The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads


The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads is a double live album by American new wave band Talking Heads, originally released in 1982. The first LP featured the original quartet in recordings from 1977 and 1979, and the second LP featured the expanded ten-piece lineup that toured in 1980 and 1981. The album contains live versions of songs that appear on their first four studio albums: , More Songs About Buildings and Food, Fear of Music, and Remain in Light. The cassette edition of the album included "Cities", a bonus track not included on the vinyl edition, which also appeared on the subsequent CD release.
The title of the album is a reference both to the group's preference for having no expressed definite article within the band name and to David Byrne's minimalist introductions to songs. The album opens with one such introduction: "The name of this song is 'New Feeling'. That's what it's about."
An expanded version of the record was released on CD in 2004 by Sire/Warner Bros./Rhino, marking the album's first ever CD release in the United States. It duplicated the pattern of the original album, with the first disc featuring the quartet alone and the second disc the ten-member band. Eight additional performances from 1978 and 1979 were added to the first disc, and seven additional tracks from the 1980-81 tour were added to the second disc, with the latter disc featuring a reconfigured running order reflecting the tour's set list from the larger band. However, the introduction to the song "Crosseyed and Painless" was edited out on this CD version.
The remastered and expanded edition of the album is No. 15 on the Metacritic list of all-time best-reviewed albums. In 2013, Rhino reissued the vinyl version of the album, again without bonus tracks, but with the longer version of "Crosseyed and Painless." The original design of the packaging was also replicated, but the LPs were packaged in plastic sleeves. The album also utilized the original analog mastering for the LP from 1982.

Track listing

Original (1982) LP track listing

All songs written by David Byrne except where noted.

Side one

  1. "New Feeling" – 3:10
  2. "A Clean Break" – 4:57
  3. "Don't Worry About the Government" – 3:08
  4. "Pulled Up" – 4:08
  5. "Psycho Killer" – 5:34

    Side two

  6. "Artists Only" – 3:48
  7. "Stay Hungry" – 4:00
  8. "Air" – 4:09
  9. "Love → Building on Fire" – 3:36
  10. "Memories " – 3:58

    Side three

  11. "I Zimbra" – 3:33
  12. "Drugs" – 4:47
  13. "Houses in Motion" – 7:00
  14. "Life During Wartime" – 5:03

    Side four

  15. "The Great Curve" – 6:58
  16. "Crosseyed and Painless" – 7:05
  17. "Take Me to the River" – 6:43

    2004 CD reissue track listing

All songs written by David Byrne except where noted. Dates and places are for the first and following tracks.

Disc one

  1. "New Feeling" – 3:09
  2. "A Clean Break " – 5:05
  3. "Don't Worry About The Government" – 3:03
  4. "Pulled Up" – 4:04
  5. "Psycho Killer" – 5:31
  6. "Who Is It?" – 1:44
  7. "The Book I Read" – 4:22
  8. "The Big Country" – 5:09
  9. "I'm Not in Love" – 4:57
  10. "The Girls Want to Be with the Girls" – 3:44
  11. "Electricity " – 3:28
  12. "Found a Job" – 5:35
  13. "Mind" – 4:56
  14. "Artists Only" – 3:49
  15. "Stay Hungry" – 4:05
  16. "Air" – 4:01
  17. "Love → Building on Fire" – 3:47
  18. "Memories " – 3:44
  19. "Heaven" – 4:31

    Disc two

  20. "Psycho Killer" – 5:33
  21. "Warning Sign" – 5:40
  22. "Stay Hungry" – 3:56
  23. "Cities" – 5:00
  24. "I Zimbra" – 3:30
  25. "Drugs " – 4:41
  26. "Once in a Lifetime" – 5:57
  27. "Animals" – 4:05
  28. "Houses in Motion" – 6:54
  29. "Born Under Punches " – 8:24
  30. "Crosseyed and Painless" – 5:58
  31. "Life During Wartime" – 4:54
  32. "Take Me to the River" – 6:33
  33. "The Great Curve" – 6:42

    Personnel

Talking Heads
Additional personnel
Production
Reissue personnel
Album
YearChartPeak
Position
1982Billboard Pop Albums31