Talking Heads, 'More Songs About Buildings And Food', 1978

Talking Heads - 'More Songs About Buildings And Food'  CBS Records (K 56531, 1978)

Gestated in New York’s CBGB among other venues during the Heads’ spring of 1977 tour with the Ramones, More Songs About Buildings and Food is an often-overlooked record from the group’s early albums.

As the first of three albums co-produced with Brian Eno, More Songs marks the beginning of a particularly fruitful artistic period for the group. Across this LP – notably in ‘Warning Sign’, ‘Found a Job’, and ‘Artists Only’ – Eno satisfyingly fuses David Byrne’s frantic vocal performance of declaratory yelps and mumbled asides with the newly-framed rhythm section of Chris Frantz on drums and Tina Weymouth on bass.

While the Heads’ debut revealed the artistic contours of their frenetic sound, it is in More Songs that the group first pair their psyche-dizzying arrangements with Eno’s considerate ‘studio-as-instrument’ style of production. The result is a cornerstone in the band’s career that provides art punk hunger for the mind and hypnotic disco rhythms for the body.

NOTES:

Graded using the Goldmine Standard. Graded conservatively, cover and media in VG+ bracket. 

Cover: VG+
Media: VG