Hear the earliest known recordings of Talking Heads from 1975
The hum of a new band making their mark is exactly why debut records are so terribly exciting. There is something special that emanates from a new band’s output that makes it feel just that little bit more fearsome. That was certainly the case for Talking Heads.
Their debut record fizzed with possibility as the purity of punk was punctuated with novel creativity and unwavering drive to make something new. In the year of their formation, Talking Heads arrived in New York with a suitcase full of dreams and a mind full of the next generation of rock music. Having discarded their previous name for their incarnation, The Artistics, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth, and David Byrne arrived from the Rhode Island School of Design ready to change NYC.
Talking Heads would go on to define the city in which they now resided. They were the nerdy brothers and sisters of punk, the bookworm clique of art-nerds who would not only run alongside the punk rock explosion that the Ramones would lead with a fiery attitude and a leather-clad nonchalance, but would go on to create the new wave of rock that would dominate the upcoming decade.
In 1975, the trio, a year or so away from Jerry Harrison joining the band and possibly pushing the band into the heights we now know they occupy, took to the CBS studios to lay down some early demo versions of what would become some of the band’s standout hits. They would lay down versions of ‘Psycho Killer’, ‘Thank You For Sending Me an Angel’, and ‘I’m Not in Love’, all of which you can hear below.
That wasn’t all that the band laid down that day. In fact, what took place was a debut outing for some of their most beloved tracks and a structure for the first release of their lives as one of the most influential bands of all time.
Talking Heads would also provide early demo versions of ‘I Wish You Wouldn’t Say That,’ ‘Tentative Decisions,’ and ‘Stay Hungry’ which are now available to listen to in full below. However, despite these being the earliest versions of the Heads’ well-known tracks, there is one thing that makes these recordings particularly interesting.
What was next for Talking Heads?
The tracks first recorded by Talking Heads in 1975, so beloved by fans and now synonymous with the new wave/post-punk sound, actually predate punk itself. In that sense, perhaps it’s more accurate to call them pre-punk.
Despite their innovative and forward-thinking sound, the band went unsigned for two more years. It wasn’t CBS Records that took the chance, but Sire Records, where they would join the likes of the Ramones. From there, their journey truly began. Talking Heads followed with two landmark albums, Talking Heads: 77 and More Songs About Buildings and Food, securing their place as a defining band of the era.
Before all that could happen Frantz, Weymouth, and Byrne would come together in 1975 to arrive in New York and provide some wonderful demos.