Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live (Remastered) Talking Heads

• 1 Psycho Killer (September 1975 Demo) 04:15
• 2 Tentative Decisions (September 1975 Demo) 04:37
• 3 No Compassion (September 1975 Demo) 03:35
• 4 Warning Sign (September 1975 Demo) 04:52
• 5 I'm Not in Love (1976 Demo) 04:26
• 6 Thank You for Sending Me an Angel (1976 Demo) 02:05
• 7 The Book I Read (1976 Demo) 03:42
• 8 I Wish You Wouldn't Say That (1976 Demo) 02:56
• 9 Love Goes to a Building on Fire (1976 Demo) 03:18
• 10 Happy Day (1976 Demo) 03:43
• 11 Artists Only (Live at the Lower Manhattan Ocean Club, New York, NY, 8/17/76) 04:55
• 12 Psycho Killer 04:19
• 13 Warning Sign 02:56
• 14 Psycho Killer (CBS/Columbia Demo) 03:31
• 15 Sugar on My Tongue (CBS/Columbia Demo) 03:15
• 16 Thank You for Sending Me an Angel (CBS/Columbia Demo) 02:01
• 17 I Want to Live (CBS/Columbia Demo) 03:50
• 18 I Wish You Wouldn't Say That (CBS/Columbia Demo) 02:09
• 19 The Girls Want to Be With the Girls (CBS/Columbia Demo) 03:04
• 20 Who Is It? (CBS/Columbia Demo) 02:20
• 21 With Our Love (CBS/Columbia Demo) 04:09
• 22 Stay Hungry (CBS/Columbia Demo) 04:29
• 23 Tentative Decisions (CBS/Columbia Demo) 02:42
• 24 Warning Sign (CBS/Columbia Demo) 03:33
• 25 I'm Not in Love (CBS/Columbia Demo) 03:52
• 26 The Book I Read (CBS/Columbia Demo) 02:53
• 27 Love Goes to a Building on Fire (CBS/Columbia Demo) 02:35
• 28 No Compassion (CBS/Columbia Demo) 03:41
• 29 Artists Only (Live at Max's Kansas City, New York, NY, 10/9/76) 05:26
• 30 1, 2, 3 Red Light (Live at Max's Kansas City, New York, NY, 10/9/76) 02:02
• 31 Happy Day (Live at Max's Kansas City, New York, NY, 10/9/76) 03:44
• 32 Don't Worry About the Government (Live at Max's Kansas City, New York, NY, 10/9/76) 03:19
• 33 Psycho Killer (Live at Max's Kansas City, New York, NY, 10/9/76) 05:15
• 34 Love Goes to a Building on Fire (Live at Max's Kansas City, New York, NY, 10/9/76) 03:55
• 35 Thank You for Sending Me an Angel (Live at Max's Kansas City, New York, NY, 10/9/76) 02:50
• 36 With Our Love (Live at Max's Kansas City, New York, NY, 10/9/76) 05:14
• 37 Pablo Picasso (Live at Max's Kansas City, New York, NY, 10/9/76) 03:06
• 38 I'm Not in Love (Live at Max's Kansas City, New York, NY, 10/9/76) 03:57
• 39 No Compassion (Live at the Jabberwocky Club, Syracuse, NY, 1/26/77) 05:40
• 40 New Feeling (Live at the Jabberwocky Club, Syracuse, NY, 1/26/77) 03:45
• 41 Psycho Killer (Live at the Jabberwocky Club, Syracuse, NY, 1/26/77) 04:52
• 42 A Clean Break (Let's Work) [Live at the Jabberwocky Club, Syracuse, NY, 1/26/77] 05:15
• 43 Sugar on My Tongue (Live at the Jabberwocky Club, Syracuse, NY, 1/26/77) 04:09
• 44 I Wish You Wouldn't Say That (Live at the Lower Manhattan Ocean Club, New York, NY, 8/17/76) 03:14
• 45 Take Me to the River (Live at the Lower Manhattan Ocean Club, New York, NY, 8/17/76) 03:38
• Total Runtime 02:47:04

Info for Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live (Remastered)

Die Talking Heads-Mitglieder Chris Frantz und David Byrne lernten sich als Studenten an der Rhode Island School of Design kennen und machten Musik in einer College-Band namens The Artistics. Im Frühjahrssemester 1974 traf sich die Band in Frantz' Wohnung in der Benefit Street, um ein Demoband aufzunehmen. Die Kassette enthielt Titel, die bald zu Klassikern in der Diskografie der Talking Heads werden sollten: „Warning Sign” und „Psycho Killer”.

Diese Sammlung für den RSD Black Friday enthält dieses neu entdeckte Material sowie elf weitere Demo- und Live-Tracks, die 1975 und 1976 von der ursprünglichen Trio-Besetzung der Band (Bassist Tina Weymouth zusammen mit Frantz und Byrne) aufgenommen wurden.

Nachdem sie Anfang 1975 von Rhode Island nach New York City gezogen waren, begannen Byrne, Frantz und Weymouth mit ihrem verstorbenen Freund J.R. Rost erste Demos aufzunehmen, um eine Vorstellung davon zu bekommen, wie sie klangen; diese Aufnahmen eröffnen die Sammlung. Im September desselben Jahres nahmen sie auf Wunsch von Mark Spector in den CBS Studios Demos im Umfang eines Albums auf. Die Session führte zwar nicht zu einem Vertrag, aber sie bewahrte frühe Versionen von Songs, die das Rückgrat der ersten beiden Alben von Talking Heads bilden sollten: „Don't Worry About The Government“, „The Book I Read“, „Thank You For Sending Me An Angel“ und „Stay Hungry“.

Tentative Decisions enthüllt auch eine Reihe von Live-Aufnahmen aus den Jahren 1976 und 1977, die die Band in entscheidenden Momenten einfangen. Der Auftritt im Oktober 1976 im Max's Kansas City fand nur wenige Wochen bevor die Gruppe Seymour Stein traf und bei Sire Records unterschrieb statt. Einige Monate später, im Januar 1977, fand im Jabberwocky Club in Syracuse einer der letzten Auftritte des ursprünglichen Trios statt, bevor Jerry Harrison im März dazu kam.

Die frühesten Aufnahmen auf Tentative Decisions reichen zurück bis zu The Artistics, der Band, die Frantz und Byrne während ihrer Zeit als Studenten an der Rhode Island School of Design gründeten. Die 1974 in Frantz' Wohnung in der Benefit Street in Providence aufgenommene Demo enthält die frühesten bekannten Aufnahmen von „Psycho Killer” und „Warning Sign”.

In den Liner Notes schreibt Frantz, dass sich das Bestreben von The Artistics, die Hausband der RISD zu werden – sie unterhielten ihre Freunde mit Coverversionen von The Kinks, Motown und Al Green –, änderte, als sie begannen, ihre eigenen Songs zu schreiben. „Eines Tages klopfte David an die Tür des Malateliers, das Tina und ich gemeinsam nutzten“, erinnert sich Frantz. „Er spielte uns die erste Strophe und den Refrain von ‚Psycho Killer‘ vor, die vielversprechend klangen.“ Byrne bat Weymouth, die Französisch sprach, den Text für die Bridge zu schreiben, während Frantz einige Strophen hinzufügte – und so begann alles.

Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live setzt eine Reihe von Archivveröffentlichungen fort, die letztes Jahr anlässlich des 50-jährigen Bandjubiläums von Talking Heads gestartet wurde. Als eine der einflussreichsten Gruppen ihrer Zeit haben Talking Heads die moderne Musik mitgeprägt und die kreativen Möglichkeiten des Musikvideos erweitert – zuletzt mit der Premiere eines neuen „Psycho Killer“-Videos unter der Regie von Mike Mills und mit Saoirse Ronan in der Hauptrolle.

Talking Heads

Digitally remastered

At the start of their career, Talking Heads were all nervous energy, detached emotion, and subdued minimalism. When they released their last album about 12 years later, the band had recorded everything from art-funk to polyrhythmic worldbeat explorations and simple, melodic guitar pop. Between their first album in 1977 and their last in 1988, Talking Heads became one of the most critically acclaimed bands of the '80s, while managing to earn several pop hits. While some of their music can seem too self-consciously experimental, clever, and intellectual for its own good, at their best Talking Heads represent everything good about art-school punks.

And they were literally art-school punks. Guitarist/vocalist David Byrne, drummer Chris Frantz, and bassist Tina Weymouth met at the Rhode Island School of Design in the early '70s; they decided to move to New York in 1974 to concentrate on making music. The next year, the band won a spot opening for the Ramones at the seminal New York punk club CBGB. In 1976, keyboardist Jerry Harrison, a former member of Jonathan Richman's Modern Lovers, was added to the lineup. By 1977, the band had signed to Sire Records and released its first album, Talking Heads: 77. It received a considerable amount of acclaim for its stripped-down rock & roll, particularly Byrne's geeky, overly intellectual lyrics and uncomfortable, jerky vocals.

For their next album, 1978's More Songs About Buildings and Food, the band worked with producer Brian Eno, recording a set of carefully constructed, arty pop songs, distinguished by extensive experimenting with combined acoustic and electronic instruments, as well as touches of surprisingly credible funk. On their next album, the Eno-produced Fear of Music, Talking Heads began to rely heavily on their rhythm section, adding flourishes of African-styled polyrhythms. This approach came to a full fruition with 1980's Remain in Light, which was again produced by Eno. Talking Heads added several sidemen, including a horn section, leaving them free to explore their dense amalgam of African percussion, funk bass and keyboards, pop songs, and electronics.

After a long tour, the band concentrated on solo projects for a couple of years. By the time of 1983's Speaking in Tongues, the band had severed its ties with Eno; the result was an album that still relied on the rhythmic innovations of Remain in Light, except within a more rigid pop-song structure. After its release, Talking Heads embarked on another extensive tour, which was captured on the Jonathan Demme-directed concert film Stop Making Sense. After releasing the straightforward pop album Little Creatures in 1985, Byrne directed his first movie, True Stories, the following year; the band's next album featured songs from the film. Two years later, Talking Heads released Naked, which marked a return to their worldbeat explorations, although it sometimes suffered from Byrne's lyrical pretensions.

After its release, Talking Heads were put on 'hiatus'; Byrne pursued some solo projects, as did Harrison, and Frantz and Weymouth continued with their side project, Tom Tom Club. In 1991, the band issued an announcement that they had broken up. Shortly thereafter, Harrison's production took off with successful albums by Live and Crash Test Dummies. In 1996, the original lineup minus Byrne reunited for the album No Talking Just Head; Byrne sued Frantz, Weymouth, and Harrison for attempting to record and perform as Talking Heads, so the trio went by the Heads. In 1999, all four worked together to promote a 15th-anniversary edition of Stop Making Sense, and they also performed at the 2002 induction ceremony for their entrance into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Through the 2010s, Byrne released a number of solo and collaborative projects. Tom Tom Club continued to tour, while Harrison produced albums for the likes of No Doubt, the Von Bondies, and Hockey. (Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music)

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