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

I still like it and think it's quite underrated

I also liked Little Creatures when it came out, but lost interest in it a long time ago. I really related to Stay Up Late because my little brother had just been born around this time.

i can't believe Naked beat Little Creaqtures.

― Bee OK, Wednesday, March 29, 2017 3:37 PM (eleven minutes ago)

prior to the conversation in the poll announcement thread, i'd have been surprised. now, not so much. it's smooth, i guess? that seems to count for a lot with certain folks.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/oxaeo02rTxHRLda2VOG9a_a0TVciw6be3njXrv6hy9rsfxHEpRIqauN-yK7qV1_tHqVzUjZ5iNhLCQxy4fwgrcRgoJZf8p1BtFp9K1SzUHJvJRzo8Vcz_tzPnB2G1kbieHmMZw5Hhm1fNFT-jyfEhNmWhiLkyVegFfXUrFyd3vjjpcsL50TG8-J-j2ck4DxDXpUett2OZbiw-Qo4ksxsOo0gxb4_5YBMan1tCpURpr6GHwAmvxrEQWOHVrJmzP5CQfADBJypFs2FWxVUxJJ4Sampj_Ln3sIIuFTNEwZzAabq-O7zVDiMNprGfGIKbZDJIQNdLYWM7PPIbdAmiHYOYhZy3FaO8dXylXkw8y7eCcVzG5DBEroqjDSyAoP6MUVVVdpL35sc3jezMxtqM0qvAfsBXVoRjhTREH8VsxSEcOcV_mq6v2TVDOpVC1z87Qrwul0jGxul8T95pmkZiOmbLd_I3GG7xFFCSWkcBPhFC1VxfAYbCwsy52ghFExcy7ngYGy84q48SNm_auLVOJqpyukqAQO8YCqu9EVmkbwWz-O-csxfrsiYp0JWP1hsGBlhyucjVgbV7KdYOkLExgdNYFiZHc_w-vtL_-5qIIeborS8wwOP6ZE=s500-no

9. Tom Tom Club
Released: October 1981
563 Points, 15 Votes

Re: Naked
I like how all the extra musicians help fill things out

I revisited Naked for the first time in a long while when putting my ballot together. The last time I heard it was when that white-brick box set of all their studio albums came out in, what, 2008? It held up really well. Much better than Little Creatures.

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

hmm, not sure what happened as i was counting the number ones. i just checked and your number one is there and the points did count but somehow overlooked your number one vote. i hope that is the only mistake i make.

i also wanted to say thanks again to pplains for finishing out the solo stuff for me today. that was a huge help. even though i had the day off, i still had something to take care of this morning.

i will start at a decent hour, Pacific time, going forward.

xp
that's ok! this is a fantastic rollout, thank you so much for doing this!

so I'm guessing either True Stories or one of the live albums won't make this list

I didn't vote in albums, but Little Creatures probably is the catchiest album in their entire discography. "And She Was," "Stay Up Late," "Road to Nowhere," "Little Creatures"

Ridiculous

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/KGLldesd8oAXZgDvVu0b6wASwtfmZ85i6SKRbbWANhHMDdr1lZHlxfrC7sIV3LJTm1_1y23bBHf8AO0MEeCuu8OGZ5vg8MQISvyWA37sywB2fQiOcrwFc7JjEO_JrHIR6gnjvzKgEkmKK3JGTxguC7C9AgPyfiE0R2fmcx1TrGyd81X7QDGMtkjIe5-uQxq0xHS1_p9HMfcaXRxqN90WebPP9IK_06Eo5h--qErP9gWM_gzjO1b8fzrp0VsT_7JJB57NKZcuDVnrYkUaWUJsSyjYIxIf7u1-POBZsK6naOLoijircZKPghTZj--3z97zQgC-6o-7RdSfBQ3J67__CvYIYWQUARRZSJAF1HMz6sHcKiDdt_QB3qXl_5wKte2gEfM7lGFfJlBs99Swn2kmsFhHfvr6xIJ38hd2MRGvYKcnSYetUWnoOu684OtyF_NqpVxuNKMHLoXVhBCJLBo0dQ2qtra3hNW9zrzY5P1xd3qJGh87Ts-qjHYCGk8iFpdwz2abWhiswllkASuCTMFTwVW2k7QQLrHyjVz9RFkceGKYhNwQ4s0pJYdOC5xMCWn5xAFw2sJct71Fk-r6CU4G7hjzkw0VWlI_fwwQZGKpwFH8-Kc=s500-no

8. My Life In The Bush of Ghosts
By: Brian Eno and David Byrne
Released: February 1981
740 Points, 19 Votes, 1 Number one

god really?

i guess this ranking is justified, with as many songs form this album making the Top 15 in the solo part of this poll.

but yeah, i'm sort of shocked too.

Naked not being universally recognised as a return to form after LC and TS still seems kerrazy to me. Glad that ILM, collectively, got it right!

did people really love this thing thirty years ago? I'm wondering if post-Pitchfork hype after that reissue a decade ago didn't inflate its reputation.

I'm kind of shocked you guys don't think this belongs here. I was around 30 years ago and yes, people really did love it and talk about it then. this ranking is too low, in my opinion. I think this is really up there with the best of the Talking Heads records.

I guess it's hard to say in retrospect how influential this album was, but It still sounds amazing. The layering of ambient tracks, Eno's “psychedelic wash” gives the whole thing a spectral feeling. I guess it can be criticized for not having “songs” but it's so mesmerizing that that doesn't matter to me.

found an interesting quote from Ken Hollings in The Wire from when this was reissued in 2006:

"Ghosts have been drifting through the system since the time of Edison, but this was one of the first occasions that their condition had been articulated with such precision and through so popular a medium. Along with the indignant radio host featured on “America Is Waiting”, the unidentified inflamed caller, the smooth politician on “Mea Culpa”, and the anonymous radio evangelist whispering strange promises throughout “Come With Us”, the unnamed exorcist of “The Jezebel Spirit” occupies a shifting, unbounded foreground. Each of their individual utterances is isolated, and its delivery tightly controlled. What’s missing – or rather, what’s been carefully removed – is context. Put it another way: these are pop songs for an age where communication has become increasingly fragmented, and meaning more evasive and nomadic. "

I always got the impression MLITBOG was considered 'important' at least, years before I finally, excitedly checked out a public library copy in the nineties.

Christgau, a big fan, OTM:

My Life in the Bush of Ghosts [Sire, 1981]
Something fishy's going on when unassuming swell-heads like these dabblers start releasing their worktapes. As cluttered and undistinguished as the MOR fusion and prog-rock it brings to the mind's ear, this album has none of the songful sweep of Remain in Light or the austere weirdness of Jon Hassell, and the vocal overlays only intensify its feckless aura. C+

"worktapes" is the key word. These tracks sound like drafts of what the RIL and CW tracks do naturally.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/GA8wfJb7v7twEafHN69UJ79zmoYnYT9PaNVh99YZzN9BuG6WydjY_jvh_8c0OEIzPXJuXrQz9QnP9XgjQAMz6CZ6eYVXCm8vUzriAxDsffzLYyPPX3bTiVqI19MM4h3GKBuCFjPR2kz4FbheXmcnYI3D3oWurMfeCCyVL_cHWKUHf7_KmuQHakRLLkwQzZNJSWieX_x1xj6mU3TvF_KEaDrP1tzDSeyjOOGYJBCXPXCOxLVMWJ_8pCmWhd4vLtJE1Rh_AWq6IR0jsmFuPh0QRalIde_P6jpkBxEDZnNVSF_UXOTFVM8k-QUu30vLEplgnGAs4aYCH1AY35VElLqbJbV3X1-z0vYVepFZhCErmQ4ZdFTgxkv5Nyk09WqCzoL8mIpP0omHjozVIqkceWeIEc_fbcw-r-4yIBIMHaaaM4qeeavTObDgQO4TyGYBJ7UgoHYaSjkHyv5KrL6MFCRpVnoFxRA0Jt9Y3v1nD18zI9FFvAQPQ0qbPFusiX8Jq3jiONQvo9x8OAVt8uBCn-y4oiqsfBKd7dX7H8kq7F3G-dC5MoXfkcvE_HGl-znh9NHK4BplZIWxIhvsgtfZ2qCLE4ObNuDXxD7jNjnT4LFfaEnkgtGS-dQ=w500-h496-no

7. Stop Making Sense
Released: September 1984
1019 Points, 24 Votes, 5 Number Ones

i believe there were two votes for the Film version of this and not the soundtrack version.

I'm not surprised at MLITBOG being where it is, it seems like it's always been well loved (though idk if to the same extent as now), but very surprised at Naked beating LC. Clearly more people need to listen to The Catherine Wheel, which successfully combines the ambience of MLITBOG and real songs into a cohesive whole.

Stop Making Sense is a great performance but I don't rate it as high as I used to. The Speaking in Tongues songs on it are all better than the studio versions and What A Day That Was is incredible on it.

MLITBOG: TOO LOW

Stop Making Sense is my favorite film of 1984 and one of my touchstones but I didn't even vote for the album.

i thought Stop Making Sense was a shoe-in for the top three or four, so i'm shocked at its placement.

SMS was my introduction to Talking Heads and I was obsessed with both the tape and film for a big chunk of my childhood.

yeah and some of them are HILARIOUSLY nineties
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Wednesday, March 29, 2017 9:53 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Can you explain this to me please? Bush of Ghosts was 1981, so I'm not understanding the description.

― You're going to see a lot of love. Okay? Thank you. (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, March 29, 2017 7:39 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Stop Making Sense does seem like the breaking-wide moment for them

should have called it MILTBOG in the first place

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lojxwj9awien8dk/77%20m.jpg?dl=0

6. Talking Heads: 77
Released: September 16, 1977
1235 Points, 32 Votes

well that didn't work, was trying Dropbox for images.

anyways, that is it for tonight, will do the Top 5 tomorrow.

Talking Heads 77 - Surfer Girl
More Songs About Buildings And Food - Summer Days And summer Nights
Fear Of Music - Pet Sounds
My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts = Smiley Smile
Remain In Light = Smile
Speaking In Tongues = Holland
Little Creatures = Love You
True Stories = MIU Album
Naked = Keeping The Summer Alive

77 is too low, can't believe Speaking in Tongues is going to place higher

Alfred, much as I have a soft spot for Love You, Smiley Smile is an incredible work of art in my estimation that appeals deeply to my senses, so sorry I disagree that Little Creatures is better than MLITBOG.
But what's amazing is that we're even comparing these too vastly different styles of music in the first place

Also I agree with the person up thread who said that Naked sounds more like a return to form after the previous two. Sounds like a more natural continuation of Speaking In Tongues to me. It's paced in a similar way to RIL with lots of slower tunes toward she end but front-packed with bangers. Plus I enjoy every groove - I can hear Tina's playing again, which I couldn't on Little Creatures and True Stories

77 is too low, can't believe Speaking in Tongues is going to place higher

believe & endorse. i'm just shocked it's coming in under more songs.

I'm also a bit surpised although I've never completely loved Tongues or More Songs.

Remain In Light is actually Beach Boys Today.

Alfred a lot of ppl (including me) love and have loved Bush of Ghosts for a long time irrespective of Pitchfork or whether it's "important" or whatever, pls chill

Naked sounds more like a return to form after the previous two. Sounds like a more natural continuation of Speaking In Tongues to me.

dgi. naked places the emphasis back on funk, but the pop constructions seem of a piece w/ little creatures. just drained of energy & half as good (other than "nothing but flowers", which holds up fine).

xxp yeah I had a think about that but I figure RIL is the one people popularly hold up as their pinnacle (viz: Sgt Peppers also) and makes lists and is considered 'canon' and all the trappings and problems that go with holding a record on a pedestal.
I love RIL and PS an incredible amount but each had its faults. and as with both bands, their fans tend to have their personal favourites which aren't these albums

contenderizer - what about Blind? That is a corker. It came on the radio the other day while I was driving and I gave out an involuntary yelp and a fist-pump.
What about the tropical niceness of Totally Nude? the Sphinx-like eeriness of Democratic Circus?
I guess one of the big draws for me with TH is the rhythm section, and with Little Creatures and TS they seem swallowed-up by this boxy 80s-rock production which sounds really horrible to me.

xp RIL and BBT are my favorites and they have the same structure with a clear distinction between a fast and a slow side. BBT has better ballads and RIL has better bangers.

Stop Making Sense does seem like the breaking-wide moment for them

― Dan S, Wednesday, March 29, 2017 8:14 PM (fifty-nine minutes ago

like I said in the other thread, it went double platinum and spent two years on the album chart. Their commercial peak.

what about Blind?

2nd best track on the album. groove is nice, but byrne's affected delivery (esp the awful "blah-blah-blah-blah-blind" chorus) sinks it. imo...