Day 0493 - Tom Tom Club

Tom Tom Club "Tom Tom Club" (1981)

Tina Weymouth and Chris Franz showing that David Byrne wasn't the only member of Talking Heads who could follow his artistic muse outside of the 'home' band.

The couple had been hanging out with famed reggae rhythm section Sly and Robbie and enlisted reggae legend Lee Scratch Perry to produce the album... but he never showed  up, so they did it themselves.

With the songs, built on rhythmic grooves, throwing different genres at the wall to see what sticks, messing around with  synthesisers and choirs, they generally took an "anyone can get involved" ideology.  Perhaps this was them kicking against the restraints of David Byrne this could be seen as something of a precursor to the first Gorillaz album (which the Tom Toms were apparently also involved with).   The album also features multi-instrumentalist Adrian Belew who has recorded with King Crimson, David Bowie, Frank Zappa, Cyndi Lauper and a range of others.

This is an important album for the burgeoning rap scene as well, the  TTC grooves being sampled by artists ranging from Tupac, Grandmaster Flash, Puffy Daddily Diddily, Mariah Carey and others.

Tina Weymouth's rapping "Wordy Rappinghood" seems like somehow childlike, but also fun.

Day 0485 - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

David Byrne and Brian Eno "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" (1981)

Having enjoyed the individual works of Eno and Byrne; I was keen to hear this one.  The album, described by Eno as "psychedelic Africa" was delayed in its release due clearance issues with the various copyrighted materials sampled.  As a result, the Talking Heads'  "Remain in Light" album (also produced by Eno), though recorded later, was released before this collaboration.

Whereas that Talking Heads album was built on a foundation of jam sessions among the various musicians, this is much more a studio construct, formed around samples and based heavily on Holger Czukay's "movies" album.  An interesting album to be sure, but I'd say I really prefer Byrne in more of a traditional song-based vein, whether it's with the Heads, with St Vincent or as a solo artist.

Day 0382 - Talking Heads: 77

Talking Heads "Talking Heads: 77" (1977... rather obviously, I guess)

 
The Heads were formed by David Byrne and Chris Frantz, with Frantz's girlfriend Tina Weymouth joining on bass and played their first gig opening for the Ramones.  After the band were signed, Byrne (showing that talent doesn't always come with charm) then demanded that Weymouth audition to keep her role in the band.   Guitarist and keyboardist Jerry Harrison (formerly of the Modern Lvoers) joined shortly before they recorded their debut album, with Jon Bon Jovi's cousin Tony Bongiovi, handling production duties.

I really enjoy the Talking Heads and have a few of their albums, yet I've never really got around to properly checking out this one.  There are some great tracks here ("Happy day", "Don't worry about the government", "First week/last week...carefree", and of course "Psycho Killer"), it's a good album, and a clear influence on later bands with their mix of intellectualism and danceability, skittish postpunk and neurotic funk.

If I'm honest, I probably prefer their later albums' variety to the more uniform approach on this one, but it's still good.