Amid all of this, there was a distinct new sound, quickly labeled New Wave. It wasn't rock like Queen, Pink Floyd, or anything coming out of Laurel Canyon. And it wasn't manufactured in the disco-pop factories. But it wasn't punk. It was NYC-centric, but there was also Brit brat (before brat was a thing), Elvis Costello, introducing himself with My Aim Is True. Back in the Big Apple, two seminal new wave debuts dropped in 1977: Television's Marquee Moon, and Talking Heads: 77.
Talking Heads' debut LP recently received a four-disc deluxe reissue, including a previously unreleased live recording from the legendary CBGB club (now a clothing store) and a Blu-ray disc with Dolby Atmos, 5.1 surround, and HD stereo mixes. The discs are packaged in a hardcover book with first-person accounts of the band's formation and early days by its members: David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth, and Jerry Harrison.
Since the band's breakup in 1991, there have been some episodes of dirty laundry aired in public. In these essays, the target of score-settling is album co-producer Tony Bongiovi (uncle to Jon Bon Jovi and co-founder of the legendary Power Station studio, award-winning producer of pop and rock albums). In a 2018 interview with Tape Op magazine (footnote 2), Bongiovi claimed he called in a hired-gun bassist to replace Weymouth on several tunes. According to Weymouth, and recording/mixing engineer Ed Stasium, she played every bass note heard on TH: 77, except a doubled "ghost" part by studio bassist Bob Babbitt on the opening track, "Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town" (footnote 3). Although Weymouth, Frantz, and Stasium spill some ink addressing the bass-player issue in their booklet notes, the text's main focus is the joy and excitement of forming a band, finding their musical legs, and recording what turned out to be an exceptional first album, with a hit: "Psycho Killer."
Byrne (guitar, vocals, songs) and Frantz (drums) started playing together at Rhode Island School of Design. In late 1974, they reunited in New York City, where Byrne worked as a cinema usher when Frantz and Weymouth—already a couple, soon to be married—arrived. Although enthusiastic about the band, Weymouth was reluctant to learn the bass and join in. Eventually, she relented. The trio knew Harrison from the NYC music scene. Already seasoned by several years in Boston-based The Modern Lovers, Harrison brought skilled musicianship and some studio-technical chops. His backing guitar and vocal parts were well-suited to Byrne's unique style.
Talking Heads followed a trail blazed by the Ramones, first in signing with Sire Records, and then entering Sundragon Studios with co-producer Bongiovi and engineer Stasium. Their first album is very different from the Ramones' debut, but both harnessed the raw energy of NYC's mid-'70s underground. The city was a menacing witches' brew of bankruptcy, crime, and decay, yet its many-faceted arts scene shone bright, in parallel and sometimes in conjunction with the coked-up boogie-all-night disco world. Indeed, prior to working with Talking Heads, Bongiovi produced a hit disco version of the theme from Star Wars.
Rather than go hard and fast like the punks, Talking Heads took a bright and percussive, somewhat poppy approach. As the CBGB concert proves, Frantz and Weymouth were locked in tight, and the guitar and keyboard parts by Byrne and Harrison, often jangly and percussive, meshed well into a beat-forward style over which rode Byrne's eccentric vocals and lyrics. The concert shows Byrne shyly figuring out his vocal pitch and presentation, in front of a locked-in musical force.
"Psycho Killer" aside, Talking Heads songs tended to be less dark and street-tough than Television's. The band's "Statement of Intent," reproduced early in the booklet, includes this: "Without seeming pretentious, the band would like to think that music ... has the potential to inspire constructive feelings in the listener." They continued: "Words the band would hope can be associated with their 'image' are: sincerity, honesty, intensity, substance, integrity and fun." Quite the manifesto. Given the Talking Heads' success during their 15-year run, and the fact that their music is still alive in the culture, they achieved the aims of their idealistic young selves.
Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound Nashville did a nice job remastering the original album for this reissue. The no-nonsense mix and crisp arrangements are spruced up without modern over-loud dynamics crunching. Disc 2 is singles, B-sides, and assorted alternate mixes, mostly for diehard fans. In the live set from CBGB, October 10, 1977 (less than a month after the original LP's release) on disc 3, the band was already playing songs from its next album, More Songs About Buildings and Food. They were on their way.
Because it was recorded to 16-track tape, with simple arrangements and minimal overdubbed extras, TH: 77 is not ideally suited for surround-sound remixes. Stasium's new Dolby Atmos mix, as rendered to 5.1 in my system, spreads the sound out wider and plants more distinct sounds in the rear-side speakers than the older 5.1 mix made by Harrison and E.T. Thorngren, originally for the short-lived DualDisc CD-DVD release.
Footnote 2: See tapeop.com/interviews/127/tony-bongiovi.
Footnote 3: Stasium submitted a detailed rebuttal to Tape Op about several of Bongiovi's statements, published online at tinyurl.com/23zh2bb8.
COMMENTS
But "New Wave" is short for "the new wave of the British invasion" meaning Talking Heads were never new wave and it was never centered in NYC. Why? Because neither are freakin' British.
If you're going to write on a topic, please understand it first.
but numerous American bands are considered part of the movement. It's actually a rather broad category. Talking Heads, with their stylized vocals, jerky rhythms, geeky appearance and quirky lyrics, are a quintessential New Wave band. I lived through it, working in a record store, and I remember the whole thing quite well.
But "New Wave" is short for "the new wave of the British invasion" meaning Talking Heads were never new wave . . .
And there was I, when I saw the word "pedantic," thinking that you were going to say that as "Talking Heads" is a singular collective noun, the title of Tom's essay should be "Talking Heads Comes to Town," not "Come to Town" :-)
John Atkinson
Technical Editor, Stereophile
Look it/them up.
From the Rock n Roll HOF:
"Artsy and experimental, Talking Heads created an oeuvre of funky New Wave hits."
Wikipedia:
"Talking Heads were an American new wave band..."
Others...
https://newhdmedia.com/talking-heads-pioneers-of-the-new-wave-movement-shattering-boundaries-and-redefining-music/
"Talking Heads: Pioneers of the New Wave Movement"
I know it won't change your mind regarding the words, but..."The term "new wave" was first used in music reviews in the early 1970s to describe bands like The Velvet Underground and New York Dolls."
It's not even a British term: "The term "new wave" was inspired by the French New Wave cinema of the late 1950s. New wave music was a reaction to punk and mainstream rock, which many new wave bands considered to be complacent and creatively stagnant. New wave music evolved by infusing punk's spirit with more experimental sounds, often using synthesizers and borrowing from pop aesthetics."
I can see where your confusion might come from: "Two epicenters of new wave music in the late 1970s were London—home of the pub rock scene as well as Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, The Pretenders, and The Psychedelic Furs—and New York City, where the nightclub CBGB hosted countless shows by Blondie and Talking Heads. Other new wave hubs included Athens, Georgia (home of The B-52s), Boston (where The Cars originated), Los Angeles (where The Knack and Oingo Boingo formed), and northeast Ohio (the birthplace of Devo)."
An interesting over-view:
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/new-wave-music-guide
_
"In the states, radio stations and venues began using the term new wave thinking that using punk rock would effect sales. Some of the first bands to play CBGB in New York under the classification of new wave included The Talking Heads and Blondie."
Hope that helps!
... that's hardly the point. Apart from being pedantic, your message is factually wrong. It is true that what came to be known as New Wave music started in the UK, but it didn't stay there. (Punk started in New York. Should we conclude that the Sex Pistols aren't punk?) Regardless of where the phrase came from, the notion that only British bands could be New Wave is ludicrous. Devo? B-52s? The Bangles? Missing Persons? Oingo Boingo? Nena? The Motels? Men at Work? Cyndi Lauper? The Go-Gos?
This is another example of a post that would never have been written if the poster had to sign his real name.
Jim Austin, Editor
Stereophile
In various other posts here, he has practically told us who he is. I figured out his real name with a couple of minutes on Google. Using real names might change the behavior of some posters, but it won't change the behavior of all.
What a dodo. Of course, Talking Heads could be considered "New Wave". But I hate labels anyway. I bought "Talking Heads '77 when it came out since I read an article about them in CREEM magazine and noticed they had a female bass player. Also, they said that they wanted to be the next Carpenters. I thought "I need to check this out". Even though the record isn't "Punk" in the sound, it sure was in the attitude of doing something totally new. I have this set and it is remarkable and the sound is great.
Zeitgeist. What if we read 'new wave' as zeitgeist? Talking Heads fits within the (renewed) zeitgeist of that moment. Does that apply to everyone? In any case, 1977 was a reset for the (rock) music (industry) resulting in the musical creative explosion in 1979/1980/1981. And then I'm talking about white (rock) music. Because black rap/hiphop developed in parallel. We must not forget this!
While not a new release by any means, I just got done reading "Remain in Love: Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Tina" by Chris Frantz, Talking Heads' drummer. Pretty light reading, but enjoyable. I'd think somebody considering this box set would enjoy the read.
is excellent. Very revealing when it comes to the creative method of the band. Franz is careful to give full credit to David Byrne for his lyrics and overall guidance while making it clear that the rest of the group had a lot of input into the music, for which they have never received proper credit. Also plenty of interesting stories about their early years, the New York scene of those days, and the sudden success he and Tina had with Tom Tom Club. I got to meet all of the Heads on a couple of occasions, and they were really warm and friendly people-even David. He mentions that Tina was working on her own book, but no more info on that so far. Anyone interested in the band would find Remain In Love very illuminating.
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