Talking Heads ’20: How To Buy
David Byrne’s 2018 tour brought him to Red Rocks (pictured above) as part of a national tour. The concert was a stunning, original presentation of Talking Heads and Byrne solo material that featured a completely blank stage and a large, mobile and highly choreographed backing band. The show was so unusual and popular that Byrne took it to Broadway, where it played to packed houses right up until February of this year. It’s due to restart after Broadway returns, hopefully at some point in 2021. In the meantime, Spike Lee has produced a concert film of the show, American Utopia, which premiered on HBO/HBO Plus in October. Whether you caught the Red Rocks show or not, the movie is must-viewing and features intricately-detailed, frenetic and infectious renditions of many of Byrne’s best songs, including “I Zimbra”, “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)” and “Burning Down The House.”
HOW TO BUY TALKING HEADS:
1. Remain in Light (1980)
Their most influential work, this album abandoned more traditional song structures in favor of repetitive grooves that built into hypnotic, catchy dance music, most popularly on “Once in a Lifetime.”
2. More Songs About Buildings and Food (1978)
Their second album featured the sharpest distillation of Byrne’s unique lyrics and the group’s frenetic New Wave energy, and included their first (and biggest) hit, a slowed-down cover of Al Green’s “Take Me To The River.”
3. Fear of Music (1979)
Amidst the crunchy guitars of “Paper” and “Mind,” the band added the trademark rhythms on “I Zimbra” that embodied their new world-funk direction.
4. Speaking in Tongues (1983)
Their most commercial album, Speaking in Tongues found the group embracing R&B and gospel-style on rave-ups like “Slippery People” and “Burning Down the House.”
5. Stop Making Sense (1984)
The soundtrack to arguably the greatest concert film ever was a greatest hits collection whose highlight was “What a Day That Was,” a track from Byrne’s The Catherine Wheel solo LP, itself the soundtrack to a collaboration with dancer Twyla Tharp.
6. Talking Heads ’77 (1977)
Their debut found the group at their nerdiest, from the goofy lyrics of “Don’t Worry About The Government” to their first radio-friendly song, “Psycho Killer,” featuring French lyrics in the bridge and that “Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh” chorus.
7. The Name of This Band is Talking Heads (1982)
This double-live record pulled from three different periods of their first six years of touring.
8. Little Creatures (1985)
This album was a tamer, pop follow-up to Speaking in Tongues. Probably their last complete record, the highlights were “The Lady Don’t Mind,” “Stay Up Late” and “Road to Nowhere.”
9. Naked (1988)
Their next to last release had some strong material but paled next to what had preceded it, and found the band sounding directionless for the first time.
10. True Stories (1986)
The soundtrack to their ambitious if not entirely successful film of the same name was their first (and only) sub-standard work, almost an afterthought musically.
