Talking Heads' first studio album Talking Heads: 77 was released in 1977. Though they frequented clubs of New York's punk movement, the band's music was fairly artsy compared to their peers and their music had only a few similarities to punk music. However, they became highly influential in the development of new wave. The band was formed in 1975 by lead singer and guitarist David Bryne, bassist Tina Weymouth, and drummer Chris Frantz. The latter two dated before the band formed and married in 1977. To expand their sound, they added keyboardist/guitarist Jerry Harrison, previously of the Modern Lovers, just before they went into the studio to record their debut album. The album had one charting single, "Psycho Killer," but was otherwise not particularly successful commercially. Critically, however, it received much attention and many positive reviews.
Performing as a trio for the first two years of their existence, the band settled on a sound that emphasized groove. Musically, that's their greatest asset. Even on lesser songwriting efforts such as "New Feeling," the rhythm section is killing it, especially Weymouth. Even more than the rhythm section, however, it's Byrne's strange cadence and his free verse, non-rhyming lyrics that take center stage. Though I admire his original and jumpy writing, there's something left to be longing when the songs bring so much attention to the lyrics and all Bryne has to say is "I've been to college/And I've been to school/I've met the people that you read about in books" and "I'm writing about the book I read/I have to sing about the book I read." Because this band's artistic aspirations are stratospheres beyond the Ramones, whose simple lyrics were not just simple but also tongue-in-cheek, their songs lose much of humor that they might have otherwise been afforded. Thus, I'm hoping Bryne's lyrics either get more thematic or intentionally funny. He already proved the world of difference the former can make on two of the album's greatest triumphs: "No Compassion" and "Don't Worry About the Government." B+ [Later: A-]
