Scott Isler, Trouser Press, 7/82

The Name of This Band is Talking Heads

As the title of this two-record set indicates,
Talking Heads have approached the inevitable
live album with characteristically relentless
logic. This package might seem ill-timed with
a new studio album already in the can, but The
Name of This Band is not the typical live "stall"
release. If nothing else, it provides crucial
documentation of the bygone expanded Heads
onstage in full cry--one of rock’s finer moments
in the 80s.

And there is something else. The album traces
the Heads’ rapid evolution over four years.
The first side was recorded in late 1977 in a
studio with what sounds like a small audience.
Songs are all drawn from the debut ’77 LP with
the exception of the previously unissued "A
Clean Break"--not a major work but a good band
workout. Compared to the claustrophobic studio
album, the Heads here sound more natural and
powerful.

Two years later, on the second side, the band
has graduated to theaters and enthusiastic
crowds. Apart from another come-on, the long-
playing debut of "Building on Fire," the material
draws on the Heads’ second and third albums.
Again, spacious sound shows up the studio versions
as dry in comparison. The downbeat "Memories
(Can’t Wait)" is an odd choice, for which "Stay
Hungry," with an extended instrumental section
in the middle, compensates.

The third and fourth sides, from Remain In Light
tours, are the most fascinating. Anyone who
marveled at this live organization--including
guitarist Adrian Belew, keyboard player Bernie
Worrell, bassist Busta Jones, percussionist
Steve Scales and singer Dolette McDonald, besides
the standard Heads--will welcome these cleanly
recorded souvenirs of the band’s polyphonic
glory. The irrepressible Belew enlivens "Drugs"
and "Houses in Motion"; the latter is over half
again as long as the studio version through the
triple-guitar interplay of Belew, David Byrne
and Jerry Harrison. "Crosseyed and Painless"
opens with a medium-tempo instrumental that
doesn’t jell with the song proper, but the
keyboard noodling and jubilant female chorus
(with Nona Hendryx) on "Life During Wartime"
renders the Fear of Music recording almost
staid by contrast.

If you’re unfamiliar with Talking Heads and
always feared their egghead reputation, The Name
of This Band will serve as a doubt-dispelling
"greatest hits" assemblage. (Yes, "Take Me to
the River" is here, in a smoldering performance.)
The album will also reacquaint fans with the
consistently high level of musicianship and
sheer punch Talking Heads have always used to
put across their...art. (You didn’t expect to
read about the band without seeing that word,
did you?)