talking heads 77

Talking Heads tentatively teased out the tense and twisted grooves of the new wave with their premiere art rock installation.  David Byrne did solo performances on ukelele before forming the Artistics with fellow Rhode Island School of Design students Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth.  The trio moved to New York City and shared a loft apartment together, where Weymouth says they came up with a new name for their band: "A friend had found the name in the 'TV Guide', which explained the term used by TV studios to describe a head-and-shoulder shot of a person talking as 'all content, no action.' It fit."

They made their debut opening for the Ramones at CBGB on June 20, 1975.  Frantz remembers:  "I had a strong feeling that together we could do great things, yes. We were all bursting with ideas and the desire to make our mark in the world of art and music. We moved to New York in the fall of '74 with a five-year plan and worked really hard. But thanks to Hilly Kristal and CBGB, things went much better than we had expected. In three years, we had our first album on Sire Records."  

Byrne recalls:  "In the early days, I was driven to get on stage. It was a personal psychological need, a self-therapy, and it was cathartic and necessary -- but not always pleasurable. I was also a bit more of a control freak then than I am now. When you've stripped everything down to zero and have begun building it back up step-by-step, the first baby steps are pretty critical and sort of determine where the road takes you. Now I realize I actually enjoy singing and performing, which I'm not sure I did at first."

The band released their first single 'Love → Building on Fire' in February of 1977.  After seeing them in Boston, Jerry Harrison convinced the band to let him join in March.  He had been in the Modern Lovers, whose debut album was finally being released at that time.  Harrison says everything fit perfectly:  "It was sort of amazing. Every time we played together it just got better and better, and just got to the point of 'Well, alright, it can’t come any further doing this now and then so let’s try it.' And it’s been real good."

'Talking Heads 77' was recorded at Sundragon Studios in New York City with the band co-producing with Tony Bongiovi and Lance Quinn.  It established the band as an adventurously unique vehicle for the intellectual angst that punk could not address.  The album only charted at ninety-seven in the US, sixty in the UK, and twenty-one in New Zealand








Psycho Killer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3ppy7zteNE






'Talking Heads 77'
full album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2y77QjFnuk




1. "Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town" 00:00
2. "New Feeling" 02:49
3. "Tentative Decisions" 05:58
4. "Happy Day" 09:07
5. "Who Is It?" 13:02
6. "No Compassion" 14:47
7. "The Book I Read" 19:37
8. "Don't Worry About the Government" 23:45
9. "First Week/Last Week...Carefree" 26:49 
10. "Psycho Killer" 30:11
11. "Pulled Up" 34:31