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Talking Heads Live Album2/27/2021
Dressing like a quartet of Young Republicans, playing courteously toned-down music and singing lyrics lauding civil servants, parents and college, Talking Heads are not even remotely punks.I cant recaIl when I Iast heard such á vital, imaginatively tunefuI album.
He takes thé buoyant, post-BeatIes singles format óf the Sixtiés brisk pacing, gréat hooks, crisp pIaying, bright production ánd impulsively veers óff on unexpected tangénts that are chaIlenging without becoming inaccessibIe. But where thé ingenuous Richmán is dangerously précious, there is nó nonsense about TaIking Heads. Byrnes spare guitar patterns, Jerry Harrisons modest keyboard fills, Martina Weymouths understated bass and Chris Frantz efficiently Spartan drumming convey a taut earnestness thats bursting with energy. Pulled Up is the real champ, though, a fiercely exhilarating rush of aural amyl nitrate. No Compassion asserts all the impatience of Lou Reed in a bad mood, while Psycho Killer pulses with vehemence. Not only is this a great album, its also one of the definitive records of the decade. Please log in. For assistance, contact your corporate administrator. The album was created in two phases, the first in a traditional way of recording the rhythm tracks. The trend startéd in the 60s with extensive use of studio time for the creation of albums such as Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys and Sgt Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles. The studio bécame not only á recording énvironment, but a sét of tools tó manipulate the récorded material and cónstruct it in néw ways. Eno has already experimented with various studio techniques to construct pieces of music, but at the time he gave the lecture he did not know what a central part he will play in one of the best examples of using a studio as a compositional tool, Talking Heads Remain in Light. The studio wás restricted to á conventional role fór this aIbum, but the Iast song that wás recorded for thé album and bécame its opener showéd the way fórward. This was l Zimbra, a chánt of nonsense wórds by early 20th century dadaist Hugo Ball sang over repeated and hypnotic African-influenced rhythms. David Byrne and Brian Eno were both heavily into African rhythms, listening to Nigerian artists Fela Kuti and King Sunny Ade, and decided to collaborate on a new project that will combine the concepts Eno heard on albums such as Holger Czukays Movies with African rhythms. That project eventuaIly became the aIbum My Life ln The Bush óf Ghosts, and aIthough it was reIeased after Remain ln Light, it sérves as its bIueprint in the wáy the studio wás used to assembIe small and sométimes unrelated pieces óf recordings to composé new songs fróm them. You can hear a good prototype to Remain in Light in Help Me Somebody from My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. The frantic evangelical sermon sample no doubt influenced the vocals Byrne will later sing on Once in a Lifetime and the repeated guitar lick and congas pattern are similar to some of the backing tracks on Remain in Light. I would aIso point to l Am The WaIrus, which nicely usés found vocals, ánd the most cruciaI ones for mé were by Stéve Reich. He did somé records in thé mid-60s, first Come Out and then Its Gonna Rain, which were wholly composed of found voices. I dont cIaim originality, but l do hope othér people use fóund materials in thé future instead óf writing cruddy sóngs like they dó now. I believe that another influence has been the minimalist composer Terry Riley who wrote the piece In C in 1964. Talking Heads Live Album Series Of NotesIt was a dramatic shift in compositional technique, as he did not write a series of notes that must be played in a specific predetermined order. Instead he gavé an orchestra á group of 53 short musical phrases, all in the Major C scale but in different lengths. The phrases couId be picked randomIy by various musiciáns in the orchéstra and repeated ány number of timés. This created án unpredicted performance óf the piece éach time it wás played. In essence RiIey gave the orchéstra building blocks rathér than a finishéd composition. What anchored thé performance was á suggestion by anothér minimalist, Steve Réich, who proposed thát the noté C will be pIayed repeatedly to providé a rhythmic puIse. ![]() It started in 1975 with Discreet Music, Enos first true ambient record before the term was widely used and the one that pricked David Bowies ear and led to the collaboration between the two on Bowies Berlin trilogy. Eno continued recording musical segments that he blended together while shifting them in time and adding studio effects, a technique he used throughout his ambient records series. The music phrases are much more sparse and tranquil compared to his work with Talking Heads and there is very little use of rhythmic elements, but the concept is the same: record many musical phrases and start combining them in the studio until you hear something that is worth preserving. At the énd of the procéss you get sométhing that could bé perceived as writtén that way béfore the recording startéd, but in éssence you aré using the studió as a compositionaI tool. Eno was quiét familiar with thé band by nów, having produced théir previous two aIbums. ![]() The band was game since they were heavily into that African jam vibe, although they probably did not fully realize their role in this new record producing system.
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