I've recently decided to expand our musical exposure and turned to Rolling Stone's list of the
100 Greatest Artists. I can't say I agree with all their choices or rankings, but I plan on following all 100 nonetheless. We started off our countdown with #100...Talking Heads (1975-1991).
I love the Talking Heads! They are probably most well known for Burning Down the House, and And She Was. They have such an interesting and unpredictable instrumental quality and David Byrne is a brilliant singer storyteller. I love theatrical singers, and Byrne nails the theatrical. He doesn't just sing. He is like that engaging person we love to listen to who's animation and exaggeration makes ordinary things sound extraordinary. Granted, not all the songs make sense...I'm sure there was quite a bit of drug experimentation going on with the group...shocking, I know. But Talking Heads craziness works well. Love them!
The albums I was able to check out from our local library were:
Stop Making Sense: 1984 live album with a movie of the same name. (will watch the movie when I can track it down) Different versions of many of their popular songs
The Best of Talking Heads: Title is self explanatory
Top 5 Favorite Songs:
Love - Building on Fire: The lyrics are poetic and crazy & I love the tweeting birds and tweeting lyrics
Psycho Killer: Insane and theatrical
Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town: Makes you want to dance and incorporates a carribean island beat that surprisingly works
Once in a Lifetime: Theatrical depiction of life working for "the man"
Found a Job: Can't stop dancing to the 70's funk beat
Would I recommend Talking Heads? YES!
Yesterday Rex was enumerating the bands he knows, and the Talking Heads clearly made an impression, because he included them on the list with the other ones he knows: Tom Petty, U2 (both also on the top 100, though we haven't officially gotten to them yet), and his latest discovery, the Alarm.
ReplyDeleteI bought the Alarm's "Standards" probably in the mid-90's sometime. They are very lightly played in our iTunes collection, and can't honestly remember how it made an impression on Rex, because I don't think their was any deliberate effort involved on my part. His favorite song seems to be "Strength." There's something special about having your child appreciate music you also enjoy...