364. Talking Heads, "More Songs About Buildings and Food"

 

I remember not really connecting with this album, or really with the Talking Heads in general, for the most part, although I maintain that "This Must Be The Place" (from Speaking in Tongues) is one of the best songs of all time.  So when I listened to it again, [here there's supposed to be a big turn, like "I couldn't believe how much I loved it" or "I was shocked at how wrong I had been" but WAIT] it still didn't really do much for me.  BUT what I realized was how influential this album was.  I mean, this came out in 1978, and I can hear early 00's dance-punk all over it.  Just listen to, say, "Stay Hungry" - it could almost be a Bloc Party song!

There's also "Take Me to the River," the band's first hit.  I don't know what this says about my whiteness or my musical silo but I didn't realize that song was a cover until I was well into my 20's.  Sorry, Al Green, I didn't know!  But I was just thinking, it sucks to have your first hit be a cover.  You gotta be thinking, "Do they like us?  Or just us playing other people's songs?"

Anyway, I would describe this album as "jittery."  It kind of skitters along, punctuated by Chris Frantz's often syncopated drums and David Byrne's weird yowly voice, until it gets the "The Big Country," where things slow down and it sounds lovely until you realize that Byrne is more or less sneering at Middle America:

I guess it's healthy, I guess the air is clean
I guess those people have fun with their neighbors and friends
Look at that kitchen and all of that food
Look at them eat it, I guess it tastes real good
They grow it in those farmlands, then they bring it to the store
They put it in the car trunk, then they bring it back home, and I say
I wouldn't live there if you paid me
I wouldn't live like that, no sirree
I wouldn't do the things the way those people do
I wouldn't live there if you paid me to

Later, in an interview with Marc Maron, Byrne claimed he was satirizing popular culture's image of him, but I don't know, man.

One last humorous note: Brian Eno, who produced this album, tells a story about getting mugged with Byrne in New York.  "My enduring memory is of David being dragged off into the bushes, saying 'Uh-oh!'  That's absolutely true; it was like a cartoon scene."

Does this album deserve to be in the Top 500? Sure, why not.