Naked

So here we are, after only 20 months, at the final Talking Heads album. Now, I know it's obvious that I'm going to say this album is underrated, but I'm gonna anyway, cause it's true. I know it's not as good as the early ones, but honestly people, be fair. That hardly makes it bad does it?

Talking Heads - Sax And Violins

August 19th is international photography day.

True Stories

"I'm 6'3", and maintain a very consistent panda bear shape." - Louis Fyne

True Stories, apart from being a splendid album, is also an even better film. Directed by David Byrne and released in 1986, it profiles a small Texas town called Virgil and the collection of oddballs who live there. It doesn't have a story as such, it just drifts along towards the town's Celebration of Special-ness, a pageant where the towns folk perform various acts of varying quality.

Byrne appears as the nameless narrator, introducing us to the characters, but never really intruding on their lives, apart from when he goes to dinner with the happily married couple who haven't spoken for 15 years. The closest we get to a narrative is through Louis Fyne (played by the always excellent John Goodman), and his quest for marriage. We also meet 'the cute woman', the preacher, the woman who doesn't leave her bed, the voodoo practicioner, and 'the lying woman'. These characters were inspired by stories that Byrne read in the National Enquirer, and other tabloids.

But despite, a fairly shallow level of characterisation, they don't feel like characatures or freaks, but rather they are likable misfits, with a story that needs telling. They are people too, godammit...

And of course, there are the songs, which are tremendous, and are, with the exception of Wild Wild Life, performed by the cast. Not all of the cast versions are available yet, but below you can find two of them.

Talking Heads - Papa Legba (Pops Staples Vocal Version)

Talking Heads - Radio Head (Tito Larriva Vocal Version)

Talking Heads - Wild Wild Life (Extended Mix)

Person Louis Fyne

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And according to Roger Ebert's review here, there are 50 sets of twins in this movie. If that's not a reason to watch the film, then I don't know what is.

Buy them the cd and dvd here.

July 18th is the the day of the troubadour.

Little Creatures

How can any album with Road To Nowhere and And She Was on it be so underappreciated?

And She Was (Early Version)

Road To Nowhere (Early Version)

Television Man (Extended Mix)

June 18th is the day of the chemists and Japanese immigrants

Speaking In Tongues

I kinda forgot about my Talking Heads round up, so let's bring it back and finish it off, starting here...

My favourite period of Talking Heads is the Stop Making Sense era. Not only is that my favourite of their albums, it's also one of the best films of all time. I must have seen it 12 times at least. So I guess it makes sense that the album recorded at that time is my favourite of all their studio albums. It's often overlooked, although for good reasons. It isn't produced by Brian Eno, it doesn't have Psycho Killer or Once In Lifetime on it and it was recorded in the eighties when everyone thinks of them as the quintessential New York seventies group. However it possesses possibly the finest opening quartet of songs in all of rock (Burning Down The House, Making Flippy Floppy, Girlfriend Is Better, Slippery People) and the finest song David Byrne ever wrote (This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)). It a perfectly realised balance between pop, punk, funk and afrobeat, one which neither they or anyone else has bettered.

Two Note Swivel (unfinished outtake)

Burning Down the House (alternate version)



The 23rd of March is the day of the meteorologists.

Remain In Light

Here in the great Talking Heads giveaway, we have reached what is generally regarded as their finest hour, Remain In Light. It's hard to argue with this opinion, as the album contains Once In A Lifetime, everybody's favourite Talking Heads song. The enormity of this song tends to overshadow the fantastic album tracks, such as Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On), Crosseyed and Painless, and The Great Curve. If you don't have it, you need it. Real bad. Right now.

Talking Heads - Fela's Riff [unfinished outtake]

Talking Heads - Unison [unfinished outtake]

Talking Heads - Double Groove [unfinished outtake]

Talking Heads - Right Start [unfinished outtake]

Fear Of Music

Sorry I haven't posted in the last couple of weeks. I'd love to tell you that I've working 24/7 and haven't had time, but that would be a lie. The truth is that I have been distracted by the combined forces of Pro Evolution Soccer, Grand Theft Auto, and seasons 3 and currently 4 of 24. Oh and we keep getting power cuts (there's nothing like a power cut to remind you how important electricity is. What am I supposed to do, read a book?) And I have been suffering from a general lack of inspiration, enthusiasm or whatever you wanna call it. Doing a blog, can, at times, be a nuisance, so it's bound to happen every now and again. Anyway, I'm back now, so here's part three of the great Talking Heads giveaway.

Fear Of Music was the third Talking Heads album, and the second produced by Brian Eno. It has two of their finest songs. Life During Wartime, features a typical David Byrne lyric, half about the practicalities of everyday living in that environment, and half about well, nothing really. I Zimbra, their full on afro-funk Fela Kuti homage, with nonsense lyrics and possibly the finest groove ever captured on a Talking Heads record. The extra tracks here include an alternative take on Life During Wartime, which has had a screeching guitar solo added to the song, and a different version of Cities (listen to the opening lyric about London, which seems entirely wrong and still brilliant to me):

Cities [Alternate Version]

Dancing For Money [Unfinished Outtake]

Mind [Alternate Version]

Life During Wartime [Alternate Version]



Checking back I realised that the post for the previous album More Songs About Buildings And Food didn't allow you to download and keep the mp3's. If anybody wants, I will go back and repost them so you can have them. Just let me know in the comments.

EDIT: I have added the aforementioned tracks to the original post. Click here.

Let's Work...

So you'll never guess what I did this week. I worked. Check me out. I had my first two private conversation classes with students. In these lessons I spoke to a Brazilian about me and my opinions and my life, and listened to them while they did the same. In other words we had a conversation. For an hour. I think leaving retail behind might have been a good idea...

Prince - Let's Work (Live In Long Beach, 31/03/83)

Talking Heads - Found A Job (Live 29/09/79)

Daft Punk - Teachers (Live At The Rex Club, Paris)

Beck - Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometimes

Super Furry Animals - The Teacher

Tom Waits - I Can't Wait To Get Off Work (Live On VH1 Storytellers)

Props to the Shrigley