Lord of The Curry Posted July 7, 2004 Report Posted July 7, 2004 I bought the Stop Making Sense Special Edition CD in Toronto today on a whim and it's very cool. I'm interested in gettting some of their other albums so what's the stuff I needs?
Henry Spencer Posted July 7, 2004 Report Posted July 7, 2004 Remain In Light is generally considered their masterpiece. If you like the sound of that album, go to Fear Of Music and Speaking In Tongues. If you prefer their earlier, more sparse sound, you can't go wrong with More Songs About Buildings And Food.
Guest TheZsaszHorsemen Posted July 7, 2004 Report Posted July 7, 2004 Just be warned, many of your favorites on SMS will sound very different when you hear the studio versions.
Lord of The Curry Posted July 7, 2004 Author Report Posted July 7, 2004 Thanks, I know that. I've been dl'ing assorted goodies fairly frequently for a while before I finally bought SMS. "This must be the place" has to be my favorite so far. Just a great, really really great song.
Henry Spencer Posted July 7, 2004 Report Posted July 7, 2004 This Must Be The Place is definitely in the top five greatest songs they ever did. One of the best love songs of the eighties.
Lord of The Curry Posted July 7, 2004 Author Report Posted July 7, 2004 That's what I love about the track. It's a love song but at the same time the overtones of death ring throughout the song and it makes you think.
Guest Agent of Oblivion Posted July 7, 2004 Report Posted July 7, 2004 I like Remain in Light the most also. Brian Eno is the master of crazy noises.
ArkhamGlobe Posted July 7, 2004 Report Posted July 7, 2004 Thumbs up for the This Must Be the Place love, as it's also my favourite of their songs. Anyway, personally I think Fear of Music is their masterpiece, though Remain in Light is only a few steps behind. Speaking in Tongues is also much excellent (and as an added bonus features This Must Be the Place). In fact, all their albums from their debut ('77) up till Speaking in Tongues are generally good-excellent and well worth picking up post haste. The other albums aren't quite as good and are generally more uneven, IMO, but most have some really good stuff on them so they're worth looking into anyway.
spiny norman Posted July 7, 2004 Report Posted July 7, 2004 My favourite band as a ten year old. Anyway, I'd only say four must-own albums for them: Talking Heads 77, More Songs About Buildings And Food, Remain In Light and Stop Making Sense. Though I do really like a lot of their later stuff, I think the albums are very uneven and the best stuff are the singles which get a fair amount of airplay anyway (eg. And She Was, Wild Wild Life, Road To Nowhere). And This Must Be The Place is a brilliant song. Definitely one of my favourites of their's.
Giuseppe Zangara Posted July 7, 2004 Report Posted July 7, 2004 I admire Remain in Light a lot more than I enjoy listening to it. Too cold and shapeless for my liking; the only songs I've been able to get into from that album were "Crosseyed and Painless" and "Once in a Lifetime." And Brian Eno—who co-wrote, played on and produced every track—is very much responsible for its sound; check out Eno's Before and After Science and Another Green World from a few years earlier to see where the Heads were getting some cues.
Steviekick Posted July 7, 2004 Report Posted July 7, 2004 Just be warned, many of your favorites on SMS will sound very different when you hear the studio versions. That's definitely true. Check out the SMS DVD. There live show looked amazing.
Giuseppe Zangara Posted July 7, 2004 Report Posted July 7, 2004 But only three or so of the SMS songs are actually better than their studio counterparts. The rest are equal in quality, if different otherwise. EDIT: Oh, and I will always hate, hate, hate Tom Tom Club.
Guest TheZsaszHorsemen Posted July 8, 2004 Report Posted July 8, 2004 But only three or so of the SMS songs are actually better than their studio counterparts. The rest are equal in quality, if different otherwise. EDIT: Oh, and I will always hate, hate, hate Tom Tom Club. Would you care to elaborate? If I had to choose I'd say... 1. Burning Down the House 2. Life During Wartime 3. Cities 4. Slippery People and 5. Take Me to the River All sound better as SMS songs.
Giuseppe Zangara Posted July 8, 2004 Report Posted July 8, 2004 I agree with none of those, especially "Take Me to the River," the studio version of which is TH's finest moment. The live version is fine, but too "arena funk." I find the use of backing singers in the SMS take extraneous, too. My picks are "Psycho Killer," "Heaven" and "Girlfriend is Better." The first two are incredible reinventions of already good songs that appear on 77 and Fear of Music, respectively; the former's stripped down performance makes an unsettling song even creepier, while the latter's also stripped perf finds a heartrending sadness missing in the original's sneering sarcasm. "Girlfriend is Better" takes a song that, on Speaking in Tongues, came off as mechanical and flat (for which I blame the super-thin drum machine used in the track, giving the rythym section—and, in turn, the song itself—no life) into something truly funky.
Steviekick Posted July 8, 2004 Report Posted July 8, 2004 It's been a while since I listened to SMS, but isn't the version of "psycho killer" on it different? I know its acoustic, but I'm pretty sure Dave sings it differently.
Guest Scud Posted July 8, 2004 Report Posted July 8, 2004 It's been a while since I listened to SMS, but isn't the version of "psycho killer" on it different? I know its acoustic, but I'm pretty sure Dave sings it differently. I don't think that he sings differently but the song sounds different because it has a new drum beat, and the only other instrument is the acoustic guitar. The original sounds so much better with the bassline.
Giuseppe Zangara Posted July 8, 2004 Report Posted July 8, 2004 No, Byrne sings the SMS version of it quite differently. That version is in a much slower tempo than the studio recording, so he alters his normal performance accordingly.
A Happy Medium Posted July 8, 2004 Report Posted July 8, 2004 my top five... 1. Life During Wartime 2. Psycho Killer 3. Once in a Lifetime 4. Road to Nowhere 5. Heaven
Guest Harry Hood Posted July 9, 2004 Report Posted July 9, 2004 Couple things: 1) Crosseyed and Painless is about a billion times better on SMS than on RiL. That intro and tempo change just get me. 2) Talking Heads 77 is probably my favorite album, although RiL is very good.
thecitythesky Posted July 10, 2004 Report Posted July 10, 2004 * i don't know if you'll be able to find it anywhere online. but their performance at the Heatwave Festival in 1980 is excellent. i found one person with it on Soulseek. it's not the best quality... but you know... it's a bootleg. and it was 1980. . it is a little Remain in Light heavy . but considering that it was their new record. ... here's the setlist if you want to look for it... psycho killer warning sign stay hungry cities i zimbra once in a lifetime house in motion born under punches crosseyed and painless.
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