The Best Of

Talking Heads: Jerry Harrison (vocals, guitar, piano, organ, keyboards, synthesizer, bass instrument, percussion); David Byrne (vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass instrument, percussion, bells); Tina Weymouth (guitar, keyboards, synthesizer, bass instrument, percussion, background vocals); Chris Frantz (keyboards, drums, percussion).

Additional personnel include: Brian Eno (piano, organ, synthesizer, bass instrument, percussion, background vocals); Bernie Worrell (synthesizer); Robert Palmer (percussion). Recording information: 1977 – 1988. In the mid-1970s, a band of well-scrubbed art-school graduates appeared on the CBGB’s scene in New York City. The name of this band was Talking Heads, and from ’77 to ’88, they released eight studio albums of inventive and utterly catchy avant-garde pop that turned the rock world on its ear. Fueled by vocalist/guitarist David Byrne’s quirky, “I’m tense and nervous, and I can’t relax” personality, the group seemed fully formed from the get-go, as evidenced by the martial rhythms and chiming guitars of “Love -> Building on Fire” and the deranged funk of “Psycho Killer.” Following this early era, THE BEST OF TALKING HEADS moves into the quartet’s lengthy collaboration with sonic scientist Brian Eno, including the herky-jerky funk of their take on Al Green’s “Take Me to the River,” the desperate story-song “Life During Wartime,” and the transcendent avant-pop masterpiece “Once in a Lifetime.” Rounding out this BEST OF are the Heads’ poppier, post-Eno songs (“Road to Nowhere,” “And She Was,” and others). Although there are more extensive Talking Heads collections out there (the two-disc POPULAR FAVORITES 1976-1992/SAND IN THE VASELINE and the three-CD/one-DVD box set ONCE IN A LIFETIME), this concise, single-disc compilation is an ideal introduction to the utterly unique sounds of this pioneering band.