It's been awhile...I guess I should give it another go.
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Making Flippy Floppy
- Thread starter Papazita
- Start date
I haven't given Tina's playing the attention it deserves, but I plan on changing that. I do remember a teacher giving me a CD with Psycho Killer on it and saying "the great thing about this song is it's easy to get your bass to sound this way". I played the hell out of that tune.
I had drifted away as well until the American Utopia show. I was surprised that it blew me away as much as the SMS show 35 years earlier. It’s really the pinnacle of that visual arts arc, with everybody wireless/freed up and a set design that allows the musicians to randomly appear/disappear from the stage as the action flows. About half the songs are TH songs from different eras (I Zimbra to Blind), and there are a couple from the prior Annie Clark collaboration as well. Highly recommended for any DB fans. I haven’t seen the film, but it is supposed to be good.
I actually got tickets to both those shows as birthday gifts, one from a friend back in the day who knew how much I was into TH, and the latter from my wife.
I actually got tickets to both those shows as birthday gifts, one from a friend back in the day who knew how much I was into TH, and the latter from my wife.
Did you spend several of those years living under a rock, perhaps?
Agreed that she's amazing on this and so many other tracks!
Hey now, in all fairness I was 6 in 1983 when that album came out!
Too young to appreciate.Hey now, in all fairness I was 6 in 1983 when that album came out!
Coulda/shoulda been listening to that instead of The Wheels on the Bus, maybe…?
Just sayin’…
I've listened to the Talking Heads since I was a kid in the 80's. How have I never heard this song until now? Omg Tina's bass is sick sick perfection!
Did you also miss "Found a Job"?
First song I learned. I staunchly refused to start with Smoke on the Water or the other beginner standards. Had to be "Psycho Killer" which has to be played on the open A like Tina does, not the 5th fret of the E like most of the YouTubers.
The album “Naked” doesn’t get the acclaim it deserves, and her playing in particular stands out as mature, solid and creative, IMO. Worth a check
I love that people who were 6 in 1983 are getting into the Heads. Enjoy the ride.Hey now, in all fairness I was 6 in 1983 when that album came out!
DB did some stuff with Brian Eno that was a bit of foreshadowing of his movement toward international music. Really cool music. You might want to check that out while you’re in the neighborhood.
A favorite quote of mine from Phil Lesh is "only play an open note if you mean it."
In that song, Tina means it.
I always liked the more uptempo Talking Heads songs the most.
When making this song I was inspired by Belew-era Talking Heads. Not trying to copy anything though:
When making this song I was inspired by Belew-era Talking Heads. Not trying to copy anything though:
That's a great quote!
Lately I've been working on Tool's "The Pot" which (a) is not easy, and (b) has a lot of open Ds. I'm quite sure that Chancellor really meant every one of them.
That was My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, from 1981. They played around with funk as well as middle eastern rhythms and vocal sampling(but no actual vocals from Byrne). This was a key track….
At roughly the same time, as the Heads started incorporating funk and African musical motifs into what they were doing, King Crimson guitarist(and frequent Eno collaborator)Robert Fripp guested on this tune…
That cyclical riffing found its way into what the early 80’s version of KC was doing, which included Adrian Belew, who had served time beforehand in the expanded Heads line-up. Byrne added some vocals and babbling to a Fripp solo piece…
Bassist was Busta Cherry Jones, who also was in the expanded Heads live band(and on that “Regiment” track). So many degrees of separation. I loved that era, so many cool partnerships and combinations going on. Add to that all the Bill Laswell/John Zorn/Fred Frith stuff.
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I recently resurrected my old turntable and that was the first of a lot of vinyl I’ve been listening to lately.
Great post, I wasn’t aware of the KC connection.
The Fripp and Eno connection goes back years before those albums; while Roxy Music(from whence Eno came)wasn’t any kind of KC spin-off, vocalist Bryan Ferry auditioned for them, and their management realized that he had potential, so they had him put his own band together. KC lyricist Pete Sinfield produced their first album, and Fripp met Eno, who wasn’t so much a musician in the traditional sense, but a sonic manipulator with synthesizers and tape machines. Eno devised a pioneering tape loop system, and Fripp utilized it to build layers of guitar sounds with improvisations on top. The two did a pair of groundbreaking early ambient looping albums in the mid-70’s, plus Fripp delivered one of his most famous insane solos on Eno’s first ‘song’ album(“Baby’s On Fire”). After the Wetton/Bruford version of Crimson broke up, Fripp disappeared for a while, returning to work with Eno on David Bowie’s Heroes album(the hook on the title track is his sustained guitar). Fripp moved to New York and ironically jumped into the New Wave scene there that Eno had a hand in shepherding. At the same time, Adrian Belew joined Bowie’s band to cover Fripp’s parts live, eventially moving on to the Talking Heads(and then Crimson). All one big game of connect the dots.
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Inspired by this topic I listened to most DB solo stuff this week. I really like his first two albums. I already knew My Life in the Bush of Ghost. I am an Eno fan so this album is great. Love it. The second album The Catherin Wheel is also great. Nice fretless bass lines by Eno and Byrne on it by the way. These two are his most experimental albums I think. The later stuff has some moments but overall I find it a bit a disappointing. Or are there any DB albums I should check out more?
