Talking Heads '77

Talking Heads | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B000002KNU
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,619 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #77 in Music > Alternative Rock > Hardcore & Punk > American Punk

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Next to CBGBs peers like the Ramones and the Voidoids, Talking Heads barely sounded like a punk band. After the startlingly non-conformist "Love Building on Fire," 77 made for a surprisingly tuneful collection of songs: nervy vignettes of urban unease, arranged for a tight little new wave quartet. The most overtly disturbed song, "Psycho Killer," now sounds a touch heavy-handed; more unassuming tracks like "New Feeling," "Happy Day," and "Don't Worry About the Government"--preppie pop with brains--have aged better. The first of four consecutive masterpieces for Sire, 77 is the work of a truly great American band. --Barney Hoskyns

Product Description

CD

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One Of The Best Debut Albums Ever February 19, 2002

By Bud Sturguess

Format:Audio CD

Soon after emerging from the punk/alternative/new wave CBGB's Club scene in 1976, the Talking Heads released their amazingly authentic debut, "Talking Heads '77." This exhilirating, inspiring debut album features the band at their most attentive, crafting every detail to the fullest. Foreshadows every direction the band's music will take, while capturing the sophistication (there's that word again) of their unique music. Although "77" was relatively disappointing on the charts and in commercial terms, it remains true that all great classics are brought to the light with time. "Uh-Oh, Loves Comes To Town" is just as unique as the Talking Heads themselves, while "No Compassion" shows the more grim, yet delightful side of their music. The purposely naive and satirical "Don't Worry About The Government" foreshadows the Heads' later cynical aspect. And "Psycho Killer" remains to this day one of the group's most effective and uneasy songs. And although there are many predictable (yet still unique) places in the content, "Talking Heads 77" is a remarkable, landmark gem deserving of attention.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Beginning Of Something Great September 18, 2008

By BeatlesFan3287

Format:Audio CD

People picking up The Talking Head's debut album for the first time may be in for a surprise, especially if they're used to the eccentric experimentation of the "Remain In The Light" era, or the commercialized pop of the "Little Creatures" era. Back in 1977, the Talking Heads were a punk band but mostly only in their ethics. They played simple rock tunes but most of them lacked the raw energy of punk as played by the Ramones or Clash. Indeed, much of the music here sounds like late 60s and early 70 pop rock. What seperates these songs from post-psychedelic pop, however, is the lyrics and frantic atmosphere that would go on to characterise much of The Talking Head's music in the coming years.

David Byrne's singing style is paranoid and tense and the lyrics are as abstract and arty as any art-rock album. In a way, this is art-rock brought done to a more pop like level. This was also a proto-type for the New Wave sound that was beginning to appear around this time. Songs like "Psycho Killer" have become early staples for the New Wave era and they also signaled the beginning of punk as being an art form rather than just a backlash against corporate rock. New wave can be seen as the first form of punk where the music was more important than the attitude.

And that's what albums like this signify: A transistion of the popular music format. Music always goes through transistions and albums, like this one, that aid in those transistions are often the best representations of the new genres that are created. This was a beginning for The Talking Heads but it was also part of the beginning for the whole 80s new wave sound. Though in some ways the influence out ranks the music, this is still a fun listen and an essential addition to a person's music collection.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic debut June 2, 2004

By Wee Jimmy

Format:Audio CD

This is not Talking Heads' best album - fans tend to rate any one of their four subsequent studio releases - but it's definitely worth having. Quirky, poppy and slightly amateurish, it has a sound all of its own. The emphasis is squarely on David Byrne's songs, to which the band are at this stage subordinated, and the songs are pretty much uniformly great. The best known is of course Psycho Killer, a jarring and twisted number written from the point of view of a (surprise) psycho killer, but there is better fare on offer here. Don't Worry About The Government, Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town, Happy Day and Book I Read are all cheerfully deranged masterpieces; Byrne's ability to write a song in character is utilised to the full, as is his ability to explore themes that other lyricists just wouldn't think of: who else could write a line like 'some civil servants are just like my loved ones'? However, the album's crowning glory is Pulled Up, an ecstatically cheerful pop song which, in its middle eight, showcases the band's ability to 'be funky' with a sparse guitar riff, wonderful bassline and soaring tune.
But it's not perfect by any means - when Byrne runs out of decent tunes the songs fall flat on their faces because the band don't quite have the chemistry going on that they did over the next few albums. Songs like Who Is It are lightweight and throwaway, and although they're not particularly bad, I certainly wouldn't have bought the album if they were all like that. Maybe this lack of chemistry was simply because the band were entering the studio to record an album for the first time and their nerves got the better of them - certainly they had a great reputation as a live band at around the same time - but they do bring the album's star rating down a notch. But if you've bought and liked any of their albums, you should enjoy this.