Talking Heads: More Songs About Buildings and Food (2006 reissue) CD Track Listing

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Talking Heads More Songs About Buildings and Food (2006 reissue) (1978)
''Brick'' box - Disc 02 of 08 - More Songs About Buildings And Food (DualDisc)\n2005 Rhino Records, Inc. / Sire Records, Inc.\n\nOriginally Released July 14, 1978\nCD Edition Released \nDualDisc Edition Released October 4, 2005 (as part of ''Brick'' box compilation)\n\nAmazon.com Editorial Review (''Brick'' box)\nTalking Heads' 30th anniversary is commemorated in typically artful style here, sonically upgrading their eight, era-defining albums via bonus-packed Dual Discs and encasing them in a molded white plastic box intricately embossed with the band's song titles. Each disc contains complete album tracks and bonus cuts remastered in High Resolution Stereo on its CD side, while the DVD programming on the flip offers up the audio tracks in expansive new 5.1 Surround Sound mixes, with all of the sonic upgrading personally supervised by Heads drummer Jerry Harrison. Those long overdue audio improvements alone would make it an attractive set, but fans of the band will find its wealth of bonus music (various B-sides and previously unreleased outtakes) and video (including a number of rare live clips seeing their first release here) supplements equally intriguing. \n\nBonus musical highlights include four rhythmically-charged, unfinished Remain in Light outtakes (including one that eventually evolved into the band's signature "Once in a Lifetime") that allow insightful glimpses into Eno's innovative production techniques on the album, alternate versions of "Cities," "Life During Wartime" and "Mind" from Fear of Music, a countrified version of "Thank You For Sending Me an Angel" from More Songs About.. and a strangely muted early version of another Heads staple, Speaking in Tongue's "Burning Down the House." An early demo of "And She Was" from Little Creatures demostrates that the whole of a glorius pop song can be the assembly of its simple parts. While the additional visual materials (especially the raw early performance clips) are a welcome addition to the Heads' canon, they're also something of a tradeoff: a few of the band's videos are conspicuously absent, including Remain in Light's "Once in a Lifetime." But overlooking a couple of the band's better known promotional moments in favor of revealing new musical treasures and vastly improved, state-of-the-art audio scarcely blunts the appeal of this rewarding career overview. -- Jerry McCulley \n\nAmazon.com Album Description (''Brick'' box)\nFormed in the mid-70's by art school chums David Byrne, Chris Franz, and Tina Weymouth-and ex-Modern lover Jerry Harrison-Talking Heads rose out of the CBGB punk crucible and proved themselves one of the most artistically adventurous and influential bands ever. Their visionary, polyrhyhmic sound fused elements including rock, funk, and punk with diverse world beats, avant-garde minimalism, and pure pop genius. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, the band and their groundbreaking repertoire are celebrated in Rhino's deluxe DualDisc upgrade of their catalog. Now their critically praised recordings can be reexperienced as never before, with new DVD-A Surround mixes personally supervised by Jerry Harrison. \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review (''Brick'' box)\nI'm in "Overload", November 18, 2005\nReviewer: Wayne Klein "Wayne Klein" (Fairfield, CA United States)\nThere are very few bands where I own their entire output. Talking Heads is one of them. Why? Like many pivotal and seminal bands they made memorable music. This collection of the band's eight studio albums comes in the dual disc format with CD audio on one side plus (yea!) bonus tracks, extended remixes and outtakes. The other side features the entire album remixed in surround sound format with videos, photo galleries and other enticements. I noticed that some folks complained about the Dualdiscs not playing on their players. My guess is that if your player is more than a couple of years old, it may not play this format or just have a difficult time finding the instructions on how to play. It's a pretty common problem in situations like this. Why four stars and not five? Because the Heads eight albums vary a bit in quality. All of them are worthwhile but some or better written or more groundbreaking than others. \n\nThe good news--the audio on the CD sound blows away the previous CDs issued in the early 90's. There's better dynamic range which benefits all the albums but two of my favorites in particular "Remain in Light" and "Fear of Music". The other CDs sound much, much better with the sound having greater clarity and better presence. While many of the bonus tracks having been previously released ("Sugar on My Tounge" and "Saxes and Violins" in particular) there are some from the boxed set and two CD best of set that aren't on here. We do get early versions of "Road to Nowhere", "And She Was", an extended version of "Television Man","Two Note Swivel" (and unfinished outtake from "Speaking in Tongues"), "Burning Down the House" (Alternate version, three outtakes from "Remain in Light", an acoustic "Psycho Killer", "Love-Building on Fire", "I Feel it in My Heart" and four alternate versions of tracks from "More". \n\nThe bad news--The CD side of "Fear of Music" won't play on a lot of computers and some CD players (evidently some home CD players as well) but that's not the case with all of these. I didn't have any problems with the rest of the releases. I have written Rhino to find out what they are going to do about the authoring problem for "Fear of Music" (which is why it won't play on a lot of devices). Once I hear back, I'll report if there will be a replacement disc issued. I haven't had problems with the CD side for any of the other discs and since I usually listen to the CD side in the car, that could be an issue (for more folks than me I might add). \n\n***Just an update--I contacted Rhino and there are no plans to repress "Fear of Music" if there are problems with your CD player or computer. It appears the CD/DVD hybrid is not compatable with a lot of players. That's too bad as Rhino will probably lose a few sales due to this. Rhino plans on releasing these titles individually in the Spring of 2006.*** \n\nThe CD artwork doesn't exactly duplicate the original albums or CDs themselves. The discs are issued with a new booklet but the backside of the holders are blank (as are the spines on the holders). Clearly the holder was supposed to act as an "art object" (much as the latest incarnation of the "Best of" with the large book is supposed to be a coffee table art book). Still, it would have been nice to have the option of knowing what CD you were pulling out of the case. \n\nThe DVD side has all eight albums remixed in 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound by Head Jerry Harrison. There are also live video performances, videos, photo galleries and the like. Harrison does a great job in remixing the albums. The first album recorded only in 16 track in particular sounds surprisingly strong in this incarnation. The best albums though in terms of sound are those involving complex arrangements or polyrhythmic interplay such as "Fear of Music", "Remain in Light", "Speaking in Tongues" and "Naked". That's not to say that albums like "Little Creatures" don't sound great--they do and Harrison does a great job of remixing them it's just that in terms of textures and sonics those albums lend themselves well to the format. If you're watching TV while listening there is a single static graphic that appears on screen (all of them quite interesting looking and featuring the unmistakable Heads arty bend)with the song title. No lyrics appear as you're watching the video (unlike, say, the "Crowded House" Dualdisc release). It's kind of interesting to listen to the 5.1 mix in stereo as well because different elements come out and are accentuated creating a slightly different mix to the sound. \n\nThe videos include live performances of the band (previously unreleased on DVD) with the "Fear of Music" and "Remain in Light" material played by the augmented line up featuring guitarist Adrian Belew (their best line up in my opinion)doing "Cities", "I Zimbra" \n\nEach Dualdisc comes in a CD like case with a white plastic backing. The titles of the CDs aren't on the individual holders which is a bit of a pain. The booklets feature new photos, lyrics, comments from contemporaries (such as support member current King Crimson/Bear Adrian Belew and XTC's Andy Partridge). There's also miniature limited edition art prints that illustrate a song or lyric enclosed in the booklet. They are kind of small so be careful or you'll lose them. \n\nMy only complaint--I wish that all the"new" tracks from the two disc best of had been included as bonus tracks on the discs or, at the very least, be included as a limited edition Dualdisc available as part of the package for "Brick". Other than that, Rhino has done a great job here. The outside packaging featuring the titles of Talking Head songs is a hard plastic shell within which all the Dualdiscs fit. It's a bit bigger than a CD which makes it pretty easy to store with your other boxed sets on a shelf or with other CDs. Kudos to Rhino and the Heads on such an excellent job with the remastering/packaging. \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review (''Brick'' box)\nThe double-edge of Dual Disc..... ouch!, October 31, 2005\nReviewer: M. Svetinsky "MiroLab" (Los Angeles) \nI won't waste time commenting on the music here, cause if you are considering buying the Brick, you must be a fan already. Rather, I'll comment on the odd behaviours of these Dual Discs. \n\n1.) The CD side plays on only 1 of my 4 home players... a very old Sony changer, but they don't play on a newer Sony SACD player, nor on my Marantz Universal player or Toshiba DVD player. Strangely, I can play or rip the CDs in my Mac G5, and they do play in both my car players. \n\n2.) No Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. I am no fan of the sound of DD, but for people without DVD-Audio players, you are out of luck on hearing the amazing 5.1 mixes. With other DualDiscs, i've been burned the other way.... only getting a DolbyDigital 5.1 mix that sounds worse than the normal CD tracks. Dual Disc labelling is seriously misleading!! \n\n3.) The DVD-Audio 5.1 mixes are truly amazing, in both mixing and sound quality, but oddly, the center channel is out-of-phase with the Front Left & Rights. I have never heard this with any other 5.1 DVD-A or SACD discs, so it is not a problem with my system. I find the sound to be much better with the center turned OFF, as the phase cancellation sucks the life out of the front channels. \n\nSO... the content is amazing, but Dual Discs are NOT. They are a cruel joke that i will continue to fall for whenever i see one that I really really want. But if you have a DVD-A player, then you must hear these discs! \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review (''Brick'' box)\nsimply spectacular!, October 7, 2005\nReviewer: F. Veldkamp (Netherlands)\nAll eight official Talking Heads studio albums are collected here in a nice embossed plastic 'brick' on state-of-the-art DualDiscs. \n\nEach DualDisc contains a remastered stereo mix on one side and a 5.1 dolby surround (DVD-A) mix of the other side. Each side comes with different bonus tracks, varying from outtakes to remixes, music videos and rare live video footage. \n\nOf course, like with every boxset, the collection is not complete - there are different alternate versions and outtakes on the previously released "Sand in the Vaseline" 2CD set and "Once in a Lifetime" boxset, but "Brick" offers a lot of new -and previously unreleased- material to keep you busy for a while. \n\nThe 5.1 surround mix - done by longtime Talking Heads producer Eric 'E.T.' Thorngren and Heads' keyboard player Jerry Harrison - is by far the best surround mix I've ever heard. It beats 'new' surround albums like the latest Beck and Bjork easily with an amazing mix that puts you in the perfect spot with the band playing just in front of you and effects (percussion!) haunting you from every corner of the room. And it all sounds natural! Try anything from "Remain in Light" or "Naked" (the bands most tense albums) in surround and you know what I mean. \n\nBut also the less complicated albums (Jerry added some nice linernotes on the 5.1 mixes to every album) sound spectacular in surround; it's unbelievable that everything you hear now (handclaps, basslines, percussion, background vocals, soundeffects) was on the original records when they were first recorded - A lot of details were inaudible on the vinyls and previous CD releases, so even for the die-hard fans (and I consider myself one), there's a lot to explore on the new discs. \n\nEach DualDisc comes with linernotes, lyrics and a limited edition artprint (mostly reproductions of works from Frank Olinsky's book "What the Songs Look Like). \n\nHighlights for me -besides rediscovering the entire Talking Heads backcatalogue in glorious surround sound and high-detailed stereo mixes- include old live video footage (a 3-piece Talking Heads with drummer Chris Frantz on Xylophone!), super-funky unreleased outtakes on "Remain in Light", early versions of classic hits like "Road to Nowhere" and "And She Was" and a special extended version of "Burning Down the House" in surround sound that was done especially for this release. \n\nThe DualDisks are scheduled for seperate release in January 2006, but if you want them all, "Brick" is for you. \n\nHalf.com Album Notes (''Brick'' box)\nTalking Heads: David Byrne (vocals, guitar, synthesizer, percussion); Jerry Harrison (organ, keyboards, synthesizer, background vocals); Tina Weymouth (bass guitar); Chris Frantz (drums).\nAdditional personnel: Brian Eno (guitar, piano, synthesizer, background vocals); Adrian Belew, Alex Weir, Robert Fripp (guitar); Eric Weissberg (pedal steel guitar); Shankar (violin); Arthur Russell (cello); Richard Landry (saxophone); Jon Hassell, Brad Baker (horns); Wally Badarou, Bernie Worrell (synthesizer); Gene Wilder, Ari (congas); Nana Vasconcelos, Nona Hendryx (background vocals); Robert Palmer.\nProducers: Brian Eno; Tony Bongiovi; Lance Quinn.\nEngineers: Ed Stasium; Rhett Davies; Dave Jerden; Ron O'Brien; Joe Barbaria; Alex Sadkin; Butch Jones; Eric Thorngren.\nRecording information: Sundragon Studios, New York, New York (1977 - 1991); Media Sound, New York, New York; Compass Point Studios, New Providence, Bahamas.\n\nReleased in late 2005, this formidable box set collects all eight Talking Heads studio albums, presenting each one in remastered DualDisc format, which allows for enhanced sound, bonus videos, and a slew of previously unreleased tracks. Given that the revered New York City proto-punk band's entire 1977-'88 catalogue was in need of a sonic upgrade, BRICK is a heaven-sent for the group's fans. Frenetic art-funk classics like "Psycho Killer," "Life During Wartime," and "Burning Down the House" are recast in pristine audio, along with worthwhile outtakes like the Afro-beat homage "Fela's Riff" and the ambient, down-tempo "Double Groove." Although some listeners may be content with a less-comprehensive collection, for the Talking Heads diehard this set is essential.\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: (''More Songs About Buildings And Food'') New co-producer Brian Eno brought a musical unity which tied Talking Heads' sophomore effort More Songs About Buildings and Food together, especially in terms of the rhythm section, the sequencing, the pacing, and the mixing. Where Talking Heads had previously been about David Byrne's voice and words, Eno moved the emphasis to the bass-and-drums team of Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz; all the songs were danceable, and there were only short breaks between them. Byrne held his own, however, and he continued to explore the eccentric persona first heard on 77, most notably on "The Big Country," a country-tinged reflection on flying over middle America which crystallized his artist-vs.-ordinary people perspective in unusually direct and dismissive terms, turning the old Chuck Berry patriotic travelogue theme of rock & roll on its head and employing a great hook in the process. -- William Ruhlmann\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: (''More Songs About Buildings And Food'') The title of Talking Heads' second album, More Songs About Buildings and Food, slyly addressed the sophomore record syndrome, in which songs not used on a first LP are mixed with hastily written new material. If the band's sound seems more conventional, the reason simply may be that one had encountered the odd song structures, staccato rhythms, strained vocals, and impressionistic lyrics once before. Another was that new co-producer Brian Eno brought a musical unity that tied the album together, especially in terms of the rhythm section, the sequencing, the pacing, and the mixing. Where Talking Heads had largely been about David Byrne's voice and words, Eno moved the emphasis to the bass-and-drums team of Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz; all the songs were danceable, and there were only short breaks between them. Byrne held his own, however, and he continued to explore the eccentric, if not demented persona first heard on 77, whether he was adding to his observations on boys and girls or turning his "Psycho Killer" into an artist in "Artists Only." Through the first nine tracks, More Songs was the successor to 77, which would not have earned it landmark status or made it the commercial breakthrough it became. It was the last two songs that pushed the album over those hurdles. First there was an inspired cover of Al Green's "Take Me to the River"; released as a single, it made the Top 40 and pushed the album to gold-record status. Second was the album closer, "The Big Country," Byrne's country-tinged reflection on flying over middle America; it crystallized his artist-vs.-ordinary people perspective in unusually direct and dismissive terms, turning the old Chuck Berry patriotic travelogue theme of rock & roll on its head and employing a great hook in the process. -- William Ruhlmann YEAR: 1978
This newage cd contains 15 tracks and runs 58min 12sec.
Freedb: c10da20f
Buy: from Amazon.com

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