Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads CD

Additional Tracks

Talking Heads: Jerry Harrison (vocals); David Byrne (keyboards, bass instrument, percussion); Tina Weymouth (keyboards, bass instrument); Chris Franz (keyboards, drums, percussion).
Personnel: David Byrne (vocals, guitar); Jerry Harrison (guitar, piano, keyboards, synthesizer, background vocals); Tina Weymouth (guitar, synthesizer, percussion, background vocals); Adrian Belew (guitar, background vocals); Busta Cherry Jones (guitar); Bernie Worrell (Clavinet, background vocals); Chris Frantz (drums); Steve Scales (congas, percussion); Dollette McDonald (percussion, background vocals); Nona Hendryx (background vocals).
Additional personnel: Brian Eno (guitar, keyboards, synthesizer, background vocals); Bernie Worrell (synthesizer); Robert Palmer (percussion); Adrian Belew, Nona Hendryx.
Audio Mixers: Ed Stasium; Talking Heads; Dave Artale; Ken Rasek; Butch Jones.
Audio Remasterer: Bob Ludwig.
Liner Note Authors: Andy Zax; Gary Peterson; Reggie Collins.
Recording information: 11/17/1977-02/27/1981.
Authors: Ira Mayer; Jon Pareles; Roman Kozak.
Photographers: Gary Kurfirst; Lynn Goldsmith; Mark Weiss; Tom Ligamari; Beverly Price; Charlie Clough; Jimmy DeSana; Donna Santisi; Ebet Roberts; Bob Grossman; Paul McAlpine; Melissa Hill; K.P. Schleinitz; Hugh Brown; Marcia Resnick; Mark Price.
Although most people probably think the only Talking Heads live release is Stop Making Sense, the fact is that there's an earlier, better live album called The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads. Originally released in 1982 on LP and cassette, the album chronicles the growth of the band, both stylistically and personnel-wise. The first LP is the original quartet version of the band, recorded between 1977 and 1979, performing excellent versions of tunes (mostly) off 77 and More Songs About Buildings and Food. Also included were the previously unavailable "A Clean Break" and "Love Goes to a Building on Fire," as well as early versions of "Memories Can't Wait" and "Air." The second LP comes from the Remain in Light tour, recorded in 1980 and 1981. In order to present something close to the music on that album, the original quartet lineup was greatly expanded. Added were two percussionists (Steven Stanley, Jose Rossy), two backup singers (Nona Hendryx, Dollette McDonald), Busta Cherry Jones on bass, Bernie Worrell (!) on keys, and a young Adrian Belew on lead guitar. The excitement of this material is palpable, and the muscular band rips into these tunes with more power than the originals in most cases. "Drugs" gets revamped for live performance, and "Houses in Motion kicks into high gear with a great art-funk coda. Belew is absolutely on fire throughout, especially on "The Great Curve" and "Crosseyed and Painless," where his deranged feedback soloing has never sounded better. At this point in their career, Talking Heads were still basically an underground band; it was "Burning Down the House" that really thrust them into the mainstream, and Stop Making Sense documents their arrival as a more or less mainstream act. The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads captures a hungry band on its way up, performing with a fire that was never matched on later tours. Unfortunately, The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads remained unavailable on compact disc for years, which is a shame since it's arguably one of their finest releases. ~ Sean Westergaard
This live album was originally released as a double LP in 1982, when the Talking Heads were still extremely active. Twenty-two years later, the bonus-laden, two-CD reissue serves as a fascinating in-concert document of the phases the band went through during its first five years. The late-'70s tracks on the first disc show the early version of the band in all its geeky glory, mixing spastic New Wave quirkiness, funk rhythms, and art-school lyrics. It's intriguing to hear the difference between some of the songs' inception and their eventual recorded versions, such as a relRolling Stone (p.147) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[S]howing off not only the Heads' acerbic intelligence but their flesh-and-blood force and humor."
Entertainment Weekly (p.127) - "[A] gem....This two-disc set captures the punk attitude, brittle R&B vamps, and quirky lyrical trips of their early years." - Grade: A
Uncut (p.130) - 5 stars out of 5 - "[T]errifically thorough....[With] a previously unreleased and mesmeric nine-minute 'Born Under Punches'."
Magnet (p.97) - "[M]uch richer than 1984's STOP MAKING SENSE, capturing the concert highlights of a and that's wilder, fiercer and more soulful onstage than on any of its studio albums."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.127) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[A]n admirable document of the Talking Heads' in-concert evolution from jittery, lean new wave to powerhouse post-punk-funk."