Talking Heads - “More Songs About Buildings And Food” (1978)

I was introduced to Talking Heads through my brother and his album Speaking in Tongues. I think I was around 14 years old when I began to explore TH alone so presumably I bought this album when I was around 15 years old.

 

I have changed my attitude back and forth concerning this album over the years. Initially, I felt the music a bit difficult and not fully accessible, for a 15-year-old Markus this was a challenge. Even today I find that the music demands quite a lot from the listener and put you somewhat to the test. In other periods, I have concidered this album a masterpiece and felt that an extremely small number of other albums reach the same level. Today I'm leaning more towards the latter view, although a bit tuned down.

 

My opinion about TH is that they have a new sound for each album, yet you always hear that it is TH. Maybe a lot of that can be explained by David Byrne's somewhat peculiar singing voice. This was their second album and the first (of three) which was produced by Brian Eno. It starts fast-paced and relatively accessible with one of my former favorites, Thank You For Sending Me An Angel. Then the music starts walking into more difficult roads where you need to concentrate not to be lost, but where a good focus is rewarded. Now I know I am exaggerating a bit, this is not a "difficult" album, though most of it is a little off mainstream radio (unfortunately). Each song is unique and even today I can see new things about them, which is fun. There are not many albums that offer surprises after more than 20 years of listening.

 

Towards the end of the album we get (to my knowledge) the only cover Talking Heads have done on an album, Take Me To The River, and finally the last song, The Big Country. Both songs were released as singles and the first mentioned ended up in the charts (# 26 on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart). The latter is a slower track than the rest on the album and used to be one of my favorites. Now I have found other songs on the album that I find more interesting, though. Summary: I have all the Talking Heads albums and I think is the most difficult of them, but also one of the best and most interesting. I can not do anything else but recommend it.

About the name of the record, I quote:
"When we were making this album I remembered this stupid discussion we had about titles for the last album," Tina smirked. "At that time I said, 'What are we gonna call an album that's just about buildings and food?' And Chris said, 'You call it more songs about buildings and food.”

Finally, in 2003 the Rolling Stone magazine published their list of the 500 best albums ever made. More Songs About Buildings And Food got a 382nd place which might be considered a proof that the album is actually really good (if you believe that these kinds of lists mean anything).

Tracklist

Side A
"Thank You for Sending Me an Angel" - 2:11
"With Our Love" - 3:30
"The Good Thing" - 3:03
"Warning Sign" - 3:55
"The Girls Want to Be With the Girls" - 2:37
"Found a Job" - 5:00

Side B
"Artists Only" (Byrne, Wayne Zieve) - 3:34
"I'm Not in Love" - 4:33
"Stay Hungry" (Byrne, Chris Frantz) - 2:39
"Take Me To The River" (Al Green, Teenie Hodges) - 5:00
"The Big Country" - 5:30