Every Talking Heads Album, Ranked
Talking Heads made all their studio records in about eleven years and never made another, so the vote here covers a short, restless run. Two questions decide membership, however weak the record: is Talking Heads the credited act, and is it a studio album? True Stories, studio takes of David Byrne's film songs, passes; live sets, compilations, remixes and Byrne's soundtrack album fail. Deluxe, expanded and anniversary sets count as their original album; bonus songs on one count alone only if made for that set and released apart as an album or EP. Six lists (SPIN, Stereogum, Consequence, Far Out, Rough Trade, ClassicRockHistory.com) split the run: a top-three place on 3 or more, live albums struck first, earns the higher band, the rest sit beneath, and your vote orders each band. Links reuse any ListWorld already has; the rest point at Spotify's earliest copy whose songs and song count match the record as first issued, whatever its page's year, or else the earliest holding all those songs, with entries naming additions and drops, misprints, restylings and remaster tags aside.
Talking Heads — Fear of Music (1979) is #1 on “Every Talking Heads Album, Ranked”.
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Talking Heads — Fear of Music (1979)
The band cut the basic tracks in Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth's loft in Long Island City, with a Record Plant van running cables in through the window. I Zimbra takes its nonsense words from a poem by the Dadaist Hugo Ball and has Robert Fripp on guitar. SPIN, Stereogum, Rough Trade and ClassicRockHistory.com each give it a top-three place, 4 of the 6, while Consequence prints it fourth and Far Out fifth.
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Talking Heads — More Songs About Buildings and Food (1978)
The cover, David Byrne's idea carried out by Jimmy De Sana, is a mosaic of 529 Polaroids of the band. They cut it in Nassau, at Compass Point, in March and April 1978, and Take Me to the River, an Al Green song, climbed to number 26 on the US pop chart in 1979. SPIN prints it first, and it's third or better at every ranking except ClassicRockHistory.com, which has it sixth, 5 of 6 in all.
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Talking Heads — Remain in Light (1980)
Adrian Belew plays the long guitar solos on The Great Curve through four effects units, and Nona Hendryx sings backing vocals on the record. Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz worked out the sleeve, red blocks over the band's faces, with help from MIT researcher Walter Bender's team, and all the rankings seat it in a top three, 6 of 6, first at five of them and second at SPIN.
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Talking Heads — Speaking in Tongues (1983)
Robert Rauschenberg won a Grammy for the limited-edition LP, clear vinyl in clear plastic with three clear discs of printed collages. Spotify's copy has the extended versions of five songs from the original cassette, so it runs just over 47 minutes against the vinyl's 40:51, closing on This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody), and Far Out's second place plus thirds from Consequence and ClassicRockHistory.com add up to a top three on 3 of 6, exactly the line.
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Talking Heads — Talking Heads: 77 (1977)
Jerry Harrison joined in January 1977, and by the April sessions at Sundragon in New York the band was a four-piece, with Tony Bongiovi and Lance Quinn co-producing. Psycho Killer peaked at number 92 on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1978, and Spotify prints the album's title as Talking Heads '77. Far Out ranks it fourth, its highest anywhere, and that leaves 0 of 6 rankings with it in a top three.
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Talking Heads — Little Creatures (1985)
Howard Finster, the outsider artist, painted the cover, and the band produced the record themselves at Sigma Sound in New York between October 1984 and March 1985, with And She Was going out as a single that August. The album reached number 10 in Britain and is certified double platinum in the US. ClassicRockHistory.com's fourth is the kindest placing it gets, and its count of top-three places is 0 of 6.
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Talking Heads — True Stories (1986)
Radiohead took their name from Radio Head, which Spotify's copy, the Deluxe Version, lists as Radio Head - 2005 Remaster, the tag all nine album songs carry; three bonus tracks follow, an extended Wild Wild Life plus Papa Legba sung by Pops Staples and Radio Head sung by Tito Larriva. Stereogum puts it fifth, higher than any other ranking does, which still leaves it out of every top three, 0 of 6.
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Talking Heads — Naked (1988)
Steve Lillywhite shared production with the band at Davout in Paris from August 1987, words and vocals following in New York, and Johnny Marr plays guitar on (Nothing But) Flowers. Spotify's copy, every track tagged 2005 Remaster, holds the eleven CD songs, Bill included though the vinyl left it off, plus Sax and Violins from a 1991 film soundtrack. Consequence and Rough Trade print it seventh, its best, leaving it 0 of 6 for a top three.
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