Talking Heads: More Songs About Buildings And Food (Sire Records/1978)

More Songs About Buildings And Food is Talking Heads second album. It was the first in a trilogy of albums to be co-produced (with the band) by ex-Roxy Music synth layer and ambient music pioneer Brian Eno. Eno seemed to bring out the best aspects of the band and their interaction with one another. Eno also played synths, keyboards, additional guitars, percussion and backing vocals to the album.

The album more also contains more danceable elements to the songs and rhythm section of Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz have become a tight unit. Jerry Harrison's role in the band is even more developed as this point as well. David Byrne's songs are quirky in the same way they were on Talking Heads '77, however there is a more seemingly organic nature to the material. All of the parts played are extremely purposeful yet wonderfully understated.

The cover art is comprised of 529 close-up Polaroids of the band which was done by the late artist Jimmy De Sana. And now resides in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. The album reached #29 in the US eventually going Gold and peaked at #21 in the UK charts.

“Stay Hungry”, “Warning Sign”, “Thank You For Sending Me An Angel” and especially “The Big Country” are among the bands simplest yet somehow greatest songs, in my humble opinion. The band also achieved their biggest chart hit to date with a Top 40 cover of the Al Green song “Take Me To The River”. The band had previously had a minor hit with “Psycho Killer” which only reached #92 on Billboard's Single Charts. However “Take Me To The River” landed them spots on American Bandstand and Saturday Night Live which formally introduced them to America at large.

This is one of my all-time favorite albums and I can't recommend it highly enough.  

Here is the video review:

Shoes: Black Vinyl Shoes (Sire U.K./1979)

Zion, Illinois' Shoes were influenced by the usual suspects that influenced Power Pop bands of the late 1970's; namely The Beatles, Nazz, The Who, The Raspberries, Big Star and Badfinger. Although they'd recorded three privately released albums in significantly small quantities the band commercially released their fourth album Black Vinyl Shoes. Released on their own Black Vinyl label and on US indie PVC shortly thereafter, the album was recorded in guitarist Jeff Murphy's living room on a TEAC 3340S reel to reel tape recorder.

The warm sound, low-key yet mellifluous multi-tracked harmony vocals and overall impact of the material made the entire recording industry sit up and acknowledge the fact that an album this professional sounding could be recorded at one's home and completely take place without the financial help of a major label. It was released on Sire Records in the UK in 1979 and in no time at all the band signed with Elektra in the US and went on to record albums that sounded not too different than Black Vinyl Shoes.

Musically the band has the crunch of the Dwight Twilley Band, the vocal harmonies of The Raspberries, the melodic punch of fellow Illinois bands Pezband and Off Broadway. Shoes' vocal harmonies and hooks seem to just roll off very naturally. Lyrically, Black Vinyl Shoes seems to be preoccupied with the politics and dynamics of romantic relationships. The songs can be pretty dark yet they never come off as such on the surface. There's a certain saminess to the material on this album (as there are on most Shoes albums). However, generally speaking, if you like Shoes sound, approach and material, you won't have a problem with this.

Here's the video review:

The Flamin' Groovies: The Flamin' Groovies Now (Sire Records/1978)

The Flamin' Groovies started their career in the late 60's as a San Francisco-based bluesy garage rock band. They released four albums in this guise with lead singer Roy A. Loney fronting the band. After Loney left the band in mid 70's, Chris Wilson joined the band as lead singer and rhythm guitarist and they moved to England and teamed up with guitarist/producer Dave Edmunds and released three albums of Rickenbacker-driven jangley late 60's power pop. 

The second of these Flamin' Groovies Now is a very satisfying listen. The guitars sound wonderful and the band sounds great. Of the originals “All I Wanted”, “Don't Put Me On” - which has a simply amazing coda - and “Between The Lines” are the greatest of the batch. The band tackles The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Cliff Richard, The Byrds and Paul Revere And The Raiders with varying degrees of success. Only the Stones covers seem a bit off. I personally love the album and think it's well-worth hearing (as are the other two albums that form a late 70's Power Pop trilogy – Shake Some Action and Jumpin' In The Night). As is their 1971 classic album  Teenage Head.

Here's The Video Review: 

Tom Tom Club: Close To The Bone (Sire Records/1983)

The rhythm section of Talking Heads, the husband and wife duo of drummer Chris Frantz & bassist Tina Weymouth, formed Tom Tom Club in 1980 while Talking Heads were on hiatus after the tour for Remain In Light. They had remarkable success with their single “Genius Of Love”, from their self-titled debut album. The 1981 single has been on of the most sampled records of the 1980's with artists from Mariah Carey to Public Enemy to 2Pac. It was an overall bigger success than any Talking Heads chart single had been (“Take Me To The River” peaked at #26 on Billboard's Hot 100 while “Genius Of Love” charted at #31, however it reached #1 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Charts and #24 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart). Also reaching #1 on Billboard's Hot Dance Charts was “Wordy Rappinghood” which was a top 10 hit in the UK.

Their 1983 follow-up album Close To The Bone was less successful commercially. It charted at #73 as opposed to their debut's #23 chart placing. The two singles from the album (“Pleasure Of Love” & “The Man With The 4-Way Hips”) charted briefly on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Charts at #23 &#4, respectively. The album is a bit more organically cohesive than the debut and bears repeated listens simply for the fact that its' two singles haven’t been played to death on alternative radio for the last thirty-years. It still has the breathy, ethereal vocals from Lani, Laura & Tina Weymouth, but it has more synthesized drums in addition to Chris Frantz's standard kit and more twee synth sounds (which still retains the Caribbean-feel of the overall aesthetic). As for samples taken for Close To The Bone, The Treacherous Three sampled “Pleasure Of Love” on their “Turning You On” single by recording the sample as opposed to taking it from the Tom Tom Club recording.

It was initially released on both vinyl and cassette and wasn't released in a digital format until the Deluxe Edition release of the debut and Close To The Bone in 2009.

I personally think it's a fine release, ripe for rediscovery.  

Here's The Video Review: