Review/Lovefest: Talking Heads - "The Name of This Band is Talking Heads"
I couldn't wait to get the long-neglected, patiently-awaited, eagerly-anticipated CD release of Talking Heads' "The Name of This Band is Talking Heads" into my grubby little hands. Almost 20 years after the rest of the Talking Heads catalog was committed to CD, I want to say it was worth the wait for all the extra bells and whistles, but why did it take 20 years to get this thing released?!

So far, Talking Heads, with the exception of the vastly expanded and re-mastered re-release of "Stop Making Sense", has not played the silly game, a la David Bowie, of re-releasing their entire catalog every few years, depending on who happens to own the catalog at the time and whatever new technology has drifted down the brook. The first generation Talking Heads releases are still the same releases being sold in stores, often with "Super Saver" stickers on them (check the alliteration, dude). Truth to tell, if what they've done with "TNOTBITH", as it's affectionately called in amateur reviews, is any indication of the potential of what can be done, then their catalogue really needs to be re-mastered and re-released.

In many fan circles, the Tnotbith LP was the live Talking Heads album to have, even over "Stop Making Sense". It traced the band's development and captured subtleties and nuances of their live performances that were all but wiped out in the in-your-face, meticulously staged performances of "Stop Making Sense". Fans pounded their chests and wailed to the night sky, begging divinity for an answer why Tnotbith would not be released on CD.

Finally here, it contains over an hour more material than on the LP. The original 1977-1979 LP of the double-album set actually didn't include any representative performances from 1978. Those have been added on the CD, nestled between the 1977 tracks and 1979 tracks, indicating that Rhino records really put some thought and effort into this. There are also more tracks from 1977 and 1979.

Rhino completely overhauled the 1980-1981 LP for the CD and pieced together the entire setlist from the performances covering those years and placed them in setlist order! Very impressive. For the purists, they included in the liner notes, the track order to program into your CD player if you want to listen to the tracks in the original LP order.

There is a caveat to this release, though. All the extras create a better documentary of Talking Heads live, but it is not necessarily a better album than the LP, on which they were limited by vinyl space and had to choose carefully what went on it. The LP was a concise presentation and had the best performances. The CDs meander and include performances that are a bit lackluster, and in the case of the 1980-1981 CD opener, "Psycho Killer", they even kept in an obvious mistake with one of the guitarists going to the wrong chord in the first chorus.

For a quirky little art-geek outfit, Talking Heads were an artistic powerhouse in the late-70's/early 80's. You can trace their development album to album, each one distinct, each one reaching further until their peak with the "Stop Making Sense" movie. I'm finding I didn't really appreciate them back in the 80's, even though they were one of few 80's acts that I actually liked. Tnotbith has me pulling out my brothers' "Fear of Music" and "More Songs About Buildings and Food" LPs, and I'm being blown away by the creativity and innovation. And Tina Weymouth came up with some of the most incredible "new wave" bass lines, the engineers always did right by her by bumping her forward in the mixes. I don't care if she dressed terribly and danced funny - it was the 80's, everyone dressed terribly and danced funny - and it's not her clothes playing the bass anyway. And she was still cute as a button.