My 50 Favorite Albums (continued)

My friend Mark Leavitt has been urging me to include the great film soundtrack to The Talking Head's Stop Making Sense in my Top 50.  That was a great concert film, possibly the second best concert film after The Last Waltz, which is in my Top 50.  The start to Stop Making Sense is simply brilliant theater and I never tire of seeing it.

But when it comes to the Talking Heads, there are a bunch of studio albums to consider.  The debut record, 77, is fantastic. Remain In Light and Speaking In Tongues are also truly great records.  And the rest of their records aren't too shabby either.

My pesonal favorite by a long shot is Speaking In Tongues. 

It reminds me of the time when the Gotham Gal and I moved to New York City in the summer of 1983. 

This was the soundtrack of our first real home and David Byrne's best song of all time, This Must Be The Place, was the theme song for that apartment.

So tonight David Byrne makes to top 50.

Comments

[jim plot thompson hat pobox plot com]

Just one fan's opinion: Tongues is indeed a good album, although the attempt to go more radio- and MTV-accessible seemed to take some of the unique THeadness away from it. In my opinion, Remain In Light is the best THeads album: so much energy and that Byrnesque your-vertical-hold-is-on-the-blink quality. The whole album is like a blissful religious trance, but "Once In a Lifetime" by itself makes Light the best album. You can throw out all the other mmm mmm goodness of Remain In Light and still have the best THeads album. And to boot, the Once In a Lifetime video was at once both the best and strangest video ever. But I haven't watched MTV in a couple of decades, so that might have changed.

Same as it ever was...

[Mark Munroe]

Good top 50 list. Almost every album that I know from your list will make my list.

Your Wilco, Heads, Gillian, Miles, Dylan, REM. Clash all make my list as well. For me, the Band album has to be the Brown album. Somehow I missed out on the Cure, the Replacements and Nirvana (need to start listening). Really the only one on your list that I would nay to are U2 and Black Sabbath (because my brother played Paranoid every day for 2 years when I was 12).

Thanks for the list and it will give me some exploring to do on Rhapsody.

[jackson]

I'm partial to 'Fear of Music', THE song being 'Heaven', but still a good pick, and a great band. THeads plus Eno plus Belew equals woohoo!

[CaseyAC]

Nice list. It seems we have music in common. You should check out my blog on my top 5 favorite albums.
tunesviacasey.blogspot.com