September
17th marks the 45th anniversary of the debut LP by Talking Heads, 77,
which was released on this day in, of all years, 1977! While the band
came along in parallel with fellow CBGB scene makers like the Ramones
and Blondie, they cut a distinctive path of their own, which made it
clear that the NYC scene was about far more than three chord thrashing,
not that there’s anything wrong with that!
The band had been
courted by numerous record labels for some time prior to finally signing
with Sire Records to record their debut. The problem was that the
group simply didn’t feel competent enough to pull off a satisfying
recording and also felt their ranks needed to be expanded from a trio to
a quartet, which took a bit of searching before coming across former
Modern Lovers keyboardist/guitarist, Jerry Harrison. Lou Reed had taken
a keen interest in mentoring the group early on after seeing them live a
few times at CBGB. He even invited them over to his place for a
critique one night where he advised them on adjusting some song
arrangements, recommending a slower tempo for one song, and he cautioned
David Byrne against wearing short sleeves on stage due to his
excessively hairy arms. Lou nudged them towards his manager, who
immediately offered them a contract, but the band were savvy enough to
have a lawyer take a look at it before signing anything. He warned that
the deal would leave them with virtually no control or cash from their
efforts, so they respectfully declined, while tactfully maintaining
their friendship with Reed. It was Ramones manager, Danny Hyde, who
encouraged them to sign with Sire, in the end, stating that, while the
label suffered from most of the same pitfalls as major labels, they were
still more supportive of their bands in the long run.
Sessions
for the LP started in late 1976, before Jerry had joined, but these
were only preliminary efforts and proper work on the album wouldn’t
start until April of the next year when the group had finalized its
lineup. After two weeks, the basic bed tracks were completed and the
final overdubs and vocal sessions happened after the group completed a
short tour of Europe, which was an opportunity they couldn’t pass up.
Production
on the album was a bit conflicted as one of the producers involved had
proven somewhat difficult to work with. Tony Bongiovi was supposed to
co-produce, but Chris Franz claimed he mostly talked on the phone, read
magazines and talked about airplanes. He reportedly gave David Byrne a
knife before recording vocals for Psycho Killer, telling him to “get
into character”, but Byrne wasn’t into Tony’s approach to “method
singing” and declined. David eventually asking that Bongiovi be removed
from the session as he made him feel uncomfortable watching while he
tried to record his vocals. The group made efforts to get a replacement
producer while touring in Europe, but to no avail.
The album was
released to consistently positive reviews across the board and
immediately established Talking Heads as serious contenders within the
NYC/CBGB new music scene. Defining the more intellectual spearhead of
what would be distinguished as “new wave”, as opposed to the rawer,
faster “punk” characterized by the Ramones, they became college radio
darlings. David Byrne’s angular, jagged presence epitomized the
character of the “power-nerd”. Critic Robert Christgau said of the
album/band…
“Like Sparks, these are spoiled kids, but without the
callowness or adolescent misogyny; like Yes, they are wimps, but
without vagueness or cheap romanticism. Every tinkling harmony is
righted with a screech, every self-help homily contextualized
dramatically, so that in the end, the record proves not only that the
detachment of craft can coexist with a frightening intensity of feeling,
something most artists know, but that the most inarticulate rage can be
rationalized. Which means they're punks after all.”
