For years, The Name of This Band is Talking Heads was a true lost classic. Issued as a double live album in 1982, it consistently avoided the CD reissue treatment that was afforded every other seemingly worth (and not so worthy) disc of its era. That meant listening to cassettes dubbed from old pieces of scratchy vinyl or, in later years, mp3s ripped from those old black slabs.

Then, in 2004, Rhino Records finally heard the call and released the album. Of course, this being Rhino, they didn't just release it as-is, but instead augmented it, nearly doubling it from 17 to 33 songs. The result is the best evidence of the greatness of the Talking Heads.

The album is roughly divided into two parts, each covering an era of the band's early, pre-superstardom days. The first disc captured the earliest days, with the original quartet of David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Jerry Harrison and Chris Frantz playing small venues and working their way through the songs that made up their first two albums. The performances are more odd and energetic than their studio counterparts, and were a powerful tool that made me a fan. The reissue adds songs recorded in 1978 to those from 1977 and 1979 on the original issue. Byrne is at his strangest here, his awkward stage banter -- "The name of this song is 'New Feeling'... and that's what it's about" -- might seem off-putting, but has the opposite effect.

The second disc shows the band's staggering growth in just a couple of years. Taken from shows on the band's 1981 tour for Remain in Light, it is the document of a now 10-piece band (including Adrian Belew, Bernie Worrell and Nona Hendryx) adding massive amounts of soul-funk and a pinch of world music spice to Talking Heads songs. Again, these performances are more unhinged and powerful than those found on the studio albums.

My preference, on this album and in general, is for the earliest version of the Talking Heads. What they were able to do with guitar-bass-drums and Byrne's proto Norman Bates vocals was a startling revelation, while the later forays into world beat always felt like the earnest efforts of liberal art school grads with equal helpings of genuine enthusiasm and affluent guilt. I'm clearly in the minority, and can appreciate the artistry behind those later albums, but they're not for me. I came around again by the time the band had become a successful corporation and issued its second live album, Stop Making Sense, but never regained that first flush of fandom sparked by the first disc of that earlier live album. Those first stabs at quirky bliss, particularly as presented on The Name of This Band is Talking Heads, are as fresh, original and electric as ever.

MP3: Pulled Up
MP3: Life During Wartime

Next week: Chris Knox - Songs of You and Me

Labels: music, OOTS