THE ROAD: TO NOWHERE

Less on, more been, my excuse is down to the scourge of IT. (Others may vary.) As far as I’m concerned, the IT superhighway can go take one. Sure, sure, without the gift of information technology, I could not be able to waste time you could be better spending elsewhere, let alone my own. But, jeez, don’t you just take the bastard for granted. My laptop recently caught a cold, and has been in the computer fever hospital, getting the best of not inexpensive attention. Meanwhile I am wrestling with my phone to pick up the slack. Which, are you with me, leads inevitably to this post. Ever done Blogger or Wordpress on your phone? The dogs within this lesser tool seem far better able to eat your homework than my usual medium. And much more willing, eager, even, to throw the lovingly chosen words into the ether. So, a lot of roads to nowhere between Run and Road. Or that there were a song to hang on that peg……

Oh, there is, it being a latter day jewel in the crowned (Talking) Heads of popular music. But you knew that. Talking Heads were always either better than their hype or never quite matching it, making for quite the paradox.

In the beginning came Psycho Killer, I still in awe and of a tremble to the above clip. I remember it well, on the UK televisual “inkie”, the Old Grey Whistle Test, or Whistle Test as us teenage bedroom groovers called it. David Byrne looked such a dork, in his slacks and preppy polo shirt, yet the menace he imbued into this hypnotic throb of a song was intense. With Tina Weymouth plugging away on bass, and the other two being, well, the other two, it was nothing short of apocryphal. At home the punks had to look scary, ‘this guy was the real deal.

The album, 77, was good, but not so good as to disappoint around how much better than the other tracks was Killer. Which sort of summed up the band, their albums tending towards one standout track, and then the rest. Their version of Al Green’s Take Me To The River did that for the next, Songs About Buildings And Food, great title, by the way, but I lost interest.

I missed out on several intervening years, or maybe switched off. Meanwhile folk were raving about that film and that video, but not me, my eyes were averted. In fact, it wasn’t until the featured song came out, that I came off my Talking Head road to nowhere. In truth, I suspect it was Tom Tom Club that re-engaged interest; I loved Wordy Rappinghood. 

Little Creatures came out four years after the Tom Tom Club had their brief turn in the sun. Uncertain why, but I really took to And She Was, the first single, swiftly followed, as it was, by Road To Nowhere. I was back on the bus, big time  so much so I duly bought also the next album, Naked. From which I fell right off, in dismay. Even ahead the unavoidable implosion of the band.

David Byrne has, of course, gone on and on, regrouping, regaining and retaining acclaim. The rest of the band less so. The Heads album was a huge letdown, despite the guest singers, and, despite the critical plaudits, I always struggle to see beyond the artifice in Byrne’s solo art. Not for me. I still seem always to see through the facade of world music inspiration and icon, only seeing the jerky nerves of the psycho killer. Which is as good as any a place to leave.

Perhaps my laptop will be repaired soon. Until then, follow me

Side Projects: Talking Heads ‘81 Edition

David Byrne: Eyes Wide Open

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Tom Tom Club: Genius of Love

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Jerry Harrison: Slink

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What is a side project? How is it different from a solo album? In choosing a song for this week‘s theme, I have wrestled with these questions. In mind, the difference is intent. Here I present three side projects related to the Talking Heads, all from 1981. Each, as I will explain, qualifies as a side project for different reasons.

1981 was a scary year for Talking Heads fans like myself. We now know that some of the band’s best work was still in the future, but it looked at the time like the band might break up. Officially, they were on hiatus, but we have all heard that before, and many bands do not survive it. Talking Heads did, but the year also produced some great music while they were apart.

David Byrne was the most prolific. My Life in the Bush of Ghosts was a collaboration with Brian Eno, and it would prove to be a study of African rhythms in preparation for the next Talking Heads album, Remain in Light. But Byrne also released a second album that year. The Catherine Wheel was a commission for the Twyla Tharp Dance Company. Byrne and Tharp were a couple for a brief time that year, and Byrne created a set of songs specifically intended for the dance. I was lucky to find a video of one of Twyla Tharp’s dances from this work.

Chris Franz and Tina Weymouth decided to use their time off from Talking Heads to have some fun. They gathered some musical family and friends and formed what was intended to be a one-shot project, the Tom Tom Club. This turned out to be the most popular of the Heads related projects of 1981. Genius of Love and Wordy Rappinghood were hits, and the Tom Tom Club’s label wanted a follow-up two years later. Franz and Weymouth would then go back to Tom Tom Club when Talking Heads finally did break up for good.

Jerry Harrison was interested in exploring what could be done in a recording studio. The Red and the Black features a large cast of musicians, many of whom would be featured in later Talking Heads albums. Harrison used layered multiple instruments and vocals to create a dense but funky soundscape. There would be two more Harrison solo albums in later years, but The Red and the Black is probably more important for laying the groundwork for the producing career that Harrison has enjoyed since the break up of Talking Heads.

1988 => Musical Couples: Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz

Talking Heads: Mr Jones

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In honor of Valentine’s Day, we will be celebrating the works of musical couples this week. It is difficult to mix a musical career and a love life, even if you are in a band together, so I imagine that some of our couples will be history. But I wanted to begin with one of the most successful rock marriages, that of Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz. They were married in 1977, prior to the release of the first Talking Heads album. That band would break up by 1990, but Frantz and Weymouth are still together, as is their other band, Tom Tom Club. The two have also produced albums together for other artists, and made guest appearances on drums and bass.

1988 saw the release of what would be the last Talking Heads album, Naked. Mr Jones shows mostly David Byrne’s growing interest in Latin music, but Frantz and Weymouth show their usual talent for solid rhythm of all sorts. Talking Heads were able to do everything from a cover of Take Me to the River to songs with African-inspired rhythms, and Frantz and Weymouth never faltered. Also in 1988, Tom Tom Club released their third album, Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom. I don’t have any mp3s from that one, but I found the video for Suboceana. I believe that is Tina Weymouth in the jellyfish gown, preceding Bjork’s more famous swan gown by several years.



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Name-Droppers: Genius of Love

Tom Tom Club: Genius of Love

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This one drops the names of some of the greatest names on the dance floor, as of the early 80s. You can trace the history of dance music, from James Brown to Bootsy Collins to Bohannon to Kurtis Blow. And there are a few ringers thrown in for good measure.

The Tom Tom Club was put together by Tina Weymouth and her husband Chris Franz, of the band Talking Heads. At the time, the music of Talking Heads was taking on an intellectual air. For a breather, Weymouth and Franz posed the question, “Who needs to think when your feet just go?” Indeed.