Red & The Black, The - Jerry Harrison

If you love mid period Talking Heads then you'll love this 1981 solo album from Heads keyboard player Jerry Harrison.
Keeping the multilayered polyrhythms of Remain In Light and adding an outright funky sheen Jerry created the best Talking Heads album that the band never made. Assisted by keyboard wizard Bernie Worrell, guitarist Adrian Belew and singer Nona Hendryx (all of whom had graced the expanded touring line up of the Heads during ...
.../> The album was originally going to be broadly instrumental with Hendryx and Dolette Macdonald adding wordless singing. But Jerry was persuaded by the others that he could sing so the tunes became songs. Jerry's lyrics are curious, often offering gentle advice about life the universe and everything in oddly simplistic verses. But the tunes are mighty. The opening "Things Fall Apart" in about 3 different time signatures all at once is ... more

If you love mid period Talking Heads then you'll love this 1981 solo album from Heads keyboard player Jerry Harrison.
Keeping the multilayered polyrhythms of Remain In Light and adding an outright funky sheen Jerry created the best Talking Heads album that the band never made. Assisted by keyboard wizard Bernie Worrell, guitarist Adrian Belew and singer Nona Hendryx (all of whom had graced the expanded touring line up of the Heads during 1980) Jerry's style of music is pure funky pop.
The album was originally going to be broadly instrumental with Hendryx and Dolette Macdonald adding wordless singing. But Jerry was persuaded by the others that he could sing so the tunes became songs. Jerry's lyrics are curious, often offering gentle advice about life the universe and everything in oddly simplistic verses. But the tunes are mighty. The opening "Things Fall Apart" in about 3 different time signatures all at once is a convoluted muddle of percussion and overlapping vocals and jangly guitars which incredibly all hangs together. Quite how, I've never worked out.
"Slink" is quite simply a classic Talking Heads track and this was partially acknowledged when Jerry got to perform it at Heads gigs during 1982. "Worlds In Collision" darkens the mood somewhat with an explosive blast of samples (dogs, Nazi rallies, war sounds) over a grimy funk workout complete with stunning Belew guitar interjections. But probably the best track is "Magic Hymie" where layers of vocals and layers of keyboards and layers of just everything fit into one equisitely crafted song.
This is one of those albums that requires time to to 'get'. But once it grabs hold it won't let go. The complexities of the tunes unfold in time and reveal beautiful melodic touches and so many catchy hooks that you won't beleive there are only nine tracks.
If you like Talking Heads then you will surely love this album. 

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