Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads, The (Remastered And Expanded) - Talking Heads > Reviews > one of the best ever live albums

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	2 discs
Disadvantages:	none

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

1. New Feeling
2. Clean Break (Let's Work)
3. Don't Worry About The Government
4. Pulled Up
5. Psycho Killer
6. Who Is It (bonus track)
7. Book I Read (bonus track)
8. Big Country (bonus track)
9. I'm Not In Love (bonus track)
10. Girls Want To Be With The Girls (bonus track)
11. Electricty (Drugs) (bonus track)
12. Found A Job (bonus track)
13. Mind (bonus track)
14. Artists Only
15. Stay Hungry
16. Air
17. Love Building On Fire
18. Memories (Can't Wait)
19. Heaven (bonus track)
Top of PageTitles on Disc 2
1. Psycho Killer (bonus track)
2. Warning Sign (bonus track)
3. Stay Hungry (bonus track)
4. Cities
5. I Zimbra
6. Drugs (Electricty)
7. Once In A Lifetime (bonus track)
8. Animals (bonus track)
9. Houses In Motion
10. Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) (bonus track)
11. Crosseyed And Painless
12. Life During Wartime
13. Take Me To The River
14. Great Curve

If anyone wants to hear Talking Heads at their most interesting this is the album - along with Stop Making Sense it stands as one of the best live albums ever made. Stop Making Sense (the film of this concert was directed by Jonathan Demme - director of Silence of the Lambs) and stands as a good document of the Heads at the height of their powers but this album has more rough edges and isn't as polished - as you can see from the tracklisting this version has a number of bonus tracks that weren't on the vinyl issue that I had years ago.

The good thing about this album is that it features alot of the earlier tracks that alot of people wouldn't be that familiar with - songs like Warning Sign, Don't Worry About The Government and Stay Hungry. It also contains the best version of Memories Can't Wait.

The band themselves are tight and the production is clean and crisp - David Byrnes voice sounds just like it does on the studio albums and the playing of Tina Weymouth, Chris Franz and Jerry Harrison is faultless. The sound is bigger than on record as when playing live they became the Expanded Heads with extra percussion, bass and keyboards provided by the same band that would be used again on Stop Making Sense.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes live albums and is curious to hear what all the fuss is about regarding the Heads.