THE NAME OF THIS BAND IS TALKING HEADS

Not only were Talking Heads a great studio band but they could definitely hold their ground even in a live setting. Even if Stop Making Sense is the more popular choice when it comes to proving that, I personally always preferred that early period of their first four albums which is perfectly covered on the 2-CD compilation called The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads!

Spanning over a total of 33 tracks on two CD's split into two parts where the first CD covers the period of 1977-79, where the band plays almost entirely as a quartet, and the second CD that covers the period of 1980-81, where the band was expanded into a mini-orchestra and featured Adrian Belew on guitar and backing vocals. The entire length of this live compilation is almost 160 minutes, giving a very complete experience of the two periods in Talking Heads' career, showing us the amazing live band that they were back in the day.

Even to this day I can't decide which of the two CDs I actually prefer since it usually depends on my mood. Right now I'm definitely leaning to the simpler, but more direct, approach of the early live material where the band relies entirely on their traditional rock music instruments and David Byrne's front man charisma in order to convey their music to the audiences. This works brilliantly thanks to the crisp sound production and great enthusiasm from the band members who manage to make most of these performances even more exciting than their studio versions! The second CD can almost be described as Adrian Belew's tour de force since he pretty much hijacks the band's sound on songs like Warning Sign, Born Under Punches and Crosseyed And Painless!

There is really no denying that The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads is the ultimate Talking Heads live album experience. Stop Making Sense might be more interesting for people who are not entirely familiar with Talking Heads' music since it offers a rich visual feast to back up the experience, but songs from Speaking In Tongues tend to ruin some of its momentum for me. This is definitely not the case here, even if I hesitate to give this release the highest rating due to such a wide variety of live performances featured here, I highly recommend everyone to check out this album!

***** star songs: New Feeling (3:10) Pulled Up (4:04) Psycho Killer (5:32) Who Is It (1:44) The Book I Read (4:22) I'm Not In Love (4:57) Artists Only (3:49) Air (4:01) Love->Building On Fire (3:47) Psycho Killer (5:33) Warning Sign (5:40) Cities (5:00) Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) (8:24) Crosseyed And Painless (5:58) Life During Wartime (4:54)

**** star songs: A Clean Break (5:05) Don't Worry About The Government (3:04) The Big Country (5:09) The Girls Want To Be With The Girls (3:44) Electricity (Drugs) (3:28) Found A Job (5:35) Stay Hungry (4:05) Heaven (4:31) Stay Hungry (3:56) Drugs (4:41) Once In A Lifetime (5:57) Animals (4:05) Houses In Motion (6:54) Take Me To The River (6:33) The Great Curve (6:42)

*** star songs: Mind (4:56) Memories (Can't Wait) (3:44) I Zimbra (3:30)