The Toy Box

Retro Spins: Tom Tom Club - Tom Tom Club

When Talking Heads bassist Tina Weymouth, and drummer Chris Frantz initially launched the band Tom Tom Club, it was only meant to be a side project. One which served as a creative outlet for the two as they dealt with David Byrne who had taken full creative control of the Heads. However, as their self-titled debut took off in dance clubs, and peaked at number twenty-three on the Billboard 200, it became clear that they were here to stay.

For the adventure Weymouth would bring along sisters Lani, Laura, and Loric, but in addition several other members of the Compass Point All Stars family would join. This included Adrian Belew, Monte Brown, Tyrone Downie, and Uziah Thompson.

Depending on what format you buy will dictate not only the tracks you get, but subsequently the runtime. Using the original vinyl as the definitive version, if you bought the cassette version, the final track, Booming And Zooming would be replaced by a cover of Under The Boardwalk. However, the CD version would include both of these tracks, plus three bonus tracks. However, the bonuses would just be a remix and extended version of already included songs.

Wordy Rappinghood pretty much sums up the 80's. Pure nonsense gibberish, all set to a beat and synthesizer. It was stupidly fantastic in its own way. This is followed by the equally goofy lyrical Genius Of Love. The irony of this is that I never cared for either of these songs, but yet they were the reason I bought the album.

As a whole, the album approaches the music with a very nursery rhyme and childish style. Candidly, it can be annoying at times because it doesn't feel like the band itself is taking things seriously, but rather just goofing off in the studio, yet somehow producing a full record in the process. Of course, you could also go to the opposite spectrum, embrace it, and find pure joyful bliss in the simplicity of pop music.

For me, it's a relative miss. While I got into the first two tracks, as things continued in this manner, it wore thin fast. Sorry, but I need more substance to my music than just goofy sounds and rambling. It's perhaps clear why David Byrne took control of Talking Heads. If he left Weymouth and Frantz to their own devices, their music and legacy may have crumbled fast.

With that harshness stated, I will say that As Above, So Below, Lorelei, and On, On, On, On... were a pretty decent tune, and I admittedly will add Wordy Rappinghood and Genius Of Love to my shuffle. Again, those two are what I bought the album for.

I don't know. I'm on the fence with Tom Tom Club right now. On one hand, I want to say their musical geniuses for taking basic lyrics, gibberish, and solid musicianship to create a unique listening experience. However, on the other, I want to say it's so basic that it's dumb. Maybe it's both, and perhaps it depends on what your own mood is when you play through it. I'll reserve judgement until I hear their follow-up, 1983's Close To The Bone.

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Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.

Retro Spins: Talking Heads - True Stories

Today I'm wrapping up Talking Heads with the part soundtrack, part studio album, True Stories. Conceived by David Byrne as a film, which starred not only the band, but a young John Goodman, among other cast members.

Upon its release, the musical film would flop. Though critics would praise its vignettes style storytelling, it simply didn't produce the box office return needed to be a success. Since then, it's become far more popular on home video releases, even reaching cult classic status.

As for the album, it began a rapid decline for the band. While it sold what most would consider reasonably well, reaching gold status, it far underperformed expectations. It did, however, produce their biggest Billboard hit, Wild Wild Life, which peaked at number twenty-five.

Things start out with Love For Sale, which is a decent song, but even at four and a half minutes felt like it was much longer than it needed to be. This is followed by the overly produced Puzzlin' Evidence. It's with the latter that I started to feel like I was listening to a B-52's album, which wasn't necessarily a compliment.

Over production seemed like the name of the game for the entire first side of the record. But more so out in left field was the inclusion of the St. Thomas Aquinas Elementary School Choir on Hey Now. What was happening? Where were the quirky songs that made the band what they were?

When side two comes around, it kicks off with the track I bought the album for, Wild Wild Life. It's probably my favorite from Talking Heads. Things also finally start to finally sound like a Heads record with the hit being followed by Radio Head. Fortunately, things stay relatively in familiar territory from there, and the second side is far superior to the first. In fact, I'll go ahead and call the entire second half good.

With that said, this is definitely not my favorite album from the band. Somewhere along the line, they seem to have lost their way, and as a result the music suffered for it. I don't know if they were trying too hard to be part of mainstream rock, or if internal issues were ripping them apart creatively. Whatever it was, for sure there was a steady decline.

As I noted yesterday, when Talking Heads released their critically acclaimed concert video, Stop Making Sense, fans of the band had no reason to suspect that 1984 would be the last year they'd tour together. Though they remained intact, and released 1985's Little Creatures, 1986's True Stories, and 1988's Naked, rifts had long since grown between members.

This all began as early as 1978, when Brynes essentially took creative control of the band, alienated Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth, and Jerry Harrison, and then began bringing in other musicians between 1983 and 1984. Things got so bad that Weymouth and Frantz would launch their own band, Tom Tom Club as a creative outlet, while Harrison explored his own solo career.

By 1991, Byrne announced he was leaving the band in an interview with The Times, leaving his bandmates to find out via reading about it. There was no discussion, no follow-up, leaving the members furious with him. Byrne would then sue the three when he learned they were touring as The Heads in the mid-90's. This would be the final nail in the coffin between them all, and they wouldn't reunite or play together again until their 2022 induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

Watching the induction is a little tough because you can clearly see the rift between Bryne and his prior bandmates. They seemingly stand away from him as he gives his speech, and when they're all giving their own, he's off in the distance by himself. Honestly, I'm surprised that they played together that night.

Though it's been stated they have since reconciled their personal issues with each other and even appeared together again in 2023 for a brief interview. However, they've ruled out any future reunions or tours. But, as Sean Connery said, never say never.

As for me, having already listened to 1988's Naked, I'm off to find something "new" to listen to.

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Retro Spins: Talking Heads - Little Creatures

For as many waves as Talking Heads made in the 80's, it's interesting to see that they didn't have many hits peak on the Billboard Hot 100, only eight in total between 1978 and 1986. Further, none cracked the top twenty. Their biggest hit, Wild Wild Life, only peaked at number twenty-five, with their "worst", Psycho Killer, only landing at ninety-two. That was unexpected to learn.

As noted yesterday, I already listened to their 1983 released Speaking In Tongues, as such, today I'm jumping into 1985's Little Creatures. Additionally, I also covered that broad spectrum of their history in my listening session of 1988's Naked. However, there's a little to touch on before we dive in.

In 1984, Talking Heads recorded what critics would call the greatest concert video of all time, Stop Making Sense. As it opens, David Byrne steps onto an empty stage with a cassette tape player, and acoustic guitar. He announces he wants to play a tape for the audience, and pressing play, the mixing board begins a drumbeat. Byrne then begins to strum his guitar and sing Psycho Killer.

As he finishes, Tina Weymouth walks out on stage with him, and they perform Heaven. As they strum their last notes, an excited Chris Frantz jumps onto the stage, taking his seat at the drums. With three members playing, they perform Thank You For Sending Me An Angel.

Jerry Harrison then joins them, and together they perform Found A Job. Percussionist, Steve Scales, and backing vocalists Lynn Mabry, and Ednah Holt then step out from each side of the stage, and the song Slippery People is played. Last up are Alex Weir, and Bernie Worrell appear, and with everyone finally on stage together, the concert takes off with Burning Down The House.

Riding this success, Little Creatures would go on to become Talking Heads biggest selling album of all time. This was aided by the band fully embracing the MTV generation, and releasing several music videos, all of which featured their signature quirkiness.

Playing through it, it doesn't resonate with me as much as 1980's Remain In The Light, but it definitely gets immediate points for starting with the hit, And She Was. It's the tune I bought the album for, and if nothing else, I was happy to have gotten that from it.

Fortunately, that wasn't all. Though it was all new territory for me from there, I also enjoyed the songs, Lady Don't Mind, Perfect World, Stay Up Late, Walk It Down, and Television Man.

What I noticed right out of the starting gate was the immediately shift in style. While their 1980 album was more funky art rock, Little Creatures was embracing full a pop rock, and perhaps even radio friendly mainstream style. Mind you, I didn't hate it one bit, but it definitely caught me off guard on the heels of its predecessor.

Overall, I'm appreciating the band far more than I expected, especially in hindsight of my initial reviews of Naked and Speaking In Tongues. As I said in yesterday's post, I may need to give those two another shot.

For now though, I'm moving right along. My next stop is 1986's True Stories, which will be my last album from them. Until then, I hope you enjoyed not only this write up, but the plethora of music videos from both this album, and their prior. Like I said, they really embraced the MTV age, and there are a lot of them.

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Christmas Catalogs - Sears Wish Book 1976

Hey! You want to spend the next two years looking at the fantastic Christmas catalogs produced by Sears, JCPenny, and Montgomery Ward? Cause I do! Yeah, I said two years, cause that's a lot of catalogs! Join me on most Monday's each month as I post up one of those fabulous books starting with 1970, and ending with 1989.

Look through every page, feeling every bit of nostalgia. Chuckle at the look and style of the wardrobes those zanny past decade people wore. Gawk at the toys you used to have, but long since parted ways with. Bring back all those memories of hours spent laying on the floor, combing every inch as your young mind pined over everything you wanted. Reminisce over the Christmas that followed as you unwrapped those lucky few that you got.

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