POLL Me Up Up Up Up Up Up Up Up – TALKING HEADS – ILM Artist Poll #82 - (The Results Thread)

BBP should've been #1

On, On, On, On... is fantastic! Why did I never listen to this album before?? It's like the epitome of everything I like. I guess that's what these polls are all about

yaaaaaay

Let's see if we can get in a few before Europe punches out for the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXzyHtt_nys

10. What A Day That Was
170 Points, 4 Votes, 1 Number One
By: David Byrne
From: The Catherine Wheel
Released: December 1981
Also: Stop Making Sense version

BRRRRRRRRAAHHH
OH HO HO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-U2nKMGTHY

9. Qu'ran
By: Brian Eno and David Byrne
From: My Life In The Bush of Ghosts
Released: February 1981
171 Points, 4 votes
Also: Blade Runner scene with Qu'ran in background

Really like Qu'ran, had no idea it snuck into Blade Runner. Notwithstanding the controversy over this, disappointing on Nonsuch's part not including this on the 2006 reissue.

I think it was used a temporary fill before the official score was added to Blade Runner. I'm sure the religious groups would've have had something to say about that had it been released.

love this one, voted it high, great bass part

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtRjdWWFW5o

8. Mea Culpa
By: Brian Eno and David Byrne
From: My Life In The Bush of Ghosts
Released: February 1981
184 Points, 5 Votes

Hmm... These aren't the MLITBOG tracks that I expected to place. Help Me Somebody and the Jezebel Spirit yet to come I hope..

here's where I say I don't get My Life In The Bush of Ghosts. Everything Byrne-Eno wanted to say about this sort of approach they perfected on Catherine Wheel and RIL.

agreed

i mean, i "get" it, i just think those other records are better

MLITBOG was the largely the first of those recorded I think so it's not surprising they improved on it. it's definitely a shame that it's been remembered so much better than The Catherine Wheel

Mea Culpa is one of my favourites on it, I like the babble of the sped up vocals and the encroaching dread has a similar feeling to Listening Wind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L7IdUqaZxo

7. Strange Overtones
By: Brian Eno and David Byrne
From: Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Released: August 2008
186 Points, 4 votes
Also: A short film by Jon Yeo

now we're talkin

nice but a bit surprised it's above those Catherine Wheel tracks

I think Eno largely wrote the music for this, so it's a bit strange that it's probably the closest Byrne got to Talking Heads after leaving

aw I love Strange Overtones. Why's it not on Spotty?

I like MLITBOG but it's such a dense, exhausting listen. I can rarely make it all the way through. It's worth it for the highs though.

Stylus appears to be officially gone but my review of the reissue expressed similar reservations. Have always had a number of conflicting feelings about MLITBOG.

"Strange Overtones" is excellent. "One Fine Day" may be the only song on that record that betters it.

That thing where you always tie an album to a specific time or place? MLITBOG is a walk from the Excel centre in London across the Lea into Poplar. I can practically smell the docks and dereliction.

Love the chorus on Strange Overtones. Listening to MLITBOG feels like musical homework, where an this tune is just great pop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH0EqSbb46o

6. Help Me Somebody
By: Brian Eno and David Byrne
From: My Life In The Bush of Ghosts
Released: February 1981
205 Points, 5 Votes
Also: Sessions at West 54th Street version

xp Byrne cultivated a certain sweetness later in his career which he rarely hit upon during TH. Even their more delicate moments (Naive Melody, Air, Heaven) great as they are as songs, don't really compare in terms of this kind of melodicism

wow that live version of Help Me Somebody is fantastic

The best songs on My Life (this one included) have some absolutely killer grooves that rival even the best stuff off Remain In Light. I'm in love with the interplay on this track.

rest of the session is all bizarrely 90s arrangements though

yeah and some of them are HILARIOUSLY nineties

not really a fan of solo Byrne at all nor of much TH stuff post Stop Making Sense aside from the odd tune. these later Eno tracks remind me why. still it's nice that other folk like them so much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTFIzLKaZj4

5. America Is Waiting
By: Brian Eno and David Byrne
From: My Life In The Bush of Ghosts
Released: February 1981
229 Points, 6 Votes

Ok, now I want a "Jezebel Spirit" done by that Byrne band, with heavy breathing and everything.

Speaking of which...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k20qAQtse_k

4. The Jezebel Spirit
By: Brian Eno and David Byrne
From: My Life In The Bush of Ghosts
Released: February 1981
295 Points, 7 Votes

don't know if you're posting #1 votes, Bee OK, but this was mine! I still remember how electrifying it felt to hear this for the first time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjSStHeWlvE

3. Regiment
By: Brian Eno and David Byrne
From: My Life In The Bush of Ghosts
Released: February 1981
382 Points, 9 Votes

I love the way the density of the sound increases throughout the last half of The Jezebel Spirit, the whole layering of tracks/"rampant texturology" thing

this is another good one

I have to say also that I really don't understand the point of view that The Catherine Wheel is better than this album!

"Regiment" is my favorite track from the album, another killer bass part

WHAT ARE WORDS WORTH??

Well it certainly looks like Byrneno has this list all locked up, might as well just throw in the – wait, what's this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vl1m5FYlAo

2. Wordy Rappinghood
By: Tom Tom Club
From: Tom Tom Club
Released: Single, February 1981; Album, October 1981
558 Points, 13 Votes
Also: Live at Summer Sonic Festival in Japan (2009)

Brakes on a bus, brakes on a car
Breaks to make you a superstar
Breaks to win and breaks to lose
But these here breaks will rock your shoes
And these are the breaks
Break it up, break it up, break it up!

still, i like the song, the tom tom club album is gloriously weird

a chipmunk-voiced 'old macdonald'!

when a friend and I bought a used cassette of the first album in spring '94 it could not have sounded more exotic – we had no idea how to understand what we were listening to.

Can anyone vouch for the second Tom Tom Club album?

I only know the Drifters cover.

with the exception of Pleasure of Love I didn't think it was all that memorable

too bad "As Above, So Below" won't make it here, it's my favorite track on this album.

but the one that (I assume) will make it at the top is iconic so...

Ok, that's about it for now. Bee will be back this American afternoon to roll out the album rankings. And then crossing over into tomorrow, he'll begin the rundown of the Top 50.

Oh, and speaking of crossovers....

1. Genius of Love
By: Tom Tom Club
From: Tom Tom Club
Released: Single, September 1981; Album, October 1981
841 Points, 19 Votes, 7 Number Ones
Also: Official Video
Soul Train clip of guy dancing to this with a basketball.
Stop Making Sense version
Extended DJ Mr. Ice Remix (15 minutes long!)

I'm not that into Moon Rocks, maybe my least favourite on SIT

It sounds like "Coming Up" to me.

Swamp makes me feel like i just downed 7 miller lites in the food court of a mall (not the worst) but now I can't find the restroom in sears. Where is the goddamn restroom? Interminable. It just goes and goes. It was written in 25 minutes (I made that up)

Then moon rocks comes on and it's like realizing you can per wherever you want in sears, it's gonna close anyway, then walking straight out to your car and driving like Out Run before you crash.

The vocals in moon rocks are like the platonic ideal of David Byrne vocal stylings.

As the inhabitants of Swamp choke on the swamp goo, again, they notice this wicked cartwheeling apparition peeling back the leaves of the canopy blurting out nonsense about the moon, flying saucers, levitation. I could do that, they think. However, the swamp goo.

lol I'm just messing around, and I really dislike the keyboard breaks in moon rocks fwiw. I just can't imagine a situation where I'd rather hear swamp

Hiiiii High High High High Hiiiiiiiiggggh GO! Whoop-whoop-whooop!

Ok I have to admit that's one situation! ;)

can we at least agree that Pull Up The Roots is the best thing on SIT?

did I imagine there was a stop making sense outtake of that song?

listening to Moon Rocks for the third time today in order to 'give it a chance'. not sure I love it yet but pplains is right, it does sound a bit like Coming Up

http://www.theonion.com/graphic/david-byrne-holds-old-suit-show-how-far-hes-come-w-56478

ha

just discovered you can write the entire plot of 'mother!' using only david byrne songs pic.twitter.com/OrC4uLu9TB

— demi adejuyigbe (@electrolemon) January 13, 2018

https://i.imgur.com/u5geWgk.jpg

haha <3

I think this is my favorite poll that has appeared on ILM. Such greatness, Bee OK and pplains did a masterful job with this one.

I finally ranked my albums and annotated my picks!

I now agree that The Name of This Band is Talking Heads is their best album. At the time of this poll I didn't know it but also didn't submit an albums ballot.

In “Cities” he recants “The Big Country” and embraces the tumult and dirt

Isn’t the narrator of The Big Country saying that cities are the only places worth living?

the narrator of 'the big country' loves the small towns so much that he wouldn't - couldn't, even - accept payment for the honor of living in one. he expresses admiration for the way that people do things there, and the way that they live, which again, he claims is beyond his capabilities. but just to make clear his allegiance, he addresses them as "siree!", his attempt to meet them halfway

I hope you’re a Genius contributor

what i hope to do is combine my opinions with more extreme certainty before adding a final dose of mild but persistent antagonism toward anyone who hears it in a different way

there was a big discussion on big country on some thread, cannot remember it now or find it, but it was prairie rose vs. big country in terms of perspective

"Hey, listen. I'll do some driving, ok? You go ahead and get some sleep."

https://i.imgur.com/axPi2ly.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/3otozgr.jpg

Two questions:

- Have you ever seen David Byrne perform in drag?

- What about in blackface?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o51RdZBsv0w

lol that place is around the corner from my work

Watch out!

or you might get what you're after!

https://i.imgur.com/CLr1gGP.png

http://cdn-images.threadless.com/threadless-media/artist_shops/shops/whoisrico/products/10344/shirt-1458608281-4590b038887b3c56a6bfd3227db2ad12.png?v=3&d=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

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MhDH7oMVXNE/hqdefault.jpg

https://images.8tracks.com/cover/i/009/079/277/FIRE44-2509.jpg?rect=44,0,1000,1000&q=98&fm=jpg&fit=max&w=640&h=640