New York’s Talking Heads are one of my favourite bands of the new wave era. David Byrne was the nervy frontman, Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth were a funky rhythm section, while Jerry Harrison filled out their sound on keyboards and guitar. Despite my affection for classic albums like Remain in Light and singles like ‘Burning Down the House’, their debut album has never been a favourite. The single ‘Psycho Killer’ is a great career opener, and I enjoy the cheerful opener ‘Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town’ with its steel drums, but largely it’s a promising prelude to a sequence of great work between 1978 and 1983.
Part of the problem is the production – the group would shortly link up with Brian Eno, who would furnish them with a darker, more enigmatic sound. On Talking Heads ’77 they worked with Tony Bongiovo, the second cousin of Jon Bon Jovi. Even though he worked with The Ramones in the same era, Bongiovi seems like an odd fit for Talking Heads.
Bongiovi was alternately dissatisfied and dismissive of the group’s music, and the conflict boiled over when Bongiovi attempted to get Byrne in the proper headspace to record ‘Psycho Killer’ .Bongiovi beloved Byrne should inhabit the song, instructing him to add more emotion and infliction in his vocal performance. To illustrate this, Bongiovi went to the studio’s kitchen a pulled out a knife, placing it in Byrne’s hands and instructing him to embody a killer.
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/talking-heads-first-love-song-story-uh-oh-love-comes-to-town/
Similar tensions occurred with the b-side of ‘Psycho Killer’, ‘I Wish You Wouldn’t Say That’. Jerry Harrison wrote in the liner notes to the anthology Sand in the Vaseline that “I’m glad we persuaded Tony [Bongiovi] and Lance [Quinn] that the version with the cellos shouldn’t be the only one.”
The Talking Heads have more sophisticated songs than ‘I Wish You Wouldn’t Say That’ – even at two and a half minutes, it runs out of steam. But it fits well with the lighter, more mainstream sound of Talking Heads: 77. Byrne has a clear debt to Jonathan Richman, whom Harrison played with before joining the Talking Heads, and it’s especially pronounced here. The acoustic arrangement and the use of a first name (“I thought I’d have to make it clearer/Now Jimmy’s coming over”) – make it more like a Richman song than anything else the Talking Heads recorded.
“Great B-side” is maybe hyperbolic for ‘I Wish You Wouldn’t Say That’, but it outclasses much of Talking Heads: 77 for my money, and it deserves its place on the compilation Sand in the Vaseline. It also appears to be the only non-album B-side in the Talking Heads’ entire discography.
Read More
Aphoristical
16 Comments
Leave a Reply
Posts
I add new blog posts to this website every week. Browse the archives or enjoy this random selection:
Pages
Read about the discographies of musical acts from the 1960s to the present day. Browse this site's review archives or enjoy these selections:
Related Posts
Music Quiz: Complete the Lyrics (Classic Rock)
Nick Drake’s Best Album: Bryter Layter
Music Quiz: 1970s Artists on Their Album Cover
Great B-Sides: You're My Favourite Waste of Time by Marshall Crenshaw
Cool in the Pool – Holger Czukay
Been a long time since hearing this song. Interesting and informative post. You have to know Talking Heads to know this is the only non-album b-side. So strange about the producer trying to get Byrne to inhabit a psycho killer. Sheesh!
I didn’t know that fact until I looked it up! I was wondering if they had any others. Sounds like Byrne was a few intellectual steps ahead of his producer.
p.s. and I have, “Sand in the Vaseline”!
I read the liner notes at a friend’s house once – I almost want to buy it just for that. I think all four members shared the writing?
I first heard 77 in 82 and love the album. However, I have always been impressed as to how they progressed through the years. Also Tina Weymouth is a very underrated bass player.
Weymouth is really good – they lucked out, as I think they basically recruited her because she was Frantz’s girlfriend.
There was also the non-album single Love Goes To Building On Fire, of course.
Yeah, I need to sit down and listen to the tracks from Sand on the Vaseline that aren’t on the proper albums. It’s a shame the early non-album singles and lone b-side weren’t put on the CD reissues of 77.
“I need to sit down and listen to the tracks from Sand on the Vaseline that aren’t on the proper albums.”
I did exactly that yesterday!
Did you like them?
Yes!
Actually, the CD release I have does contain them –
https://www.discogs.com/release/788704-Talking-Heads-Talking-Heads-77
Cool – I bought mine around 2000, new I think, with no bonus tracks.
It was a good song…the bass stands out on that track to me… she did a fantastic job.
They had that pretty minimal sound at the start – puts a lot of the spotlight on the bass. Lots of new wave bands had great bass players – some of my favourites like Graham Maby and Colin Moulding emerged in that era.
I played with a guitar player, drummer, singer, and me on bass at the first when I started. They gave me room to move on bass in the songs we played…I would say it’s the same thing here. They also had influences the other generation of bass players didn’t have…
She was dead on in this one. She played to fill in the empty spots…which was perfect for this.