Byrne observed at a Parliament concert. Excellent musical hooks are scattered liberally through Speaking in Tongues: the gospel chorus of 'Slippery People', the blues riff of 'Swamp' and the ridiculous lyrics of 'Girlfriend is Better'. Best of all is the closing ballad 'This Must Be The Place', a guarded statement of commitment from Byrne with a lovely melody and gorgeous chord sequence (it repeats G/D, Em, C, Em for the entire song). What holds this record back is the three tracks that refuse to go anywhere (the three that didn't make it onto Stop Making Sense), each dragging on for almost five minutes and not adding anything memorable. While the production is a little lightweight after Eno's increasingly intense soundscapes, Speaking in Tongues is an enjoyable effort, successfully moulding the group's artistic tendencies into a more light-hearted framework. This was the last classic Talking Heads' album; they still had a few more decent songs left in them, but it was all downhill from here.
Little Creatures(1985)Sadly, Little Creatures documents the Talking Heads past their prime. After the democracy of the two previous albums, David Byrne took artistic control of the band and relegated Frantz, Harrison and Weymouth to the status of backing musicians. Musically, the Heads downscaled from multilayered funk to relatively straightforward acoustic pop. Some of the lyrics are amusing as Byrne examines an obsession with sex and infants, triggered by the birth of Weymouth and Frantz' son. Little Creatures, however, is a less interesting record than its predecessors, with little to write home about apart from the singles. The highlight is 'Road to Nowhere', an innovative combination of acapella nihilistic lyrics, washboards and accordions, while the harmonised 'And She Was' is almost as memorable. 'Stay Up Late' is arguably the funniest song in my entire CD collection, with hilarious lyrics featuring a deviant baby sitter that inevitably make me laugh. The catchy 'The Lady Don't Mind' features faux-naive lyrics about the fringe benefits of being a pop star, while 'Television Man' is likeable enough. Otherwise, Little Creatures is a surprisingly dull effort from a group who could previously be relied upon to be interesting.
Postscript: I raised this half a star after hearing True Stories which made me realise that, although Little Creatures is mundane stylistically, the songs are generally pretty good. True Stories(1986)The soundtrack for a David Byrne directed film (there's an alternate version with cast versions of the songs), True Stories is musically a watered down version of Little Creatures. While the lack of experimentation on that album was a major disappointment, coming after a career of illuminating academic approaches to earthy music forms, at least the material was relatively strong. This time Byrne doesn't manage nearly the same quality of songs, and he still doesn't let the other members contribute to the record in any major way. The results are often surprisingly twee as well; while '77 and Little Creatures were musically cheesy, the lyrics were chock full of irony, while Fear of Music and Remain in Light still hold up as almost unassailably cool quarter of a century later. This time round 'People Like Us' is almost condescending in its attempt to relate to the lives of country folk, while even the better tunes like 'Dream Operator' could pass quite easily as Christian Contemporary Music. While David Byrne dismisses it as the worst project he's ever been involved in, it's not quite a complete write off. Even if it's famous for nothing else, True Stories contains the song 'Radio Head' which inspired the name of a certain Oxford-based quintet. Byrne hasn't completely lost his melodic touch, and 'Wild Wild Life' is a nice infectious single that sits more or less in the same league as 'And She Was' or 'Road To Nowhere'. It's also interesting to hear the Heads take up a completely artless approach to rock and roll in the opening song 'Love For Sale', although it's hardly among their better songs. But the major problem with True Stories is that it's so facile; after a couple of listens you really feel like you've got to the bottom of it and there's nothing else to be gleaned. It's not unpleasant, but I don't see why anyone would want to pay more than a couple of dollars for it. It's also significant that this is the first time a Talking Heads album sounded particularly similar to the one that came before it. The Talking Heads released one final album, 1988's Naked, apparently an only partially successfully attempt to recapture their multi-layered Remain in Light sound.
Jerry Harrison: Casual Gods(1988)The lowest profile member of the Talking Heads has released three solo albums, of which Casual Gods is the middle one. Harrison is not as compelling a front person as David Byrne, but has a pleasant voice and is able to contribute about half an albums worth of good material to Casual Gods. All the good songs on Casual Gods are stacked in the first half of the album, which is thoroughly enjoyable. 'Rev It Up' and 'Cherokee Chief' are riff driven rock songs, while 'Song of Angels', 'Let it Come Down' and 'Man With A Gun' are atmospheric and spooky. After the early highlights, Casual Gods descends into overly sentimental '80s pop. Casual Gods hasn't aged as gracefully as the Talking Heads output; although it's a decent album I wouldn't want to play it in front of anyone because they'd probably laugh at me, while if I had a CD cleanout this would be one of the first to go even though it's by no means the worst.
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Written 2001-2009, Graham Fyfe
