Where to start with Talking Heads?

September 1, 2005 2:54 PM

I don't have any Talking Heads albums. I should. Where do I start? What's the best? What should I avoid?
posted by punishinglemur to Media & Arts (38 answers total)

Response by poster: No "best of" compilations, please.
posted by punishinglemur at 2:56 PM on September 1, 2005

I'd start with Stop Making Sense, a fantastic live album. (and movie.)
posted by Vidiot at 2:57 PM on September 1, 2005

I'd second Vidiot - that's the first album I heard, and I found it to be a great introduction to the Talking Heads.
posted by ubersturm at 3:00 PM on September 1, 2005

Looking at their discography, I would go chronologically. 77 is an excellent album to start with.
posted by modofo at 3:02 PM on September 1, 2005

Seconding modofo, their first 4 albums are essential.
posted by DelusionsofGrandeur at 3:08 PM on September 1, 2005

i don't have their complete collection, but i like Fear of Music a lot.
posted by hellbient at 3:11 PM on September 1, 2005

Stop Making Sense is a must have, but I'd also recommend The Name of This Band is Talking Heads. It's also a live album, but it's less of a performance piece than Sense.

Speaking in Tongues contains a whole lot of their popular hits, so that might be a good starting place for non-live recordings.
posted by me3dia at 3:11 PM on September 1, 2005

Or the fantastic "the name of this band is talking heads," a nice live set that spans their earlier career better than "stop making sense."
posted by hamfisted at 3:13 PM on September 1, 2005

Oops. So that's why the preview button is there.
posted by hamfisted at 3:13 PM on September 1, 2005

I'm not sure if "Remain in Light" is necessarily their best record, but I think it's a great one to start with. The songs, production, and side players are all top-notch. It feels like the transition record from the funkier, weirder, darker 70s stuff into the poppier 80s stuff to come.

They also had a live double record in 82 or so that I think got re-released recently. The second half features a live show from about 81 that's mind-blowing (the 1st half from a late 70s show is pretty fun, too). I like it better than Stop Making Sense, myself, which gets a little bloated, if memory serves.

Fact is none of their records suck, so you're safe to dive in pretty much anyplace.


(On preview. Um. What m3dia said.)
posted by merlinmann at 3:15 PM on September 1, 2005

Start with '77. Then get the rest, up until Speaking In Tongues. Little Creatures is OK, I guess. Naked and True Stories are pretty damn inessential. They're good to have if you see them for 50¢ somewhere, but if you buy them, you're a fool.
posted by klangklangston at 3:23 PM on September 1, 2005 [1 favorite]

Remain in Light is the only one I still listen to. Great players on that album.
posted by vronsky at 3:26 PM on September 1, 2005

Fool here. I love Naked. Awesome songs, killer arrangements. Non-cheesy horns. An incredible conclusion to an incredible band.
posted by erebora at 3:27 PM on September 1, 2005

Chronological order makes the most sense, or you could just skip to the money shot.

They're all coming out in 5.1 with extras on DualDisc any day now.
posted by togdon at 3:32 PM on September 1, 2005

I love "More Songs About Buildings And Food" from 1978.

Great album.
posted by essexjan at 3:55 PM on September 1, 2005 [1 favorite]

The Name of This Band is Talking Heads definitely! It's live, but the performances really nail the spirit of the songs. The studio versions sound stale in comparison.
posted by mischief at 4:14 PM on September 1, 2005

Stop Making sense is a great, great album, but it's still a compilation, non?
posted by ParisParamus at 4:24 PM on September 1, 2005

Speaking in Tongues probably is the easiest one for someone to start with, but I started when More Songs About Buildings And Food came out and I could not stop playing it.
posted by pracowity at 4:29 PM on September 1, 2005

It's a live album, which isn't the same as a compilation.

You should definitely watch the DVD of Stop Making Sense, which is one of the best concert films of all time.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:30 PM on September 1, 2005

One more vote for TNOTBITH. I spent the entirety of my adult life, and then some, waiting eagerly for its CD release.

It's a good intro to the band because it generally skips the late-career hits you're already familiar with ("Burning Down The House", "Wild Wild Life", etc.) and gets straight to the essence of the band. The first disc is the quirky art-school punk of their early days as a 3 or 4 piece act, and the second is packed with amazing world-beat funk with a 10 member band including Adrian Belew on guitar. In fact disc 2 is my favorite single CD by anyone, ever, and I don't say that lightly.

The Heads are rare in that their two live releases are their best records. Not to discount Remain In Light, which is a masterpiece also.
posted by gazole at 4:36 PM on September 1, 2005

I would vote for Remain In Light as the best self-contained album, and Stop Making Sense (both movie and CD) and Name of This Band as excellent live albums that present a broader picture of the band as well as standing well on their own just as albums.
posted by matildaben at 4:38 PM on September 1, 2005

What klingklangston said, only I'd say get everything up through Little Creatures, which I absolutely love.
posted by BoringPostcards at 4:40 PM on September 1, 2005

I was introduced to them with Stop Making Sense, which hooked me for good. And that was just the original nine song soundtrack not the excellent rerelease. Like everyone else, I must recommend the DVD as well.
posted by kyleg at 4:45 PM on September 1, 2005

I second Stop Making Sense. The DVD and the new version of the CD.

And if you like the talking heads, don't forget Tom Tom Club -- Talking Heads minus David Byrne. Live @ The Clubhouse is a great album.
posted by PlusDistance at 5:34 PM on September 1, 2005

I had resisted the Talking Heads until I was convinced to see Stop Making Sense. Very good, and I'm no fan of filmed concerts.
posted by pmurray63 at 6:23 PM on September 1, 2005

pmurray63, that was my reaction too. I didn't like the Heads at all, but I saw the movie and was blown away. So my suggestion would be: see the movie if you haven't yet, and buy the soundtrack. Then move on to the rest.
posted by litlnemo at 7:24 PM on September 1, 2005

If you're looking to get stuff now, get one or both of the live albums mentioned; the actual studio albums are going to be remastered/expanded/etc. in October, so you'll be saving yourself some grief -- since both Stop Making Sense and The Name Of This Band just got the remaster/expansion treatment, they won't be coming out again.

If you're looking for studio stuff and are willing to hold off a couple months -- well, the two live albums are their best, but they are a little compilationy. I'd recommend 77 or More Songs About Buildings And Food. A lot of people swear by Fear of Music, too.

Tell you the truth, I haven't really been able to get too into Remain in Light; it's got some outstanding stuff on it, but it seems to have more in the way of soundscapes than actual songs; which are cool, of course, but they're, well, really good at the whole song thing.

Speaking In Tongues is another one I haven't been able to get into, but this is mainly because I first saw Stop Making Sense, which was taken from that tour. It's got most of the songs from that record in it, but the studio versions are so... anemic when compared to that, I can't hardly stand to listen to it. (That, and the synth bass on a lot of the tracks kind of bugs me.)

I don't have Little Creatures or Naked, so I'm not sure, although the stuff I've heard from Naked doesn't really jazz me too awfully much. I want Little Creatures, though, I'm just waiting for the remaster on that one.

Also -- one I haven't quite seen mentioned here, True Stories is excellent, both the (not actually a soundtrack) LP and the Film (which is wonderful, but it pisses me off so much that the only DVD is a bare-bones pan & scan. I hope a real version of that comes out soon; it's such an excellent film, and I love the versions of the songs in that; John Goodman's "People Like Us" is even better than David Byrne's version, and that's one of the best songs he's ever written.). I think I could actually see a person starting with that one, really.

The thing is, though, Talking Heads sort of changed styles a bit about the time of Speaking In Tongues, give-or-take, from a more angular and jittery band to a more funky and pretty band. I love both eras, though, although for a long time, I just didn't get the early stuff. Eventually though, it just hit me like a ton of bricks, and I adore it now, possibly even more than the later, poppier type stuff.

However -- I think it might be out of print, so it might not matter, but for what it's worth, avoid the "No Talking, Just Head" album by The Heads (TH minus David Byrne, plus different vocalists for each track). It's... pretty awful, really.

David Byrne's solo stuff is pretty good, too, though. I'm a big fan of Grown Backwards. If you end up liking TH, particularly the later stuff, you might check that one out.

But seriously, though, I do believe that "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)" is quite possibly the most beautiful song ever written. (There's a particularly gorgeous version on the David Byrne Live At Union Chapel DVD that just came out, too, but that's not actually Talking Heads. I'm just sayin' is all.)
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 7:46 PM on September 1, 2005

Fear of Music (1979) is one of the two best Talking Heads albums, the other being Remain in Light (1980). Fear of Music is darker and musical richer than their first two, but still has a New Wave bounce to its step. It's really a perfect record--"Heaven" is lovely; "Air" sounds like air; "Memories Can't Wait" and "Drugs" are authentic freak-outs. Remain in Light is a more ambitious record, but a less representative (for the patient there is Byrne-Eno's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts). Avoid the '80s accessible records like Little Creatures, when David Byrne went soggy and cute. And as someone who lived through 1983, I can't suggest that anyone listen to Speaking in Tongues, although I do have the Rauschenberg clear vinyl version of the LP and many of its tracks are actually quite good.
posted by Toolshed at 7:56 PM on September 1, 2005 [1 favorite]

Start at the beginning and buy them in order.
posted by caddis at 8:23 PM on September 1, 2005 [1 favorite]

None of the albums are really representative except live albums and compilations since they went through two major style shifts in their career. They were incredibly strong from the start, so either get a live CD or start from the beginning.
posted by abcde at 9:05 PM on September 1, 2005

Moon: Shawn Colvin does a version of Naive Melody that emphasizes the pretty aspect.
posted by abcde at 9:09 PM on September 1, 2005

Thanks, I'll check that out!
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 9:46 PM on September 1, 2005

their first five studio albums are essential ... after that, they tapered off a bit, but they were still good ... one thing you'll discover is that each album has its own style and personality ... the tom tom club's first album is worth having, too
posted by pyramid termite at 11:11 PM on September 1, 2005

Another vote for The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads, and then starting at 77. My uncle taped me TNOTBITH when I was about 12 and I listened to it non stop on my walkman whilst delivering newspapers before school for the next 6 years or so. The tape went the way of all tapes, the uncle divorced my auntie and took all the records, and I'd been waiting for the re-release ever since. Now I have it on CD and it is as good as I remembered.

For side projects? Well anything by David Byrne is pretty fantastic. "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" with Brian Eno is rather odd but totally compelling. "Uh-Oh" is the Talking Heads album that never was, "Feelings" is great pop. And the last two have some really excellent stuff with a string quartet that I love.

Jerry Harrison's "Casual Gods" is OK - I'd take that over the Tom-Tom club any day.
posted by handee at 1:18 AM on September 2, 2005

In a much broader sense, what you need to take a look at is the All Music Guide's online site. AMG is essential for music discovery because they provide you with ALL the albums professionally reviewed. Also a band bio and related/follower/precursor artists.

AMG: Talking Heads

Homepage
posted by sophist at 1:37 AM on September 2, 2005

I like AMG's reviews, but I wish they'd have the same person review all of a group's albums. Sometimes one review will say an album's great, and a review of another album will say the first one sucked.

I prefer MP3.com's design to AMG's; MP3.com licenses AMG's content. Here's their Talking Heads page.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:16 AM on September 2, 2005

PEOPLE ARE GIVING YOU BAD ADVICE.
You should see Stop Making Sense, it's a fantastic concert movie. Really brilliantly shot. (As a side note, I got kicked out of the theater for making out through the end credits— for some reason, the big suit must be sexy...)
But as an album, it's so-so. The things that work in the concert setting (different synth tones, more Jerry Harrison, more emphasis on backup singers) are total effluvia on the record. They're cheesy bells and whistles. While it's a good album and a fun selection of their songs, it's simply not the same as listening to their studio albums, which give you a better picture of their recorded output. But it's total cake instead of a meal.
Similarly, I encourage you to see the movie of True Stories. The album is pretty mediocre, and almost all of the songs appear in other places. It's something that you may, if you get a completist urge, may want to get at some point, but you should not start out with it.
Likewise, Naked and Little Creatures are fun, poppy albums. But they're not great, and they're not why the Talking Heads are a great band. If you want those songs, the Stay Up Late etc., you should just go and buy the Sand in the Vaseline comp. It'll save you time and money if that's the Talking Heads sound that you prefer.
The Tom Tom Club is something that you should only get into if you're interested in finding albums that sound better when you're coked out of your gourd. Every single one of their songs would be better if it was cut in half (Gangster of Love would be great if it were only about three minutes long, instead of the meandering jam). People who try to convince you to listen to the Tom Tom Club will also try to convince you to wear checkered loafers and neon sweatbands. You should ignore them.
'77 is an angular album, and is punkish (though not really the '77 style of punk that everyone thinks of. Think of it as proto-post-punk if that makes more sense. More Wire than Ramones). It's also snappy and catchy.
More Songs about Buildings and Food is good, and more relaxed. I think it's essential, but I wouldn't necessarily pick it up first.
Fear of Music is kinda hard to get into, but is rewarding. I wouldn't recommend starting with this one, though it is really good.
Remain in Light is probably my favorite Talking Heads album. It's brilliant, and combines funk, angular post-punk, and Brian Eno's spaciousness and weird pop into a beautiful album. This or '77 would be my first choice.
Speaking In Tongues is the last really good album the Talking Heads made. It's also probably the last time they functioned as a band, and not as Byrne+some other folks. It's accessible and fun, but is the beginning of the end.
posted by klangklangston at 12:52 PM on September 2, 2005 [1 favorite]

Fear of Music/Remain in Light. These two tower above the rest.
posted by 3.2.3 at 4:34 PM on September 2, 2005