Customer Reviews

Once In A Lifetime

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

It must be Christmas time again. All the majors are looking to release (or re-release in this case) boxsets of classic rock acts, etc. Well I have to give credit to Rhino (and Talking Heads) for originality. Once In A Life Time is the boxed set The Heads should have gotten when Sire released Sand In The Vaseline. This three CD, 1 DVD set is packaged in a long coffee table style book (hardcover)with a number of essays, rare photos and contributions from the band members.

Don't trade in Sand In The Vaseline just yet. The track listing for both sets aren't identical. I Want To Live (included on Sand In The Vaseline) isn't included here. Disc One has 21 tracks focusing on the band's first two albums (plus A Clean Break from the MIA The Name of This Band is Talking Heads). Disc Two focuses on albums 3, 4 and 5 over the course of 17 remastered tracks. However, Cities and Drugs are alternate versions. In the case of Life During Wartime it sounds quite a bit different from the version on Fear of Music because of the sound effects and the mix. Drugs also has a slightly different mix making it memorable when compared to the version on Fear of Music. 5 Tracks appear from the seminal Remain In Light. A couple of the selections from Speaking In Tongues are from the cassette (and early CD)versions and, as a result, are slightly longer than the verisons currently available (and than those on Sand).

Finally Disc Three pulls together the twilight of the Heads' career. There are no songs from Stop Making Sense (which is just as well since this has already been remastered with bonus tracks). The last 17 songs are drawn from the band's last three albums with the exception of one outtake/previously unreleased track (In Asking Land which is a stunning song. I'm surprised that it wasn't released before now)and two songs drawn from the Sand compilation (which means that Gangster of Love and Popsicle the "lighter" tracks from the compilation don't appear here at all).

Altogether an odd assortment that crosses over somewhat but not completely with Sand In The Vaseline. A pity that they don't cross over completely and add a fourth disc featuring the MIA The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads (guess I'll continue listening to my CDR transferred from vinyl).

Still, the DVD is a nice bonus as it features all the important videos and a couple of ones that have previously been unreleased. It's a bit annoying that some of the dialog that connects the videos overlaps with the music. Additionally, the book itself is beautifully designed and small enough to avoid the self important look of an art book. A bit of warning on the DVD. Rhino hasn't labeled it as such but a parental advisory sticker would warn you that the DVD has a significant bad word mentioned a number of times in one of the linking segments. I had forgotten about it being on the video (none of the band members say it nor is it in any of the videos except for a brief moment in the lyric to the song Sax and Violins). Luckily, my kids had left the room prior to the words coming on.

The remastered sound is exceptional. Rhino has put out a number of exceptional albums this year and I have to say that Once is one of the best looking career compilations I've ever seen. It makes others of this type appear cheap and gaudy by comparison (well, except the exceptional XTC Coat of Many Cupboards set). This is a great gift for Heads fans and is shaped distinctively enough to fool the heck out of everyone as to what it is. A note also to fans of Adrian Belew who played guitar on Remain in Light for some reason Belew isn't credited (more than likely an oversight)as playing on the sessions at all. I've already alerted Rhino to this oversight as they promised to fix any misinformation on the credits.

My advice--record the songs missing from Sand In The Vaseline and make some customized artwork for it. Add it to this set and make it a "personalized" CD boxed set.

I'm not a Talking Heads fanatic, but I am a fan. I have 3 of their albums, so this boxed set was a very welcome addition to my library. The quality of sound on Sand in the Vaseline is inferior and I'm happy I passed up its purchase in anticipation of this.

I've read alot of reviews complaining about the artwork. The individuals behind these comments may know the Talking Heads music, but blatantly miss the TH theme. The artwork is exceedingly relevant to TH by merit of it's irrelevancy. It's colorfuly done and admittedly graphic. A paradise of nude figures and gentle looking animals in a colorful eden with small details of acute to dull menaces within. Similar to TH's musical observations..no? While the illus. are graphic, they do provoke, shock and make you think - the purpose of any art. Each time you look at it you notice something different. It's tempting you to look for some sort of plot, continuation or relevance to the talking heads. While colorful and intriguing, it just does not make any sense....which, after all, is the purpose: Stop Making Sense.

The selection of songs is what you'd expect. The requisite back catalog with outtakes, alt versions, etc....all commonplace expectations w/Boxed sets. The DVD addition, however, I found ingenious. Thank you Sire for issuing the DVD with the boxed set and not attempting to sell it separately. Die hard TH fans should be greatful as they are the ones who'd readily pay upwards of $19 to $29 for the DVD alone - consider that when you criticize the price (ie 1st Storyteller dvd, etc..). To moan about Sire issuing another rip off boxed set is ridiculous. Price: okay, $60 is a bit expensive for a boxed set - particularly if you're not a talking heads fan or if you are a fanatic. But for the majority of us in between, it hits the mark. Incidentally, with a little educated shopping you can find this boxed set for as low as $39.99 - I got mine for $45.99 at the local Media Play / Rhino's website has it on sale for $51 and in NYC a freind of mine just bought his today for $39. Shop around.

The music's great. The clarity and magnitude of the sound is outstanding. You hear things that were not apparent on the original releases. A solid and BEATUIFUL boxed set - Artsy in a non-sensical way with no seeable connection to the band yet at the same time very Talking Heads

If you're a die hard fan with all the individual albums and can do without the essays, don't get it. If you're not a fan and considering adding them, start w/the one cd greatest hits. If you are a fan but not a fanatic and feel your collection is short some Talking heads, then for an investment of 2 1/2 cd's you have the boxed set.

Until they decide to re-master TH in 5.1, I thank you Sire, for a truly worthwhile boxed set.

I love this set and was intrigued by poor reviews from some other Talking Heads fans submitted here.
Who am I? A 43 year old Australian; I can't begin to remember how many times I danced the night away to "Take Me To The River", or sang "You might find yourself..." while driving in my youth without a care in the world (other than very serious thoughts about the state of the world etc.).
Why I loved Talking Heads? Pure pop plus pure art. A thousand ideas per cubic centimetre, but always with an attempt to polish the most esoteric notions into an accessible presentation. ALWAYS extremely interesting, and danceable.
Why I bought this set? I had Sand In The Vaseline, but was still hungry, and when I saw this set, I liked the look of it.
Satisfied? YES. There's some good reading in the "booklet". A highlight for me is David Byrne's discussion about the change in his own creativity, and while he likes his own expressions from Talking Heads early days, he can't continue to deliver that style of expression, because he's moved on. It's an inspiring essay about art. And I've really enjoyed listening to all of this music again (a few alternate takes are minor surprises; heaps of pleasure in so many old favourites). And it's ideal for creating an iTunes/iPod playlist.
Casual fans - try the one disc best of, or maybe Sand In The Vaseline.
Talking Heads maniacs - buy all the original albums and do a web search for essays about / by the band.
Old time fans of the art and pop mix that was Talking Heads - this is a great package.

First, the packaging. This ain't no Mudd Club, no CBGBs...! I don't know for sure if this is rock's first coffee table book/box set, but it is surely the most pretentious packaging I've ever seen! You have no choice but to put it on your coffee table because it won't fit anywhere else. I imagine people will eventually tire of looking at the strangely unappealing artwork (why is that guy's crotch bleeding? why is he smiling about it?) that bedecks this set's cover, remove the four removable disk sleeves somewhere in their CD cabinet, where they will thereupon be impossible to find, and then put the rest of the packaging in the hall closet. The essays inside range from precious and silly to informative and evocative, but none of them seem so essential that you would miss them after you put this awkward package in the deep freeze.

But the music is worth keeping. It is a generous selection of their music, with enough alternative cuts and bonus tracks that fans who already own the albums won't feel completely robbed. Hearing so much of their music in one place leads me to the following conclusions:

-- "Remain in Light" was by far the best thing they ever did. The tracks jump off the disk; more than two decades later, they still sound as fresh and unique as they did then. Little wonder "Once in a Lifetime" is their most famous song--it is just a fabulous performance.

-- Its successor, "Speaking in Tongues," lacks the same magic; some of the songs start off strong, but sometimes meander into shapeless jams.

-- "Fear of Music" is a brilliant work of art that time has been very kind to. When it came out, it seemed kind of alienating, due to the metallic, heavily treated mix, but now it seems very different. "Air" is almost symphonic, "Heaven" manages to be both funny and yearning, "I Zimbra" foreshadows "Remain in Light" by yielding so ecstatically to the beat.

-- The last three albums, represented on disk 3, demonstrate a group that somehow lost its identity, didn't have a clue anymore what it was about. The disk has many pleasures--the charming lyrics on songs like "And She Was" or "Road to Nowhere," the country flavor of "People Like Us," the Latin rhythms on "Nothing But Flowers." The songs from "True Stories" seem like the group's low point--too often sarcastic rather than clever, like Woody Allen making fun of non-New Yorkers.

--The first two albums, represented on disk 1, strike me now as some of the strangest songs ever written--songs written with the aid of some kind of truth serum. It is so strange that this stuff caught on with a large public, but it did. "Thank You For Sending Me An Angel" thrills me still.

Maybe it's because Talking Heads were the most crucial band to defining my musical tastes as a teen, but I've found myself (slightly) disappointed by both of their domestic retrospectives to date. Sand in the Vaseline seemed a tad slapdash, from the irrelevant title to David Byrne's gruff contributions to the annotations.

Now we at long last have a proper box set release, and for all of its pluses...excellent alternate takes on "New Feeling" and Fear of Music material, the CD debut of "A Clean Break", the Storytelling Giant DVD...there's still room for complaint. The artwork for this box is simply abysmal and inappropriate for one of the most visually savvy groups in rock history. It's packaged in book form, only fitting for such "artistes"; however, the book is far wider than it is tall, making it difficult to read, display, or store. I suspect Byrne had the dominating say in the design, and it appears to me that he's so burnt out on the past that he'll take any measure to diminish the band's legacy. The essays within are entertaining, particularly Maggie Estep's memoirs and Tina Weymouth's full-circle encounter with Brian Wilson (read it and you'll see what I mean).

Bottom line: if you're a major fan, the exclusives are essential; if you're a peripheral listener, Sand in the Vaseline gives you the hits and other goodies for far less, although I'd sooner recommend their individual albums (anything from the Eno period would make a sensible starting point). And on that note, a caveat: word has it that this box was released to kick off an upcoming TH catalog remaster campaign, and if the sonic quality (particularly on the Remain in Light cuts) are any indication, it should prove the proper homage to their remarkable chemistry. (Just don't let Byrne tamper with the cover art...)

The set contains 23 of 33 tracks from the first three albums (:77,...Buildings & Food, Fear of Music)...a few included are interesting alternative takes...as strong as the originals...and in the same spirit. For example, the addition of a horn arrangement on New feelings is especially infectious. The inclusion of this version on the original album may have been out of place, but now, with what we've all heard and seen, it's awesome. The alternate version of Drugs/Electricity is reminiscent of the live version on the pre-Stop Making Sense The Name of This Band is TH. I would have liked to see more tracks like these...but maybe more don't exist. (There's a funky version of The Lady Don't Mind from the SIT sessions floating around, but it was not included.) You also get more than half of the other studio albums (4 tracks from Naked). Toungues, Creatures, True Stories (the weakest studio album), and the groundbreaking Remain in Light are well represented. All the singles are here including all the mid-80's hits. Only one live track is included from TNOTBTH (the incredible Clean Break was never recorded in the studio) and no tracks from Stop Making Sense. That's okay...this is a collection of their studio recordings. Yes, a CD version of TNOTBTH would have been great, but I don't think it takes away from the set. I was hoping for more band discussion about the tunes/recordings similar to those found in Sand in the Vaseline. Oh yeah, the strongest tracks that first appeared on Sand are on this collection. The band chose to include all their hits. I believe a few very strong tracks were left out...stronger than some of the hits. The hits are great and most are now classic pop tunes, but I think songs like Cool Water off of Naked or The Great Curve from RIL are artistically superior than some (not all) of the hit singles. On the other hand, the set would be incomplete omitting, for example, Love For Sale (the weakest single). The remastering makes a difference...but the original CD's do sound great all ready. Last, there is a lot of overlap with this collection and Sand in the Vaseline. The package is gorgeous...clever & unorthodox design. Get this retrospective, it's worth it. The DVD is a great bonus too.

I've loved the sound of the Talking Heads since I was a little girl, but never made it a point to collect any of their albums. When this box set came out I thought about it for a while, bought it, and haven't regretted it yet.

It's pricey, but cheaper and more efficient than buying all of the individual albums. You'll miss out on a few songs, but you'll discover tons of songs you never knew were possible. I listen to all three discs (shuffled on itunes) all the time and have for months now. There's too much music for you to overplay and get sick of a few songs.

In conclusion, buy this box set if you want to. If you have your three favorite albums already, you probably don't need this in your collection. If you don't want to drop $60 on three discs full of vintage Talking Heads, don't. But I did, and I'm happy about it.

Just when you think that every box set has been made you remember that this seminal band was sorely missing from the the shelf. The material is obviously some of the best of the past 40 years, and the boxed set is a well curated mix from a prodigous band. It's great to see those videos again and remember that this, the music and the images was and is cutting edge stuff. these were white kids RISD grads at that) playing dare i say black music on a punk rock stage.
as far as the packing, it's awesome. so what if it won't fit on your tidy cd shelf. the talking heads never fit on any shelf either, why should their packaging?

A lot of people are complaining about this boxset for 3 reasons - the price, the way in which it's presented, and the material within. Honestly though... aren't those the top 3 things to complain about when discussing a piece of art?

I work at a music and book store, and even with my discount, the price tag was daunting. However, this box set caught my eye even before I knew it was a Talking Heads set. Perched above all the other CDs, the size of the set, and the lovely art work that was painted across it stood out to me. Once I read that it was from the Talking Heads, I knew I wanted it (more for my mother than myself). Yes, the artwork is strange, and yes, it is out there - but aren't the Talking Heads? Isn't David Byrne? Both the band and this boxset are weird and wonderful, in the most perfect ways possible.

As for the complaints about this box set having basically every track previously released..... hello? It's a box set. Part of a box set is containing all the previously released tracks of said artist, along with extra material. I love the DVD that comes with the 3 CDs, as well as the in-box booklet, complete with photos, essays, and memorable pieces of art. The "box" alone that it comes in is worth it for me.

This is not a box set for the music freak who already owns every Talking Heads album, song, and concert DVD, just so that they can say "Hey, I own every Talking Heads song EVER." This box set is for the person who loves the Talking Heads, and who can say with great confidence that the Talking Heads and their music were a large part of their lives. I grew up listening to Talking Heads - I'm now 19, and this box set means a lot to me.

If you, or someone you know, would treasure this for what it is, then it would make a tremendous gift.

Before I purchased this set I read all the reviews posted here - the good, the bad and the indifferent. And in the end I bought this box set. I'm glad I did.

Much has been made about this collection overlapping the selections on "Sand in the Vaseline", some suggest that the packaging is quirky and not very user-friendly, others suggest real fans should just spend the money buying the seperate albums.

I think the defining factor for me (besides being a fan of the music) is that The Heads were an "art" band - in the most fundamental sense of that slightly awkward description. And this release is a tangible "artifact" of that visual art and design personality.

Experiencing this package is like entering a gallery and seeing an artists retrospective exhibition up on the walls. Perhaps a piece or two is missing but the overall experience and presentaion is well considered and the exhibition becomes a thing unto itself.

Sure, the packaging resembles a coffee table book that has been on a slimming program. But it's a beautiful thing.

The engineering of the package is excellent - the CD sleeves fit exactly into the slots on the cover so that the graphics remain "in register". The artwork is odd but compelling. The booklet provides some interesting insight into the personality and history of the group through a series of short well-illustrated essays.

And the music? It's great - Disc two alone is a particularly wonderful mix that brings me back to my college days. There isn't a bad song on it! Disc one predates my involvement as a fan so it provides some interesting new experiences. Disc three continues the evolution of the band and their music and is once again full of great stuff.

The fourth disc of videos provides a brief visual history of the whole MTV generation - moving from cheap production values to more generous budgets as fame and other visual competition influenced the bands quirky cinematic concepts.

In the end this collection is like a portfolio set of limited edtion prints - it's something to have and hold. Something to touch and play with. It's a multimedia art piece from a multitalented "art" band.

So, if all you want to do is load some tunes on the old iPod, then there are better ways to go for the content you are looking for. But if you want to own a genuine Heads sanctioned artifact then look no further.