Disco de Talking Heads: “Speaking in Tongues [Digipak]”

My memories of Friday nights when I was in high school center around two things: playing in the band at football games and watching late night TV while eating a much-delayed dinner afterwards. In the early part of the 1980s, the show that I tuned in was Wolfman Jack's Midnight Special, where I was first exposed to the music video form, since we lived outside of town and didn't have MTV. I recall seeing Nick Lowe's "Cruel to Be Kind," Elvis Costello's "Accidents Will Happen," Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," Alice Cooper's "How You Gonna See Me Now," and Talking Heads' "Burning Down the House." These songs were staples of rock radio, even if the artists weren't, and the video portion did exactly what it was supposed to: increase my interest in the artist.

I didn't buy Speaking in Tongues until 1985, when most others had already moved on to other, newer, albums. But I was commuting back-and-forth between my home in Gatesville and community college in Killeen, a trip of roughly 40 minutes, and my soundtrack for that commute quickly became this album by Talking Heads which I had found in a used cassette store outside the local army base, Ft. Hood.

Why this album? A combination of circumstances surrounded it, making it appropos of the moment. I was living at home and attending Central Texas College because I had flunked out of the University of Texas at Austin, and the white-guy funk of David Byrne somehow matched the awkwardness of my situation, while being bouncy enough to keep my spirits up on that depressing commute, taking my mind off my failure and uncertain future. The fact that the lyrics of this album are an associative mass rather than a logical series allowed me to connect every song to my personal situation.

I can recall as if it were yesterday putting the steering wheel of a Ford Escort in my hands, bouncing in my seat as I sing-a-long with Byrne. From the gospelish chorus of "Swamp" to the infectious beat and call-and-response of "Slippery People," I would join in on each song, probably surprising a number of the pickups that passed me by with my spasmodic renditions of Bryne's stage moves.

And then there's that last song, a paeon to the comfort of home. Byrne sings, "Home is where I want to be, but I guess I'm already there" perfectly captured my confusion of appreciating that I had this generous spot to fall-back on while at the same time wanting to be somewhere else (a home of my own, not one made by my parents). The song always seemed to be playing as I drove up the hill to the house, too. It, and the other songs on this album, never fail to take me back to that time, even now that I've moved far from that home. But then, isn't that one of the functions of music?

An album that everyone but me seems to love, "Speaking in Tongues", the first Talking Heads album in three years when it came out, was also the first album since their debut not produced by Brian Eno, with the band taking over productions duties. The band proves remarkably diverse, clearly embracing many of the sounds and ideas the members explored between albums, but all in all, I find the album lacks something that the records with Eno had.

And in truth, it may have that its Eno I find missing-- it's been my assessment that in the twenty years or so Eno was involved in "art rock" records, the material he worked on was the pinnacle of the form-- his own albums in the early '70s, John Cale's mid-70s trio for Island records, David Bowie's Berlin period, the turn of the '70s Talking Heads albums, U2's mid '80s albums... all of them are pretty much universally superb and among the best (if not the best) by the artist Eno was engaged with.

But enough of my Eno love fest, as the case may be, this album is without him and the band explores programmed rhythms, dance beats and funk, as well as a number of other forms. The most noticable thing about the album is a number of the tracks are very dated-- they came from the '80s, it's pretty clear ("Slippery People", "Pull Up the Roots"). This isn't something that the Talking Heads is generally known for, their albums, particularly the early ones, have a unique timeless quality to them. On the other hand, the band is emmensely talented, and principle songwriter David Byrne endlessly inventive, and even in this sort of corner, they successfully manages to pull off at least one utterly superb piece in the form of single "Burning Down the House". Composed from a throwaway jam, the piece ends up being everything great Talking Heads is-- timeless, somewhat funky and jittery. It works entirely too well. And certainly when the band spreads their wings-- be it the slow groove of "Girlfriend is Better" (featuring one of the most self assured vocal Byrne delivered with the band), the blues ramble "Swamp" (with Byrne an octave lower than usual) and the light and delicate closer "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)"-- the music is superb. The latter in particular is stunning, driven by delicately bouncing synthesizers with a fantastic gentle sound and superb vocal delivery from Byrne that introduces a sense of melancholy and gentle naivette that really makes it the standout of the record, even in the presence of "Burning Down the House".

This dualdisc reissue is superbly remastered-- both the stereo CD side and 5.1 DVD side sound superb (this album in particular benefits from the additional space 5.1 allows) and a few bonus tracks are included-- each side contains an alternate mix of "Burning Down the House", the CD side adds an unfinished demo and the DVD side videos for the singles.

But you know, in the end, a lot of people like this one a lot more than I do, and there may be a reason for that. It's certainly worth investigating, but I think it pales in comparison to the three albums with Eno. Newcomers to the band might do better starting with "Remain in Light".

This is the Talking Heads' finest album because this is the one that strikes a perfect balance between the pop sensibilities displayed on "Talking Heads `77" and "More Songs About Buildings And Food", and the adventurous experimentalism of "Fear Of Music" and, especially, "Remain In Light". On "Speaking In Tongues" the best elements of all that came before gel into a stunning, delicious, exquisite work that manages to be simultaneously complex, deep, infectious, incredibly catchy, and profoundly fun. This was the blueprint that all subsequent Talking Heads albums followed, but never again with the same degree of success.

As time passes the accomplishments of Talking Heads are all the more remarkable. Their evolution as a band and their fearless willingness to constantly try new directions in music keep them firmly at the forefront among the most innovative artists in modern music history. Never dated, they continue to stand the test of time. "Speaking in Tongues" finds them at their creative apex, and perhaps at their most joyful. The expanded lineup first experimented with on "Remain in Light", is fully integrated into the sound, and the sound is a cool groove of funky polyrhythm mixed with jumpy urban confidence. "Burning Down The House" opens "Speaking in Tongues", and immediately announces the album's intent: it's going to burn down your house and you're going to enjoy it. The song was Talking Heads first big hit, and to the surprise and delight of David Byrne was on the playlists of both black and white radio stations. With good reason; it's a full-throated funk stomp, and is as authentic as a P-Funk meltdown. The unique menacing/ebullient attitude of "Speaking in Tongues" is continued on "Making Flippy Floppy" and "Girlfriend is Better", which starts out with the memorable (and post-80's prophetic) line "Who took the money/Who took the money away." "Slippery People" and "I Get Wild/Wild Gravity" maintain the uptempo paranoia. "Swamp" (incongruously part of the "Risky Business" soundtrack), gets gleefully dirty. Its lyrics and their delivery a non-stop montage of cheerful dread, as Byrne intones such ominous pleasantries as "Rattle of bones/Dreams that stick out/A medical chart on the wall/Soft violins/Hands touch your throat/Everone wants to explode." sounding like a redneck sherrif/nuclear physicist. Fun. "Moon Rocks" and "Pull Up The Roots", jump back on the apocalyptic dance party train, which, by and large is what "Speaking in Tongues" most closely resembles. Lyrically and musically creating an aural journey of post-modern dread combined with an underlying and inexplicable optimism. It is, in retrospect, a perfect and prophetic distillation of the 1980's, in sound and texture, as well as lyrically. The jouney's ultimate destination is home. "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)" is a wondrous hymn to the primal joy of home and unconditional love. It's "naive melody" the result of the band playing instruments they were inexperienced with. It contains the sweetest and most un-self consciously yearning music and lyrics Talking Heads ever created: "You've got a face with a view/I'm just an animal looking for a home." "And you'll love me till my heart stops/Love me till I'm dead." "Sing into my mouth." It's achingly poignant yet strangely reassuring, and a transcendant moment for the band. "Speaking in Tongues" starts by burning down your house and ends with the gift of the true home in your heart. It's profound and funny at the same time and all in all, an enduring testimony to a band like other, at the peak of their powers.

I second the pull up the roots comment! Might be my favorite song on the whole album. This entire album is awesome though, and its really good on a long drive in the summertime.