The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads Music Cd

Talking Heads - The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads

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The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads      Artist : Talking Heads      List Price : $24.98 USD        Your Price : $22.99 USD      ProductGroup: Music      Release Date : 2004-08-17      Studio : Rhino / Wea      Label : Rhino / Wea      Avg. Customer Rating : (72 reviews)

Reviews Customer Reviews for The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads      Essential, If Flawed      Rating:      My first way over-long Amazon.com review of Rhino's 2004 double CD extended version of "The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads" was an unfocused diatribe concerning the dynamics of the group that eventually split them apart, and may have resulted in this CD package being, shall we say, not quite the masterpiece that it perhaps could have been. It is 98.9 percent perfect, a glorious representation of America's most important and influential post-punk new wave art rock band, an idiom that Talking Heads more or less invented all on their own. If nothing else, this CD package is a glorious representation of their development from a (first three piece then) four piece idiosyncratic proto-punk band into the musical powerhouse Pop Art rock band that produced their big hits. And even with it's one glaring flaw it is a much more satisfying "live album" experience than their big hit "Stop Making Sense". If you are a follower of Talking Heads music, you simply must obtain this CD collection, period. The good news first, and it is VERY good news: The first CD covering their live act from their 1977 CBGB era through the 1979 urban angst satirist period whilst collaborating with Brian Eno is impeccable. The expanded tracks are all very welcome additions to what had been sort of a "Talking Heads Lite" rundown on the original 1982 LP/cassette release -- which by the way is still worth hanging onto, but more about that later. Not only have the original recordings been marvelously remastered, but the addition of full-length live cut of "Found A Job", and early version of "Drugs" called "Electricity" and a hilarious presentation of "Mind" will eliminate any form of buyer's remorse on the ticket price. Whoever chose these additional tracks had their thinking caps on and did a phenomenal job of demonstrating how the band grew from a tentative sketch of a group into trend setters who always led & never followed. The songs sound just as fresh, vital and alive as they did in 1978. The bad news isn't really all that bad, either, and was the result of noble if slightly misguided intentions. The approach used to assemble Disc 2's presentation of the still legendary 1980/1981 live "Remain In Light" tour was to try and present the band's ENTIRE set list from the era, warts and all, and in the order that the songs were usually played in concert. As others have probably mentioned in their reviews the band was expanded to a 10 piece collective with the addition of virtuoso musicians from across the spectrum of rock & funk of the era: Parliament/Funkadelic electronic keyboardist Bernie Worrel, percussion maestro Steve Scales (both of whom would remain with the band through their "Stop Making Sense" era, including appearing on side projects by all of the band's principal members), future King Crimson guitarist/vocalist Adrian Belew, "soul sista" vocalists Dolette McDonald and Nona Hendryx, and funk bass impresario Michael "Busta Cherry" Jones, all of whom also contributed to solo projects by David Byrne, Jerry Harrison, with Belew and Scales also figuring in to Chris Frantz & Tina Weymouth's Tom Tom Club at different times. The way the live show would work for this expanded lineup was an early sketch of what became their formula for "Stop Making Sense", with the core band plus Mr. Belew opening the show with electrified, upbeat versions of "Psycho Killer", "Warning Sign" and "Stay Hungry", Scales and the vocalists joining for "Cities", with Worrell and Busta finally taking the stage for "I Zimbra" at which point the collective would veer off into the Afro-club beat sound that made "Remain In Light" so startlingly innovative in circa 1980. By the time "I Zimbra"'s high-life guitar riffs and polyrhythmic bottom kicked in their literally was a village of people onstage of mixed races & genders, working as a collective with each player engaged in their own specialty as aggregate parts in a greater whole. It is absolutely phenomenal music, with a laugh out loud live take of "Animals", an extended run-through of "Born Under Punches" and a never before released live presentation of "Once In A Lifetime" being amongst the additional tracks added to the original 1982 LP/cassette rundown. The only problem is that the production staff working on the CD encountered a technological barrier in the amount of music one can squeeze onto a single side of a compact disc, about 70 minutes or so, and had to do some editing to make the whole shebang fit & maintain their agenda of representing the ENTIRE set list from that era -- An unfortunate decision, considering that the primary omission was a rougly 90 second slow beat introduction to "Crosseyed And Painless" that always impressed the heck out of me, at any rate. More casual fans of the band probably won't notice the omission, the editing of the intro is very hard to detect unless of course you were aware of it being there in the first place. It also sounds to me as though the breaks between the songs has been reduced to an absolute minimum, which may have a functional purpose in that what you're really hearing is takes from three different concerts combined into one. They did a good job with it though it does sound like somebody turned down Busta's amp for "Born Under Punches", his big "slap" bass solo sounds like he's plunking on a rubber band wrapped around a shoe box, though that may just have been an issue with the live cuts that were available rather than somebody trying to quiet him down. But it's a shame that a different solution couldn't have been arrived at, the most obvious choice being a two sided disc with two or three cuts relegated to the second side. Not all of the songs on the CD were played at every gig on the tour (check YouTube for a breathtaking series of videos documenting a full concert they performed in Rome, Italy during the 1980 European leg of the tour) I've been trying to think of which song could have been eliminated to allow for the CD's limit of time per side, the obvious choice being "Stay Hungry" since we hear that on Disc 1 already, but quite frankly the live version with Belew kicks it's butt. Losing "Animals" would have been a shame and there is a structural necessity to keeping "Cities", so in all honesty the CD production team was stuck with a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation and made the best of it with some quick editing. Can't fault them for making a decision and sticking with it, there's also a good argument to make in opining that a double sided CD might not have been a practical decision either in terms of production costs. The best way to look at it might be to say that the final word on this 1980/1981 Talking Heads live tour may not have been written yet -- there is still room for something more (maybe a 2 CD + video DVD package?) and if nothing else those old original 1982 LP/cassette pressings still have some importance to them. Just get yourself a new turntable at some point if you need to hear the full take of "Crosseyed And Painless", it will be worth the effort to have both.     Customer Reviews for The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads Cd      Retail Nightmare      Rating:      Retail Nightmare really is a nightmare. They never mailed my CD i ordered - and when I asked them - they said OH sorry we mailed 3 others that day and no problems with them. They said they would mail it out again which is wierd, it seems like they would be wondering where the copy they initially mailed was. I month later - credit card charged - no CD. Editorial Reviews for The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads Audio Cd      Album Description      Formed in NYC in the mid-'70s by David Byrne, Chris Franz, Tina Weymouth, and ex-Modern Lover Jerry Harrison, Talking Heads soared out of their humble CBGB's beginnings to become Rock and Roll Hall of Famers and one of the most adventurous and influential bands ever. The onstage energy that propelled their rise to fame was documented in the 1982 double-LP set THE NAME OF THIS BAND IS TALKING HEADS, now available on CD for the first time. Following them through several early evolutions from '77-'81, this live gem - a 1982 Top 40 Billboard Album- is a riveting portrait of a stellar band on the rise. For its CD debut it's been expanded with over 30 minutes of rare and mostly previously unreleased bonus material.