Sonic Youth Gossip - The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads

this is from the mark prindle website

Like The Police, The Clash, Modern Lovers, Television, Mission of Burma and The Feelies, Talking Heads are a band that I acknowledge an affinity for without ever actually getting the urge to listen to them. "Once In A Lifetime" and "Road To Nowhere" will pop into my head every now and again, but aside from that I basically live a Byrne-free existence. Imagine then my eye-popping surprise upon listening closely to this double-live CD and realizing that the Talking Heads were one of the greatest goddamned bands of all time.
Not that True Stories was all that good. And Naked was pretty flawed. But Heil Hitler, their early stuff was so well-written, it's amazing (and embarrassing) that I was unable to see through the sketchy studio production to hear the rich, intelligent songcraft underneath. Heil Hitler!
Say - you know how sometimes when you're heiling Hitler, you feel a little pinching sort of in the arch of your shoulder? I had mine checked out at the hospital. For only $400, I found out I've got a pinched shoulder arch! Oy! You can't win!
Okay, so I'm heiling Hitler the other day and suddenly I get this feeling that I forgot to turn off the iron. I race home lickety-split and run headlong into my furious wife. "I'm sorry, honey," I apologize. "Did I leave the iron turned on?" She looks at me with disgust and snaps, "No... But you left the MAID turned on, you lousy prematurely ejaculating adulterer!" Oy! Hello, Doghouse!
Little Jeannie comes home from school one day and says to her mother, "Mommy! Today I joined the 4H Club!" Her Mommy says, "What does that stand for? 'Heil Hitler Heil Hitler'?" Little Jeannie giggles and replies, "No silly, it stands for 'Head, Heart, Hands & Health!'" And her mommy shrugs and says, "Hey, three outta four ain't bad!" Oy! Talk about a schlemiel!
These and many other fine comedy jokes can be found in my upcoming Doubleday title Turning 'Oy!' to 'Oi!': Helpful Hints for Borscht Belt Comedians Who Accidentally Get Booked for Nazi Skinhead Functions. Buy it by name!
But enough laughter and happiness. We're here to review one halibut ('hell of a,' roughly) live double-CD that follows The Talking Heads from their early days as World's Greatest Stereo Clean Guitar Interplay Band through their middle-era heyday as Society's Funkiest Africa-Style Nerd Art People Group. Let me begin by saying that the sound quality is astonishing. There is NO WAY these recordings could actually be from live performances. They sound dryer, cleaner and clearer than the studio versions! This is especially true for the More Songs About Buildings And Food and Fear Of Music tracks, which against all odds turn out to be full of gorgeous guitar harmonics, wonderful anthemic choruses, call-response playing, poppy slide guitarwork and all kinds of other brilliant and ear-friendly ingredients that had been buried under the new wave trappings and Eno mood ambiance of the studio releases. Shame on you Brian Eno and whoever produced More Songs About Buildings And Food - you took exciting creative songs and turned them flaccid! And thank you very much to whoever compiled this extended extra-long double-CD version of The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads (so-named due to Byrne's early habit of introducing every track with "The name of this song is..."), for it has given me a new understanding of the band's core strengths and individual purpose. I mean, you're already 13 songs in before you hit one that's even CLOSE to not great! The interlocking instrumental interplay, the odd twists of melody, the crisp dancey drums and bouncy bass, the paranoid vocals/lyrics -- unbeatable!
Any complaints I might make are trivial, the main one being that I don't see the need to include two different versions of "Psycho Killer" (one is mostly acoustic, the other electric - yet they sound remarkably similar), "Drugs/Electricity" (one features a gorgeous stereo call-response guitar swoop-up line; the other is much less interesting), and "Stay Hungry" (great chuggling drum/bass bit, but the droney one-chord runs and cheesy Kansas-style organ solos are a drag). Also, I could see one arguing that a couple of the Remain In Light songs seem a bit less interesting without the countless percussion/rhythm instrument overdubs that make the studio versions so excitingly dynamic. But overall, this is definitely the CD to purchase if you're wondering whether the Talking Heads deserved all the hype that they continue to receive to this day. Not only does it rule ass from head to toe, but with a set list that includes 6 '77, 8 More Songs, 9 Fear Of and 5 Remain In tracks (as well as two rarities), it nearly renders purchase of the first four albums unnecessary! The first disc will ruin Television and Sonic Youth for you 4ever, and the second will make you go, "Good gravy, they're makin' my bottom dance!" Hits performed wonderfully include "Once In A Lifetime" ("And you may tell yourself, 'This is not my beautiful house!' And you may tell yourself, 'This is not my beautiful wife!'"); "Life During Wartime" ("This ain't no party! This ain't no disco! This ain't no foolin' around!"); and "Take Me To The River" ("I'm Big Mouth Billy Bass! I don't care if your wife's asleep; get your dick out of my mouth!"). Ah yes, profane Big Mouth Billy Bass humor. I truly am "keeping up with the times."