Talking Heads Once in a Lifetime - a 4 CD retrospective (1 Viewer)

[Lee Scoggins]

Friends,

I picked up this four disc greatest hits collection and I am really enjoying it so far. I will do more in-depth listening and share some further thoughts.

There are several rare tracks in this long rectangle book of a box set. The pictures and band member recollections are very interesting and at times insightful.

I was in college during their heyday and saw them perform a Stop Making Sense (this is the tour where they built the stage a musician or two at a time) concert in Charlottesville, Virginia from row 4 at University Hall. I had a blast and danced for most of the concert. When I hear certain tunes, it is a real trip down memory lane. Somehow UVAs student union signed them up right before Burning Down the House made them really famous. One of my punk friends turned me on to them when Brian Eno was assisting. I think Remain in Light is a classic influential album of its time.

Has anyone else picked it up yet and enjoyed it as well?

This is an early Christmas for me.

Highly recommended.

 

[Doug Otte]

Hi, Lee. Were the tracks remastered? If so, how do they sound? Are you able to compare them to the original CDs?
Thanks.
Doug

PS I saw the Heads during that tour, too (& the original Remain in Light tour w/ Adrian Belew). They were both memorable experiences.

 

[Michael_T]

I picked up the box set but have yet to listen.

I really would like to know why they thought garish pictures of naked people would make for good graphics on the box? The paintings are quite odd (and very explicit).

I also saw the Heads, twice at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ. I saw them on the "Fear of Music" tour, and then on the "Remain in Light" tour with Adrian Belew also. In fact one of the shows I was at is one of the album sides from "The Name of This Band Is The Talking Heads".

 

[KevinJ]

the tracks were indeed remastered and sound as good imho as they'll probably ever sound[unless they do sacd reissues of their albums]

 

[Lee Scoggins]

I really would like to know why they thought garish pictures of naked people would make for good graphics on the box?

I suspect it's related to David Byrne's ongoing interest in modern art. They are quite explicit...I wish they had put in more tour photos, including the preppy photos from the early days.

 

[Stu Rosen]

Forget about the artwork -- this is the strangest box I've ever seen -- it's about 3 1/2" x 10". Not practical at all.

Set sounds great, though.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Matt Rowe, of Music Tap, has a great review up:

http://www.musictap.net/Reviews/Talk...fetimeBox.html

 

[GarySI]

Is this the retrospective with the collection of videos? If this is the one I'll have to order it ASAP. I saw the Stop Making Sense tour at Forest Hill Tennis Stadium and it was stunning. I went down to the refreshment tent and the food vendors were dancing behind the counter. Being a Heads fan since seeing them at CBGB's in '77 I felt I was finally vindicated. Maybe the last time Americans listened and not just heard.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Maybe the last time Americans listened and not just heard.

Quite possible.

 

[Michael Caicedo]

The Stop Making Sense live concert DVD is quite good. I had it playing when(not-so-hip-to-rock-music) relatives came over and no one could stop watching.

 

[DaveDickey]

$60 seems like a lot of money to pay for redbook CD's that the buyer already owns (unless the remastering offers a huge leap forward). Maybe the naked pictures make it worthwhile?

The Talking Heads would sound great in SACD multi-channel or DVD-A. In fact, I can't think of an 80s band that would sound better.

 

[Anthony Thorne]

The review of the box at allmusic.com suggests that the tracks have all been remastered and sound a lot better than on previous discs. That review also concurs with folks who find the packaging of the box extremely impractical.

Talking Heads/Tom Tom Club member Chris Frantz mentioned on one of the main TH messageboards a couple of months back that SACD/DVD-Audio remasters of the individual albums "are going to happen". My guess is that the box set is the first fruit of this remastering process and that we'll hopefully see hi-res editions of the band's back catalogue (I'd personally like to see hybrid SACD's) sometime this year.

I'm a fan but after some thought I've decided to wait for the individual remasters rather than getting the box. I'd probably buy all the band's albums up to REMAIN IN LIGHT and - in particular - a remastered edition of THE NAME OF THIS BAND IS TALKING HEADS, one of my favourite live albums and a disc I'm probably more keen to rehear than the later STOP MAKING SENSE.

 

[Craig Robertson]

if an SACD release is even a remote possibility, then i'll definately wait for that.

 

[Keith Paynter]

remastered edition of THE NAME OF THIS BAND IS TALKING HEADS

Interesting that it could be remastered, since it has never been available on CD in the first place. Good album though. "Thank you very mu-u-u-ch!"

 

[Anthony Thorne]

I'm fully aware that it's never been on CD before, and felt that a new hybrid CD/SACD master would be a 'remaster' over the previous LP and tape editions. Anyway, I'd love to be able to buy a decent version of it.

 

[Kevin Leonard]

I'm fully aware that it's never been on CD before, and felt that a new hybrid CD/SACD master would be a 'remaster' over the previous LP and tape editions. Anyway, I'd love to be able to buy a decent version of it.

Looks like you'll get your wish. Chris Frantz confirmed The Name of This Band is Talking Heads is coming soon (taken from talking-heads.net):

"Twenty years after its original release on double vinyl, the Talking Heads live album "The Name of This Band is Talking Heads" will finally be released on CD. Chris Frantz confirmed the release of a remastered edition by Rhino "in the near future" on the Tom Tom Club message board yesterday."

Seeing as how this album was divided into halves (one record as a four-piece band, the other as a nine-piece), I'd love to see a disc devoted to each half, possibly with extra tracks from both eras, as they often blew away the studio versions of their songs onstage (and this is coming from a guy who generally hates live albums).

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Chris Frantz confirmed The Name of This Band is Talking Heads is coming soon (taken from talking-heads.net)

By the way, I have evaluated the sound quality and the new remasterings are a big improvement over my prior redbooks. Pick this one up.

 

[Steve Y]

This is really great. My record player broke last year and I haven't been able to listen to "the name of..." recently and it's gotten me very antsy! Then again, listening to this album also makes me antsy, in a good, danceable sort of way. This is long, long overdue.

I was just listening to 'remain in light' this morning and then I happened upon this thread. Awesome!

s!

 

[Justin Lane]

if an SACD release is even a remote possibility, then i'll definately wait for that.

Talking heads are on Warner so we would probably get DVD-A or maybe Dualdisc

I keep seeing this set in the store, and it is tempting me. I will probably eventually pick it up, but at 50+ dollars it can wait a bit as I already have all of the Heads on CD.

J

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Talking heads are on Warner so we would probably get DVD-A or maybe Dualdisc

I''ll believe it when I get it in my own hands.

Warner is sitting on so much good music, that I don't believe they are committed to DVDA. Their release rate is horrifically slow. I would be very happy to have this on DVDA, but Warner's past actions don't bode well.