Talking Heads - Bonus Outtakes and Rarities (2006)

Artist: Talking Heads

Album: Bonus Outtakes and Rarities

Release Date: 28 February 2006

Label: Sire/Warner Bros./Rhino

Tracklisting:
01. I Want to Live

02. New Feeling [Alternate Version]

03. First Week/Last Week... Carefree [Acoustic Version]

04. A Clean Break (Let's Work) [Live at CBGB's, 10/10/77]

05. These Boots Are Made for Walkin' [David Byrne Solo Acoustic Version]

06. I'm Not Ready Yet [David Byrne Solo Acoustic Version]

07. Thank You for Sending Me an Angel [Alternate Version]

08. Warning Sign [Alternate Version]

09. Artists Only [Alternate Version]

10. Electricity [Instrumental]

11. Drugs [Alternate Version]

12. I Zimbra [12" Version]

13. Crosseyed and Painless [Alternate Version]

14. The Lady Don't Mind [Moog March Version]

15. People Like Us [John Goodman Vocal Version]

16. Gangster of Love

17. Lifetime Piling Up

18. Popsicle

Bonus Outtakes and Rarities is a digital-only collection whose contents are clearly intended to complement the Talking Heads' reissue series in 2006 (first released as a box set known as the "Brick" in 2005). Most of the band's limited catalog of b-sides and non-album tracks appeared there as bonus tracks along with some outtakes, alternate versions, and remixes. This collection digs even deeper, scraping together further obscurities in a haphazard fashion. My guess is that at some point on the process of preparing the reissues, a decision was made to switch from standard CD releases to DualDiscs, which had about a 60-minute limit. This album is presumably most of what had to be cut to fit the constraints.

Initially, it was only released in mp3, but at some point in the last few years, lossless versions started showing up in online retailers. There are no liner notes and hardly any details to be found anywhere online. I've only found one other review online, and it's not very long or detailed. It's fairly negative and it skewers the quality of the presentation and most of the contents. Certainly there is something lacking about the package; the lack of information is annoying, and the whole thing feels a bit hastily thrown together. In particular, there are several mastering errors. Volume levels vary noticeably among the tracks. There are conspicuously long gaps of silence between some tracks. There is a bad edit at the end of "Electricity". "A Clean Break" has what sounds like tape damage at the end.

Also frustrating is that while it gets very close to being a perfect summary of the band's released catalog in tandem with the reissues, it misses the alternate "experimental pop" version of "Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town" and the Naked outtake "In Asking Land", both released on the 2003 Once in a Lifetime box set, as well as the version of "New Feeling" from the "Love → Building on Fire" single (although an even fuller mix is present here) and some of the "movie versions" of the True Stories songs. There were also tons of extended remixes and such found on rare 12" singles, although most of them are admittedly forgettable and offer no material not already present on the regular versions.

Despite those complaints, there is plenty to say about the actual music contained within. First, while some of the tracks from the first half had been available on various bootlegs for years prior, I'd never heard them in this quality. Second, while many of these appeared on Sand in the Vaseline in 1992 and/or the Once in a Lifetime boxset in 2003, about half were previously unreleased as far as I can tell.

Much of Bonus Outtakes and Rarities consists of alternate versions from the first half of the band's career. "New Feeling" is the early "experimental pop" mix, similar to the b-side version but with extra horns on top. "First Week/Last Week... Carefree" sounds like the album version without any of the overdubs. The others ("Thank You for Sending Me an Angel", "Warning Sign", "Artists Only", "Electricity", "Drugs", and "Crosseyed and Painless") all sound like early demo versions. There are few (if any) overdubs, and they sound like just the four members of the band running through the songs, before Brian Eno started working much of his magic. In each case, the album version is superior, but it is still instructive to hear these versions.

"Thank You for Sending Me an Angel" has the same structure as the album version and the "Country Angel" version, but none of the overdubs and detail. "Warning Sign" has simpler lyrics. "Artists Only" is much slower and features much longer instrumental breaks. "Electricity" is recognizable as an early version of "Drugs" and yet is completely different. It has a great groove and is already a bit weird. It's close to the first live version on the 2004 reissue of The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads, but even simpler. "Drugs" is an early, shorter mix with fewer sound effects but a weird bendy guitar bit from Robert Fripp. It is more obvious that David Byrne was singing while jogging, which is to say he sounds grosser but more human. The song is less otherworldly than the album version, but just about as bizarre. "Crosseyed and Painless" is much simpler but much longer. The arrangement is moderately full, but sounds incomplete in comparison to the complexity of the final version. The song finishes with a long jam over repetitions of "facts" rap.

"I Want to Live" is a demo from 1975, long before Jerry Harrison joined the band. It's an acoustic number that shows where the band started but also what they left behind. "A Clean Break (Let's Work)" is an early song that was apparently never recorded in the studio. Another live version was released on the reissue of The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads. It's strong enough that one wonders why it was overlooked at the time. "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" (yes, the Nancy Sinatra song) and "I'm Not Ready Yet" are both brief acoustic bits by Byrne solo. He was clearly just being silly in the studio, but they're both fun.

"I Zimbra" is a 12" version supposedly remixed by Brian Eno, but it doesn't offer much except a standard-issue remix breakdown at the end. "The Lady Don't Mind" is surprisingly not just a remix, but apparently an extended alternate version with different lyrics and a much different arrangement. It's better than the original and hard to believe that it really wasn't previously released. "People Like Us" is the "movie version" with John Goodman's vocals, originally released as the b-side of "Wild Wild Life". It's weird.

The last three tracks were all unfinished outtakes from the latter years of the band that eventually appeared on Sand in the Vaseline. All three have decent grooves but it's easy to see why they didn't make the first cut. "Gangster of Love" was apparently based on outtakes from Remain in Light in 1980 and Naked in 1987, but it wasn't completed until the band's last sessions in 1991. "Lifetime Piling Up" was a Naked outtake and is probably the best of the bunch. "Popsicle" was a Speaking in Tongues outtake from 1983. It's creepy and one of the band's least appealing songs.

There aren't many gems in this collection, but it nonetheless serves an important role in gathering most of the band's sundry leftovers that didn't fit on the reissues. For a dedicated fan that wants to collect every track as simply as possible, this is a goldmine. However, I'd imagine that for someone who had followed the band since their early days, this would be frustratingly redundant. Most of the best material had been previously released. Of the rest, the various alternate versions are worth a listen, but are far from essential. The "Electricity" instrumental outtake and the "Moog March" version of "The Lady Don't Mind" are the two biggest exceptions. Both are strong in their own right and deserve better than this obscurity. It's hard to recommend the album, but it's perfect for the right type of consumer. Apparently that happens to include me.

Score: C+

David Byrne / Yasmine Hamdan - Live 2018.06.27 Tempodrom, Berlin, Germany

David Byrne is an erratic character. His post-Talking Heads work has been spotty and inconsistent, but he has been involved in a variety of musical, theatrical, and film collaborations, he is a well-regarded writer, and now he's become something of a cultural icon offering sage advice about music, technology, and people. Despite that I didn't find his new album particularly exciting (yes, even though most of it was co-written by Brian Eno), there has been quite a bit of hype about his stage show, so I figured it was worth a shot.

Artist: David Byrne

Venue: Tempodrom

Location: Berlin, Germany

Date: 27 June 2018

Opening Act: Yasmine Hamdan

Setlist:
01. Here

02. Lazy [X-Press 2 song]

03. I Zimbra [Talking Heads song; lyrics adapted from "Gadji beri bimba" by Hugo Ball]

04. Slippery People [Talking Heads song]

05. I Should Watch TV [originally performed with St. Vincent]

06. Dog's Mind

07. Everybody's Coming to My House

08. This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) [Talking Heads song]

09. Once in a Lifetime [Talking Heads song]

10. Doing the Right Thing

11. Toe Jam [Brighton Port Authority song]

12. Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) [Talking Heads song]

13. I Dance Like This

14. Bullet

15. Every Day Is a Miracle

16. Like Humans Do

17. Blind [Talking Heads song]

18. Burning Down the House [Talking Heads song]

Encore 1:

19. Dancing Together [originally performed with Fatboy Slim]

20. The Great Curve [Talking Heads song]

Encore 2:

21. Hell You Talmbout [Janelle Monáe cover]

Yasmine Hamdan is a Lebanese singer who has worked in a variety of styles. At this show, she was joined by a drummer, a guitarist, and a guy who seemed to mostly be playing samples. The sound was a balance of modern electronic and traditional Arabic folk music. Half of the drummer's kit was synthetic and the guitarist played half the set with an effects-laden ebow (and one song with an actual bow). Hamdan was a strong vocalist, and combined with the rhythmic music, she produced a rather dramatic effect. The guitarist and drummer were also quite skilled and had unique styles that helped set the mood, but the song structures were somewhat formless and nebulous. Despite the many aspects I enjoyed, it felt like there was an element I was missing, although this may have been related to my inability to understand the lyrics.

[Yasmine Hamdan.]

For David Byrne's set, the stage was surrounded in the back and on the sides by long, thin curtain strands, such that the audience could just barely see if a person stood behind them and the musicians could pass right through while performing. For the opening song, "Here", Byrne sat a table with a plastic brain on it and proceeded to sing while seated and then while manipulating the brain. The members of his band performed from offstage and occasionally appeared throughout the first two numbers, finally appearing in full for the classic Talking Heads song "I Zimbra", which was also when the audience collectively decided to stand up and start dancing.

The band consisted of twelve members. Six of them played various forms of percussion: Gustavo Di Dalva, Daniel Freedman, Aaron Johnston, Tim Keiper, Mauro Refosco, and Davi Vieira. Chris Giarmo and Tendayi Kuumba provided backing vocals. Bobby Wooten played bass, Angie Swan played guitar, and Karl Mansfield played keyboards. Byrne himself also played electric guitar on several songs. All twelve performers wore matching gray suits and carried their instruments. Other than the occasional prop, there was nothing on stage. There was no drumset, no keyboard rack, no microphone stand, and no effects boards. Byrne claimed that everything was performed live, but he left out the important detail that all effects and processing had to be done by somebody offstage. The sound crew must have been skilled and well-practiced.

The freedom of movement on stage was taken to full advantage. Even when the band were playing less exciting songs, the action on stage kept things interesting. At different points they stood in a chorus line, rotated in a circle, stood just offstage with their instruments peeking through the curtains, ran across the stage while a bright light at the front of the stage cast shadows upon the curtains, and danced about in every combination you could imagine. It made for a very energetic experience.

The choice of songs was a widely mixed bag. Byrne played seven songs from his new album, American Utopia, eight Talking Heads songs (all but one from the classic dance-rock albums Fear of Music, Remain in Light, and Speaking in Tongues), four songs from various collaborative projects, one older solo song ("Like Humans Do"), and one cover. Oddly, or not, there was no overlap in material with the Tom Tom Club show I saw back in 2011.

The highlights were, just as one might expect, the classic Talking Heads songs. The band brought the rhythmic complexity of the songs alive in a way that was almost hard to believe was real. The band was tight despite their physical choreography and the grooves were irresistible. The other particularly notable song was the cover of "Hell You Talmbout" by Janelle Monáe. The entire band performed percussion while chanting variations of "Say his name!" and listing the names of various Black Americans who were murdered by the police and/or as the result of racist violence.

While the two consistent threads in Byrne's songs are a critical but wise and witty perspective on human perspective and a love of percussion, his songs explore a wealth of styles, albeit with varying levels of success. On stage, I often felt like the shifts in tone and sound were arbitrary and subject to whimsy. Sometimes it seemed like he was being weird just to be weird, or trying something purely for the sake of trying it. While I fundamentally appreciate such a willingness to experiment, the result is often that Byrne's songs come across as jarring, bizarre, ridiculous, or nonsensical. One gets the impression that Byrne's brain works in unusual ways, but even if half of his songs don't quite work, the half that do are brilliant. Combined with a very creative stage set, it made for a show well worth seeing.

[David Byrne.]

Scores:

Yasmine Hamdan: B-

David Byrne: B+

Forgotten Moments from Post-Punk History

I recently re-read Rip It Up and Start Again: Post-Punk 1978-1984 by Simon Reynolds (see full review here) and along the way I stumbled across a few songs that I would like to call out for their special qualities.

First off is the first single by Pete Shelley, "Homosapien", released in 1981 shortly after the breakup of Buzzcocks. With Martin Rushent continuing his role as producer, the two developed a sound not unlike what Rushent would help create with the Human League on their massively successful Dare immediately thereafter. Coming from such a prominent punk band, I imagine that the synthetic sound that Shelley presented with "Homosapien" was a bit of a shock – but the single was nonetheless a modest hit. In addition to the retro-futuristic video, Shelley's lyrics and delivery reveal an unabashed gayness previously left subdued. Naturally, the BBC banned it. Watch the video here or below:

I think Buzzcocks are fine, but I generally find original singer Howard Devoto's second band, Magazine, far more interesting. Buzzcocks experienced their own degree of growth, but the trappings of punk restrained them whereas Magazine expanded tremendously. When I first heard "Homosapien", I was impressed that Shelley too had grown tired with punk's limitations.

Second is "The Devil Lives in My Husband's Body" by Pulsallama, which is probably a prime example of what some might call a "novelty single". The band consisted of a large coterie of women favoring voices, percussion, and a counterprofessional style. The song is apparently one of only two singles ever produced by the band. While the song itself is already a treasure, the video takes it to the next level. It concerns a woman who becomes increasingly worried about her husband's behavior, which appears to be related to Tourette syndrome. Watch it here or below:

Third up is a delightful slice of New Pop from Orange Juice. "Rip It Up" saw the band moving from their earliest incarnation as a slightly awkward but well-intentioned indie band on Postcard Records to a better produced, more commercial, major-label project with a revamped lineup. While much of their material still comes off as quaint, their biggest single (and the namesake of Reynolds' book) is still a charmer. However, the band proved that they hadn't entirely abandoned their indie/post-punk leanings when they appeared on Top of the Pops in 1983 to mime to the song. First of all, Jim Thirlwell of Foetus suddenly shows up to pretend to play the sax solo, but then singer Edwyn Collins just starts colliding with him! Also, don't forget the song's unsubtle references to Buzzcocks' "Boredom" – and what is with the dancing women tearing up bits of paper!? See it all here or below:

Lastly, I give you an early example of sampling, featuring none other than a real sound bite of then-president Ronald Reagan (up for re-election at the time) saying, "We begin bombing in five minutes", referring to Russia. It was a joke that was not broadcast and only recorded incidentally, but when it leaked, many considered it to be in poor taste. Among the disenchanted, Jerry Harrison (of Talking Heads) and Bootsy Collins (of Parliament-Funkadelic) hooked up with producer Daniel Lazerus to create "Five Minutes" as a form of protest. To get the song out before election day, they had to rush-release it on an independent label, and for some reason they used the one-off name of Bonzo Goes to Washington for their partnership. Listen here or below:

And as a final bonus, check out this awesome flyer for the first Human League concert in 1978:

(Originally seen here on Simon Reynolds' Rip It Up and Start Again footnotes blog.)

Psychedelic Furs / Tom Tom Club - Live 2011.09.23 The Pageant, St. Louis, Missouri

Two classic 80s bands in one night? Unbelievable!

Artists: Psychedelic Furs and Tom Tom Club
Venue: The Pageant
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Date: 23 September 2011

Tom Tom Club's setlist:
01. Who's Feelin' It
02. Punk Lolita [The Heads song]
03. Man with the Four-Way Hips
04. She's Dangerous
05. L'Éléphant
06. On, On, On, On...
07. Don't Say No
08. Genius of Love
09. You Sexy Thing (I Believe in Miracles) [Hot Chocolate cover]
10. Wordy Rappinghood
11. Take Me to the River [Al Green cover]
12. Psycho Killer [Talking Heads song]

Psychedelic Furs' setlist:

01. Like a Stranger
02. Love My Way
03. Danger
04. Alice's House
05. Heaven
06. Highwire Days
07. Only You and I
08. Believe [Love Spit Love song]
09. Pretty in Pink
10. Wrong Train
11. Heartbreak Beat
12. Sleep Comes Down

Encore:

13. Mr. Jones
14. India

Tom Tom Club are known to most people simply as the side-project of the rhythm section of Talking Heads that wrote a couple frequently-sampled dance hits in the 80s. That may be an accurate description, but it lacks much of the depth of what makes the band interesting. Tom Tom Club, along with David Byrne and Talking Heads, had a long phase of pursuing funky dance music to the core. Few other white bands were interested in those directions or even knew where to start. Byrne and Talking Heads went down all sorts of other paths, but the Club stayed the course down the line of dance music.

It is also no small coincidence that the shared members of Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club, bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Frantz, are married, and that their son also plays turntable and handles samples for the band. Tina's sisters once sang with their early records, but Tina look-alike and sound-alike Victoria Clamp is now handling the additional vocal duties. A solid funk-rock guitarist (Pablo Martine) and a keyboardist/percussionist (Bruce Martin) round out the group. It's exquisitely clear that these musicians get along well together and just have a lot of fun. They dance across the stage, they trade parts, they can jam, and they keep the energy level up.

I can't say I'm intimately familiar with most of the band's material, but they kept the groove going. Pablo had a great tight rhythmic style and Bruce would pull out flashy percussion bits in the breaks. Tina laid down solid riffs while trading the singing with Victoria, and Chris added the occasional vocal part from behind his kit. When the so-often-sampled keyboard part of "Genius of Love" came up, the crowd ate it up. The following Hot Chocolate cover was perhaps even more fantastic; the female vocal lead was seamless and surprisingly smoothly executed.

Tom Tom Club closed their set with two songs from the days of Talking Heads: the Al Green song "Take Me to the River", fully executed with an extended jam, and a faithful take of "Psycho Killer" with Tina singing lead. The performance was perfect, complete with a great guitar jam at the end. After all, Tina and Chris did co-write the song, so it didn't come as too great a surprise to hear Tina sing a third verse that I didn't recognize, possibly from an early incarnation of the song.

Although billed simply as the opening act, Tom Tom Club played for over an hour, which was probably just about as long as the Psychedelic Furs ended up playing. The Furs are another band that had a big name in the 80s but has been infrequent and largely ignored ever since. The two founding brothers (vocalist Richard Butler and bassist Tim Butler) ended up being the only constant members of the band, and after they put the band to rest, they also co-founded another alt-rock band in the 90s, Love Spit Love. The current incarnation of the Furs is sort of an amalgamation of members from throughout the history of the brothers' two bands: Paul Garisto on drums, Amanda Kramer on keyboards, Mars Williams on saxophone, and Rich Good on guitar and backing vocals.

The Psychedelic Furs can still pack a punch. Mars' sax was a true delight; his lines were the strongest of any of the instrumental breaks. The other musicians were able to reproduce the classic material effortlessly, although this also meant that the band hardly strayed from familiar territory. Nearly the entire set was comprised of hits from the band's first four albums. The only surprises were "Believe", originally a Love Spit Love song, and "Wrong Train", a relatively new and unreleased song. For both of those songs, and in fact most of the second half of the show, lead guitarist Richard Fortus (a local St. Louisian who co-founded Love Spit Love and also plays with Guns N' Roses) joined the band. I can't say this his parts added very much to the sound, and the point at which a rock band reaches seven members means that someone is going to get lost in the mix. Fortus can play a decent guitar, but he certainly jumped around the stage enough to seem like he was trying a little too hard.

Richard Butler's vocals have hardly changed from his glory days. He still has his trademark, slightly gravely, somehow melodic, and impressively constant voice at his disposal. He sings without playing an instrument but remains active enough on stage that it doesn't seem odd. Despite these motions and his mid-song fan interactivity, at every song's end he let out a half-chuckled, rather nervous-sounding "Thanks!" while waiting for the band to play the next tune. His lyrics remain strong and valid, but one couldn't help wish for some of his even more explicitly political lyrics, like "President Gas", which still applies just as well today as it did in Reagan's era.

Unlike Tom Tom Club, the Furs were granted the grace of an encore, for which they played two of my favorites: the sardonic "Mr. Jones" (with one of the band's best lines: "Movie stars and ads / And radio define romance / Don't turn it on") and the grandiose "India", the opener from their debut album. "India" was one of their strongest performances; they matched the studio version's beautiful instrumental crescendo and broke out into the thumping beat of the core of the song.

Both bands managed to pack a lot into about 70 minutes. Initially, I had thought the combination may be a bit of a mismatch, but they actually complemented each other rather well. I suspect that Psychedelic Furs might be the better band ultimately (in terms of bequeathing a greater artistic oeuvre), but the Talking Heads would trump that, if such a thing existed anymore. Tom Tom Club certainly have the dance groove down, and in some ways, one would expect that their resulting higher level of energy would be more likely to land them the slot as headliner, but alas, the Furs probably have the bigger name. It's hard to say which put on the better show, but since it's my job to pick, I'd say the Club. They surprised me – they were having a lot of fun and their set was solid and never uninteresting. Even if I've been a fan of the Furs for much, much longer, and I find their music ultimately more meaningful, their set was a bit too static and predictable. And since I'm reviewing the show and not the sum total of these bands' outputs, that's what determines my grades.

Scores:

Tom Tom Club: A-

Psychedelic Furs: B