As a teenager in the early 1980s, I had expanded my tastes beyond the Beatles & Moody Blues focus that occupied most of my first ten years on this planet and had taken an interest in current pop music. In retrospect (and I hope this is not just nostalgia talking), the early 1980s were a great time for pop music. There was a wide variety of music on the charts, everything from Duran Duran to Michael Jackson to Stevie Ray Vaughan. With the advent of MTV, some stranger new sounds began to enter the eclectic stew of popular music.
Talking Heads' first big hit in the US (and to date, their only Top 10 hit) "Burning Down the House" certainly sounded odd on the radio at the time, but the MTV video was both artful and memorable. In fact, I vaguely remember seeing the video for "Once in a Lifetime" from their prior album the year before, which was even farther out, and I didn't pursue the band at that time. I soon purchased Speaking in Tongues, and it became one of the first of many off-kilter art-oriented 80s bands to find its way into my collection over the next few years. Granted, I already enjoyed art-conscious pop bands of the day prior to Talking Heads (The Police, ELO... even the Moody Blues were still on the pop charts at this time), but Talking Heads were uniquely futuristic despite their mid 70s origins.
Arguably, Talking Heads' art-mindedness and not their pop smarts was most responsible for their success. To this day, the visual image of the band - David Byrne's neurotic quivering and yelping, Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz (bass and drums, respectively) happily grooving in their own private world, and Jerry Harrison filling in details on keyboards and guitar- is as indelible as the music itself. In the newly visual pop landscape, image counted for everything. Some pop stars earned their attention purely through their photogenic looks and/or onscreen charisma (later prompting the cheeky complaints by Dire Straits in "Money for Nothing"), but the MTV era also opened the door for bands like Talking Heads. Their art student backgrounds gave them the tools to thrive without being particularly attractive in the conventional pop star sense.
Speaking in Tongues takes the deep, dark funk of their prior album (Remain in Light) and cements the highly rhythmic, pan-cultural lessons the band had absorbed to create an album designed to be an easier listen. The standout track "Slippery People" relies heavily on percussion without using snare or cymbals, lending it a voodoo/tribal mood, enhanced further by the emphasis on the call/response vocals in the chorus:
What's the matter with him? (He's all right)
How do you know? (The Lord won't mind)
Don't throw him no games (He's all right)
Love from the bottom to the top
Turn like a wheel (He's all right)
See for yourself (The Lord won't mind)
We're gonna move (right now)
Turn like a wheel inside a wheel
Another of the album's highlights is the closing track, "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)", which is one of the few songs in Talking Heads' oeuvre on which David Byrne lets his guard down and shows his vulnerability. Unlike the mystic/spiritual vibes of "Slippery People", "This Must Be the Place" is as down to earth as it gets - a simple meditation on the happiness of domestic life. In the concert film Stop Making Sense, Byrne sings the song by the light of a solitary lamp such as one might have in one's living room. The sweet vocal melody, tugged along by a cute little circular guitar line that repeats throughout, sounds genuinely content and peaceful. This is all the more surprising considering virtually every song the band had released before seemed to visit themes of paranoia, fear, and anxiety. Byrne's work since Speaking in Tongues (both with and without Talking Heads) has frequently returned to this peaceful mood ("Creatures of Love" comes to mind), but this is where it began.
Modern critical opinion of Talking Heads tends to revere albums such as Fear of Music and especially Remain in Light - both incredible albums, but sometimes this reverence comes at the expense of their decidedly less nervy younger brother Speaking in Tongues. Revisit this album today and you're guaranteed to have a good time. (Discographic note: the CD version features longer versions of many of the songs compared to the original LP, which is a good thing in this case).
Dan:
I was never sure what to do with Talking Heads. Part of me wanted to be hip like everyone else who liked the band; another part of me wanted to find other records to play. I was probably negatively influenced by the videos showing David Byrne wearing his "big suit," which seemed like a nonmusical stunt. As Steve rightly says, MTV was responsible for the attention to visual appearance, so bands used a lot of gimmicks in the early 80s.
I do enjoy hearing Speaking in Tongues, however, especially the closing "This Must Be the Place." Steve included this song on his CD favor for his wedding guests, and it fit the occasion. It's the happiest, simplest song imaginable, as Steve has said, and worthy of a special 7" album cover that someone created online.
As you revisit the album today as Steve suggests, I advise attention at three different levels. First, tune in the infectious rhythm that Talking Heads bring to virtually every track. It's sustained by drums, guitar, bass, and keyboards together. It should not be easy to sit still during this part of the exercise. Second, pay attention to the lyrics without judging the somewhat primitive singing style of Byrne, who seems to shout and chant more than glide over melodies. Although "This Must Be the Place" is surely the purest of the songs, "Girlfriend Is Better" deserves accolades for its simple charm (and ambiguity) too. Third, Speaking in Tongues is full of weird sonic accents of unclear origins, mostly synthesized concoctions that you'll notice most during the first part of the assignment (rhythm). "Moon Rocks" has a steady stream of these accents.
This is a fun album that brings back a lot of good memories.
