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.
