New Feeling
Tentative Decisions
Happy Day
Who Is It?
No Compassion
The Book I Read
Don't Worry About the Government
First Week/Last Week... Carefree
Psycho Killer
Pulled Up
Cecily's Review
Personal Background: First heard this as a teenager, listened to it together with my Dad on his recommendation. Instant hit.
Resonance: Well, there just isn’t much emotional resonance to be had within the headspace of David Byrne – although I defy anyone to listen to ‘Uh Oh, Love Comes to Town’ without grinning. Also, it’s fun to hear him get progressively crazier as the album goes. The album certainly does have a unique sound. It’s bouncy and cute, at times almost bubblegummy, yet wound so tight you’re just waiting for Byrne to have a complete flake-out in the studio. The lyrics are a fairly hysterical (in both senses) bunch, with ‘No Compassion’ being my personal favorite: “Go talk to your analyst, isn’t that what they’re paid for?” 3/5
Design: Even after so many listens, it’s all kind of one song to me, each track fitted perfectly to the end of the previous one. It helps that the sound is so spare and clean, the band so tight and the mood so focused on Byrne’s (hopefully exaggerated) neuroses. I fell so hard for this specific purity of sound that I couldn’t quite bear the thought of their later work and whenever I heard ‘Once in a Lifetime’ or ‘Burning Down the House’ on the radio I always thought “it’s too cluttered, why did they add in all that stuff.” These days I'm more open to exploring their later work - we'll see how that takes me. This however is a perfect record within its small scope. 5/5
Utility: Plays great on awful stereos, enjoyable while driving or doing housework and yet it still amply rewards a close listen. I can even picture playing it with certain types of company over, since – for such a strange band - the Talking Heads did become inexplicably popular. 4/5
Best Track: No Compassion (I always hear a bit of Roxy Music in this one); The Book I Read; Uh-oh, Love Comes to Town.
Worst Track:
Verdict: 12/15. Well worth keeping.
Ticharu's Review
Personal Background: I bought Talking Heads: 77 shortly after its release in September 1977. It instantly became one of my favourite records. Becoming aware of new music before my friends was always a bit of a contest. I scored with this one.
Resonance: This scores very high both emotionally and intellectually. Byrne's lyrics instantly make you feel you are in the know in the same way Bowie's lyrics could make you feel part of something, the outsider looking in, you "get it" when no one else does. That's very powerful stuff. Lines like "If you are really smart you'll know what to do" and "Believe, I believe in mystery" speaking directly to the teenager who feels a bit isolated. Like me, my world view, my opinions heavily informed by the music I listened to. David Byrne played to that. Besides that these guys were funky! The guitar work was clever, woven and intricate. Top it all off with vocal acrobatics pushing an avant-garde jazz aesthetic. I absolutely loved this album. 5/5
Design: The production? There are elements like the slide guitar in No Compassion which sound like Eno already had a hand in it. First Week Last Week Carefree which sounds totally Bowie and in the same song when the voice recedes slightly in the mix for the instrumental break. Masterfully done. They really didn't need Eno. 5/5
Utility: It keeps giving. Of course I couldn't listen to it these days like I did back then. Listening just now, it not only held up through the years but continues to resonate and surprise. Tracks like "Don't Worry About the Government" and "Pulled Up" border on genius. The first Talking Heads album is a masterpiece. 5/5
Best: Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town, New Feeling, Who Is It, No Compassion, Don't Worry About the Government, First Week Last Week Carefree, Pulled Up
Worst: Tentative Decisions, Psycho Killer
Conclusion: Even the weak tracks are really good. 15/15
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