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- Released: October 2004
- Rating: 10/10
- Cat. No: 8122764882
Track listing:
- 1. Love Building On Fire
2. Psycho Killer
3. Uh Oh, Love Comes To Town
4. Take Me To The River
5. Found A Job
6. Life During Wartime
7. Heaven
8. Memories
9. Once In A Lifetime
10. Houses In Motion
11. This Must Be The Place ( Naïve Melody )
12. Girlfriend Is Better
13. Burning Down The House
14. Road To Nowhere
15. And She Was
16. Wild Wild Life
17. Blind
18. (Nothing But) Flowers
Ground breaking American art-popsters Talking Heads are one of my all time favourite bands.
My love affair with them began with their UK debutsingle Once In A Lifetime which peaked at 14. Following this, theysurprisingly only had nine other entries, but made their mark withsophisticated credibility.
Their roots began in 1975 in New York, withdesign students David Byrne (vocals & guitar), Chris Frantz (drums), lateradding Tina Weymouth (bass & synthesiser) and Jerry Harrison (ex-JonathanRichmond and the Modern Lovers) on guitar and keyboards. It was a band ofsmart, self-conscious white musicians who were intrigued by black musicrhythms and spirit, as featured on track 5 – Found A Job, and Love Comesetc.
They drew on Funk as found on track 3 Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town andtrack 17, the awesome brassed-up Blind, along with classical minimalismcreating some of the most adventurous, original and danceable music toemerge from the new wave scene. Of their 10 UK hits, only seven turn uphere. Astonishingly, their most danceable song Slippery People has beenomitted. Why I ask myself ?
Their sensational cover of Al Greens Take Me ToThe River, their first US hit, is a real highlight. Simply Reds Heaven alsogets a typically Heads treatment as Byrnes vocals warble away in lamentablefashion. Psycho Killer which was never released in the UK, makes the cut, atrack which rubber stamped them as eccentrics.
Worst tracks a cacophonic Memories Can Wait, (a strange inclusion),and the down right weird Houses In Motion.
The best This Must Be The Place, a jolly and bouncy classic, Once In ALifetime, the thumping and show – stopping Burning Down The House. Alsotheir only top ten entry Road To Nowhere, And She Was and Blind basicallythe best British singles. Listening to this CD, it consolidates their placein history as a timeless and profound group. To fully appreciate them, checkout the DVD of theStop Making Senseconcert.
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.