One of the many great albums I got to know thanks to the enlightened Herbert Art Gallery Audio Lending Department was ‘Fear of Music’ . As is traditional in these things, the first album from a band you hear fixes itself in your consciousness as the standard outside of which all their other albums deviate.
‘Fear of Music’ is the most paranoid outing from a band who were frequently paranoid and sounded paranoid when they were being straight. ‘Electric Guitar’, ‘Drugs’, ‘Animals’ and ‘Memories Can Wait’ are as bleak as they got. And I loved it. Not forgetting ‘Cities’ and ‘Life During Wartime’, the commercial front. ‘Air’, ‘Mind’ and ‘Heaven’ were a little lighter, a little more art rock. ‘Paper’, the track featured here, goes nicely with ‘Heaven Sent’ by Josef K, the Scottish Talking Heads (at least until Franz Ferdinand came along).
The following year in 1980, the band attained what is generally regarded as their artistic zenith, with ‘Remain In Light’. And like Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ in the same year, they finally had a breakthrough hit in ‘Once In A Lifetime’ (not featured here – I’m sure you know it). Talking of whom, the band were familiar with Joy Division from the music press but had never actually heard anything by them (different locales, different times). So they wrote ‘The Overload’ as an approximation of what they imagined the Factory band might sound like. In the event it’s not a million miles away from a track like ‘I Remember Nothing’ from ‘Unknown Pleasures’. ‘Closer’ saw off ‘Remain in Light’ to top the NME Album of the Year, though Pitchfork ultimately disagreed, crowning the latter as the best album of the ‘80s. Who’s arguing? Both incredible, ground-breaking works. You get two tracks from ‘RIL’ – ‘Crosseyed and Painless’, which single track has launched a hundred careers including The Rapture’s, and ‘Houses In Motion’, paired with LCD Soundsystem whose James Murphy makes no secret of TH’s influence.
The first two albums – ‘77’ and ‘More Songs About Buildings and Food’ – are excellent in their own way. A little more streamlined art-post-punk. Still great. Here we have ‘Don’t Worry About The Government’ (a classic counterpoint to the message from a hundred cartoonish punk bands of the time) paired with Canadians Ought; and ‘Found A Job’ which, as mentioned in the episode, appears to invent Tik Tok in 1978, teamed up with Squid from Brighton.
Once we get past 1980, the band, in my opinion, lost their way, despite this being the time of their commercial singles, memorable videos and famous films. ‘Naïve Melody’ has weathered well, replete with wistful melancholy and sits neatly alongside the Byrne-esque vocal yelp of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
Not that this was a one-man band, by any means. Tina Weymouth was a wonderful bass player, her sinuous rhythms anchoring the band’s music, proving a perfect complement to Byrne’s rhythm guitar. She’s been married to drummer Chris Frantz for 46 years now – and it’s that lack of rock’n’roll lifestyle which has always characterised the group. Outsiders, not quite fitting any one label, mildly paranoid - of each other as much as the world around them. Let’s not forget the fourth member Jerry Harrison either who played an important role.
Looking forward to seeing the film, 40 years on.
Tracklist:
Crosseyed and painless, Talking Heads
Whoo! alright – yeah uh Huh, The Rapture
Paper, Talking Heads
Heaven Sent, Josef K
This must be the place (Naïve melody), Talking Heads
Over and over again (lost and found), Clay Your Hands Say Yeah!
Houses in motion, Talking Heads
Change yr mind, LCD Soundsystem
Found a job, Talking Heads
Houseplants, Squid
Don’t worry about the government, Talking Heads
The weather song, Ought