TALKING HEADS
THE NAME OF THIS BAND IS TALKING HEADS / SPEAKING IN TONGUES
WW
RHINO
★★★★ / ★★★★
In their continuing effort to support record stores, Rhino’s ‘Start Your Ear Off Right’ campaign delivers two classic Talking Heads albums in limited edition coloured vinyl. Whether red double vinyl is more appealing than the additional 15 tracks included on the 2004 CD reissue of The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads is questionable, though. Moreover, 1984’s concert document Stop Making Sense is perhaps deservedly better known: TNOTBITH’s first disc is a little lifeless, though the second record packs a bigger punch, not least its cover of Al Green’s Take Me To The River. Still, these live recordings from 1977-81 accurately reflect their growth from tight quartet to herculean 11-piece. 1983’s Speaking In Tongues is as good as any place to begin a deeper dive into the band’s work. Perhaps chosen for reissuing because it’s when the group truly took off commercially, it kicks off with Burning Down The House, and also features the majestic call-andresponse of Slippery People, Swamp’s woozy funk and the delicate This Must Be The Place, which sounds like it fell off Wally Badarou’s masterpiece Echoes.