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

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...

the horn arrangement >>>>>>>>>>>>>> the rest of "Blind"

accurate

Dan pointed out earlier that his number one didn't show up in the solo countdown. i hit a wrong button and somehow messed up the number ones data.

so here are the full results of the solo poll with updated number ones.

Genius Of Love - Tom Tom Club 841 Points, 19 Votes, 6 Number Ones
Wordy Rappinghood - Tom Tom Club 558 Points, 13 Votes Number Ones
Regiment Eno/Byrne 382 Points, 9 Votes 1 Number One
The Jezebel Spirit (David Byrne/Brian Eno) 295 Points, 7 Votes, 2 Number Ones
America is Waiting (David Byrne/Brian Eno) 229 Points, 6 Votes
Help Me Somebody Eno/Byrne 205 Points 5 Votes 1 Number One
Strange Overtones - Byrne and Eno 186 Points, 4 Votes, 2 Number Ones
Mea Culpa Eno/Byrne 184 Points, 5 Votes 1 Number One
Qu'ran Eno/Byrne 171 Points, 4 Votes, 1 Number One
What A Day That Was 170 Points 4 Points
Big Blue Plymouth (Eyes Wide Open) Bryne 163 Points, 4 Votes, 1 Number One
The Carrier Byrne and Eno 156 Points 4 Votes 1 Number One
Lorelei Tom tom Club 149 Points, 4 Votes
The Red House - David Byrne 125 Points, 3 Vote
On, On, On, On... – Tom Tom Club 122 Points, 3 Votes 1 Number One
Big Business (Byrne) 119 3
As Above, So Below – Tom Tom Club 114 3
Make Believe Mambo 110 3
Mountain of Needles - Eno/Byrne: 85 2 1
A Long Time Ago (Byrne) 78 2
Pleasure of Love 78 2
Two Soldiers David Byrne 73 2
Life is Long (Byrne-Eno) 72 2
Rev It Up 72 2
Moonlight in Glory – Byrne Eno 69 2
Cloud Chamber David Byrne 67 2
Don't Want to Be Part of Your World 50 1 1
Eggs in a Briar Patch 50 1 1
Roadrunner (Modern Lovers) 50 1 1
They are in love 50 1 1
A soft seduction 46 1
Girls on My Mind 46 1
L'éléphant - Tom tom Club 46 1
Very, Very Hungry – Byrne Eno 46 1
A self-made man 43 1
Crash (Byrne) 43 1
Lazy - X-Press 2 43 1
Someone I Care About (Modern Lovers) 43 1
Toe Jam - The BPA ft David Byrne 43 1
Under the Boardwalk" - Tom Tom Club 43 1
Optimist 40 1
She's Mad (Byrne) 40 1
Who 40 1
Bonzo Goes To Washington 38 1
Carnival Eyes 38 1
His Wife Refused 38 1
Modern World (Modern Lovers) 38 1
The dream police 38 1
the man with the 4-way hips 38 1
Dirty Old Town 36 1
Just the Motion - David Byrne 36 1
Marching Through the Wilderness 36 1
The Great Intoxication 36 1
Angels 35 1
Astral Plane 35 1
Don't Fence Me In David Byrne 35 1
Ice Age 35 1
Ade 34 1
Dark Sneak Love Action 34 1
Hanging Upside Down 34 1
happiness can’t buy money 34 1
Hospital (Modern Lovers) 34 1
In the Future 34 1
My Big Hands (Fall Through the Cracks) 34 1
Old World 34 1
Suboceana 34 1
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Thievery Corporation 34 1
The last emperor main theme 34 1
A Walk in the Dark 33 1
Girlfriend (Modern Lovers) 33 1
I know sometimes a man is wrong 33 1
Lazarus 33 1
She Cracked 33 1
Strange Currencies 33 1
sunshine and ecstasy 33 1
A Secret Life 32 1
Booming and Zooming 32 1
I Should Watch TV 32 1
innocent sex kiss 32 1
Light Bath 32 1
Like Humans Do 32 1
Pablo Picasso 32 1

Wordy Rappinghood - 3 Number Ones

regretting not submitting a solo ballot now but it would have been something like this:
What a Day That Was
Big Blue Plymouth
Mea Culpa
His Wife Refused
Help Me Somebody
Strange Overtones
Big Business
Genius of Love
America is Waiting
Poison

the production on 77 isn't as good as the three Eno-produced albums but it's pretty solidly their second-best studio album on the strength of the songs

I like to think my unabashed praise of Naked in the sister thread has had the effect of swinging the votes in its favour, or, at the very least, making some take a good second listen to it. I still fail to understand criticisms of it - to me it's one of the great major, big-budget art-pop albums of that charmed late-eighties period for that kind of thing. I put it in the esteemed company of Passion, The Sensual World, Blaze of Glory, Spirit of Eden, Yellow Moon, The Rhythm of the Saints.

your praise was persuasive, but not so much as the free delivery grubhub coupon that was offered to anyone who voted for naked

Did everyone just plain forget about "Lazy" in the solo ballot?

yeah plain forgot

I certainly did! indeed, a strange collective... 'Amnesia'.

xpost - haha : )

I'm a sucker for mature, mid- or late-era works, especially if they are left turns of sorts, and feel strong and inspired. I'll be the guy cheering for Spiritchaser when a future Dead Can Dance album poll comes along.

Didn't forget about "Lazy" but did forget about the Last Emperor soundtrack. think the main title theme would have snuck onto my ballot

I didn't vote for any side-project tracks and stuck to TH albums for the albums vote but am kind of regretting it now. I love MLitBoG but have always thought of it as its own thing - there are definitely some Eno records that I think of as an interesting document of an idea/experiment rather than an actual great album but this has never been one of them.

The Tom Tom Club s/t album is a mixed bag - the four songs that placed are great, the rest of it I can take or leave.

aw man can't believe 77 placed below more songs but hey ho, good discussions so far!
none of the images are loading for me :( it's ok at the moment because i know what the album covers look like but i hope i can see the tracks images

Strange Overtones is a wonderful song. That album all feels a little stiff overall though, although I still really enjoy it.

re: MLitBoG, I'd been primed by listening to 23 Skidoo et al, and treated it as part & parcel with Fear of Music/Remain in Light. Always liked Tom Ewing's writing about it on Freaky Trigger back in the day (part one, part two).

The first half of Naked is great but the second half is just so boring to me. After '(Nothing But) Flowers' finishes it just really doesn't keep my attention, aside for probably 'Facts of Life' which even then is almost ruined by Byrne doing his best Miss Piggy impression half way through. I still couldn't tell you what a couple of the tracks on the second side sound like despite having listened to it so many times.

I guess you could say Remain In Light is similar in that it's front-loaded with energy then cools in the second half, but the songs there are still so much more captivating than the ones on Naked.

I don't mind those last songs on Naked. They're kind of cool and moody. Not exactly punchy, memorable things, but then I find the second half of Remain In Light a bit pale compared to the first half so...

as i said in the voting thread i find the second side of naked rough-going but "cool water" is basically my favorite talking heads song, more radiohead than "radiohead" or even radiohead

^ It's *so* good. Especially that final minute or two.

"Are we nothing in your eyes? Someone answer! Someone answer!" etc.