I've always liked the Talking Heads and as the years have passed, I now realize that I'm a major fan!

However, I don't own a single album of theirs.

So I ask you, which album shall I purchase and dig into first? And why? Send me to the joy of the Talking Heads.

You could make a pretty solid case for any of the first four albums. Personally I'd recommend Fear of Music because almost all of the musical characteristics the Heads possessed through their career are on display here - world-beat influence, scratchy funk, pure pop. The only major drawback is that a couple tracks are slightly ordinary.

Also - the expanded version of Stop Making Sense makes for a pretty effective sampler of the 77-83 era if you want to dip your toe in the water that way.

mangled metaphor edit
[Edited 4/9/05 18:12pm]

My favorite has always been Remain In Light



contains the two tracks (Once In a Lifetime, and Born Under Puches) that made me a Talking Heads Fan!

But I agree with damosuzuki, Stop Making Sense is a pretty good overview...




...
[Edited 4/9/05 18:09pm]

they are all worth picking up, frankly. But the best? I would go with Remain in Light.

Remain in Light is a better album, but the Speaking in Tongues songs sound better live and my fav song is This Must Be the Naive.


Remain in Light is the best though.
[Edited 4/9/05 18:26pm]

if ya gotta get anything before the remasters come out with expanded liner notes and bonus tracks, then get their 'once in a lifetime' box set:



i'm not a HUGE box set fan, but this is a good one. tons of tracks on the three CDs, plus you get a video compilation and the booklet doesn't suck either.

and if you have the spare change, a good compliment would be this:



this was just released on CD for the first time last year, and really i think it's better than 'stop making sense'. it's certainly rawer and funkier. (and i think 'stop making sense' is a seriously funky live album)

but if you wanna find a couple of CDs used for cheep or at supersaver prices or whatevs, i'd go with 'fear of music' and 'remain in light'. of course, you can't go wrong with 'speaking in tongues', either.

yeah, i'm a talking heads geek.

paligap said:

Anxiety said:

What's this all about?

Stax said:

i don't know specifics, but the talking heads site has been hinting at reissues of all the talking heads albums coming out sometime in the near future.

Anxiety said:

Anxiety said:

look what I just found:

Rhino leaks bonus tracks for Talking Heads re-issues
Posted Friday, 4 March, 2005 by francey
A bunch of remastered tracks for the upcoming Talking Heads reissues have been leaked from Rhino and put on the internet. The collection of songs contain both approved and not yet approved tracks to be included on new editions of "Talking Heads 77", "More Songs About Buildings and Food", "Fear of Music" and "Remain in Light". Who leaked the tracks and made them public is currently being investigated.

http://www.talking-heads.net/

I've just started to get into them in the past year. Speaking in Tongues is all I've heard so far and it is wonderful. Remain in Light is next on my list!

thanks, pals

paligap said:

I LOVE ALL OF THEIR ALBUMS!!!

Why do I always catch these threads so late? And I'm probably the biggest Heads fan here.

No, I do not think Remain In Light is Talking Heads' best album. That one deserves an acquired taste. Besides, the last 2 tracks are boring as fuck, and it's just too out there to really define who the Talking Heads was.

I would go with the first 2 albums.


But I would also go with their live classic, "The Name of This Band is.....".


My favorite though is "Little Creatures".

NWF said:

I was wondering when you'd show up.

NWF said:

Ditto that. It's so different from the rest, but it's still so great. Stay Up Late is the weirdest, scariest, most wonderful song of that decade.

Remain in Light

What about "Stop making sense", the soundtrack-record to the movie?

A few months i bought a remastered version of this cd, and it still sounds amazing, fresh, barely dated at all!

I don't know them all well enough to say, but I've got a really good feeling about "Fear of Music" lately.

Speaking in Tongues and Fear of Music are my two favorites. I've always thought that Remain in Light should be at the top, but the CD version is SO tinny sounding that I can't even hear what is going on. The boxed set went a long way to rectify that, but still didn't include every song from the album, so I'm going to have to wait for the remasters and give it another shot.

I wouldn't be able to settle between Remain In Light or Speaking in Tounges. But although it isn't considered a great, I have to throw an honorable mention to True Stories. With songs such as "Puzzlin' Evidence", "Papa Legba", "Hey Now", and imho, Talking Heads channeled John Goodman for the wonderful song "People Like Us". ^-^

CherubRocker said:

As good as I think True Stories is, I think that's their worst one. That one was just like a vehicle for David and his whole movie concept.

But for someone who has never listened to Talking Heads and is interested in hearing them, the first CD I'd recommend would probably be their Greatest Hits collection, "Once In A Lifetime". Or better yet, that other one they released on Rhino too.

heartbeatocean said:

What's a Talking Heads thread without me?

Anxiety said:

Co-sign on this one.

in a way, there were really 2 talking heads. the quartet and the expanded band. in terms of quartet albums, more songs about buildings and food, is awesome. in terms of expanded band, i too, would go for remain in light. and, if i had to only choose one, i would pick remain in light.

Hey folks, dont forget about David Byrnes solo-effort "Uh Oh": a mixture of talking heads funky, new-wave pop and different styles of south american music....

An underrated masterpiece in my opinion, sounding funny and cathchy at first listens, but a very rich and enjoyable cd i regularly put into my cd-player!

Question for Talking Heads fans....What do you guys think of their "Sand in the Vaseline"? Is it a good "greatest hits" collection for someone who wants to get into them? Thanks.