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3/4th or talking heads waiting on a call


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But will it include Adrian Belew?

He isn't a member of the band, but any of the additional hired hands that they have from the later years would be fun.

 

This would be a fun reunion to see, but frankly I don't think David Byrne's heart would be in it. He has had any number of opportunities to get the band back together and hasn't.

 

LouieB

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This would be a fun reunion to see, but frankly I don't think David Byrne's heart would be in it. He has had any number of opportunities to get the band back together and hasn't.

Agree on all counts. A quick google news search shows a number of articles over the past five years where Frantz says the rest of them are game and where Byrne says he has no interest.

 

Then again, if Frank Black/Black Francis and Kim Deal can make up ...

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He isn't a member of the band, but any of the additional hired hands that they have from the later years would be fun.

 

This would be a fun reunion to see, but frankly I don't think David Byrne's heart would be in it. He has had any number of opportunities to get the band back together and hasn't.

 

LouieB

 

He was allegedly (according to Belew) asked to join the band at one time. He was an integral part of the superfunk incarnation of the band for sure. I don't see this happening, but I could see Belew doing some shows with the other three.

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I think I voted for The Talking Heads or the Byrds in the "greatest American band of all time" poll we had here awhile back. The three records they made with Eno and the two live albums are perfect. I feel bad for the other three Heads and I'm not anti-reunion, per se, but Byrne was probably right to put the band on ice. They had a great run, they were probably just at the edge of making records that weren't very interesting anymore (all due respect to fans of the deep cuts on True Stories and Naked), and Byrne's heart wasn't in it.

 

I'd be happy to see them on a reunion tour if everyone's into it, but I am content remembering them as they were, when they were in their prime.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g8lFmsCXhg

 

 

 

--Mike

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When the three forced Eno out of the producer's role after Remain in Light, I think it sealed their eventual fate, that Byrne was going to eventually abandon them. Byrne and Eno two of them were so in the pocket in that time. While I can understand Chris and Tina feeling like session men in their own band, sometimes you have to adapt when something is really working creatively or risk pulling a Mike Love.

 

While I am not going to forward an old idea a professor of mine, who was a massive TH fan had, that Byrne should have just let Frantz and Weymouth walk in the eighties and kept making records with Eno and whomever else was around. I would say at this stage a David Byrne tour with Brian Eno, Bernie Worrell, Adrian Belew, and Nora Hendrix doing Talking Heads songs would be just as interesting to me as seeing the original four get back together.

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I would think that Byrne could do whatever he wanted to if he wanted to do it. He has toured over the years and he has made records with and without Eno. There is just something about the idea of the original four members of the band and the chemistry they had back in the day. Of course as Paul McCartney has always said about the Beatles, you can't reheat a souflle. So it is with the TH. They were great, they still make gobs of money from their records sales and being played on the radio. Some things are better left alone (Even WXRT could stand to pay their records a bit less.)

 

LouieB

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I would think that Byrne could do whatever he wanted to if he wanted to do it. He has toured over the years and he has made records with and without Eno. There is just something about the idea of the original four members of the band and the chemistry they had back in the day. Of course as Paul McCartney has always said about the Beatles, you can't reheat a souflle. So it is with the TH. They were great, they still make gobs of money from their records sales and being played on the radio. Some things are better left alone (Even WXRT could stand to pay their records a bit less.)

 

LouieB

 

I think David Byrne is analogous to Robbie Robertson: talented, egomaniacal, unwilling or unable to recognize the contributions of his band mates and probably more than a bit of an asshole

 

There is a distinct disconnect between reality and his perception. There is a synergy that exists in really great bands. Byrne's solo work has been odd, marginal, touched with brilliance and largely forgettable.

 

Hope he enjoys basking in his former glory.

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I think David Byrne is analogous to Robbie Robertson: talented, egomaniacal, unwilling or unable to recognize the contributions of his band mates and probably more than a bit of an asshole

 

There is a distinct disconnect between reality and his perception. There is a synergy that exists in really great bands. Byrne's solo work has been odd, marginal, touched with brilliance and largely forgettable.

 

Hope he enjoys basking in his former glory.

I agree with everything you said - except the last sentence. At least from what Byrne says publicly, I don't think he is basking in the glory of Talking Heads. He has moved on and wants to do new things - write books, program a building to make music, design bike racks, make an album with Fatboy Slim, do a TED Talk. He seems pretty content even while acknowledging that what he does will not have the impact of Talking Heads.

 

If anything, I think it is the other three who are trying to bask in the glory of Talking Heads.

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If anything, I think it is the other three who are trying to bask in the glory of Talking Heads.

 

Yeah, I agree. And I'd actually take Jerry Harrison out of this, I don't recall ever seeing him too upset in the press about the band's break up. It's the Weymouth/Frantz household were Byrne's name is really mud. But if I had to play Wordy Rappinghood 100 nights a year, I'd be pretty irritable too.

 

--Mike

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As usual I don't feel badly for any of them. Bands break up!! Hopefully the 3/4 have a decent contract so they get plenty of royalties. They must all be fairly wealthy. The best reason to get TH back together is to make some dough. Ask the Pixies.

 

LouieB

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Yeah, I agree. And I'd actually take Jerry Harrison out of this, I don't recall ever seeing him too upset in the press about the band's break up. It's the Weymouth/Frantz household were Byrne's name is really mud. But if I had to play Wordy Rappinghood 100 nights a year, I'd be pretty irritable too.

 

--Mike

 

I don't think that's fair to Chris and Tina. They have made more money of their solo career that David has on his. I think they simply want to relive the joy of the collaborative process.

David can do whatever the hell he wants to. But Talking Heads is infinitely more important than any of their solo careers. And that probably only matters to fans.

They have been off the scene for long enough that I don't think a reunion would have much impact.

In their heyday, they were bigger than REM, U2, the Police. They had multiple top 40 hits that didn't pander to popular tastes.

They could have been epic, but ended up an interesting but forgotten footnote.

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Yeah, I agree. And I'd actually take Jerry Harrison out of this, I don't recall ever seeing him too upset in the press about the band's break up. It's the Weymouth/Frantz household were Byrne's name is really mud. But if I had to play Wordy Rappinghood 100 nights a year, I'd be pretty irritable too.

 

--Mike

 

:lol

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Listen to WXRT just one day and you will hear Talking Heads about every hour. They are hardly a footnote in rock history. I would also guess that David Byrne sells more solo albums than Tom Tom Club. But either way the entire band makes plenty on radio play and back catalogue sales.

 

It is always amazing to hear huge groups like TH refered to as footnotes. These guys get books written about them, have tribute bands playing their music and loads of fans. They are hardly footnotes.

 

LouieB

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They have been off the scene for long enough that I don't think a reunion would have much impact.

In their heyday, they were bigger than REM, U2, the Police. They had multiple top 40 hits that didn't pander to popular tastes.

They could have been epic, but ended up an interesting but forgotten footnote.

 

Nothing could be further from the truth. People all over the world would love to see them get back together. They remain one of the best loved and most respected bands of their era.

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Nothing could be further from the truth. People all over the world would love to see them get back together. They remain one of the best loved and most respected bands of their era.

Really. in fact they may be THE most important group of the mid-70s NY scene.

 

There is a tendancy to think of groups as cult favorites when actually they were huge acts. Bands like CCR, Kinks, Beach Boys, etc, ruled the airwaves back in the day. TH started out small but certainly ended up huge. They had plenty of "hits" and sold tons of LPs. Love them, but now when I hear them played on XRT, I change the channel.

 

LouieB

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In the three times I've seen Byrne, there was plenty of Talking Heads material in the set lists.

As with many older musicians, why deal with tempermental old bandmates when you can pick your sidepeople and play whatever you want. David Byrne ain't dumb, he knows he is famous for the TH, why would he ignore that material. It would be like seeing Paul McCartney (or Ray Davies, etc) and him only playing Wings and after. That doesn't sell tickets.

 

LouieB

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