Talking Heads First Singles

1977.   'Corporate rock', 'arena rock', 'cheap rock' or whatever you want to call it was dominating the radio.  As some sort of backlash, arty non-commercial bands began springing up playing original material on their own terms.  This would later be termed 'new-wave' as music promoters love to label music.   The New York scene gave us several bands that would later go on to great acclaim and/or success.  The Ramones, Television and Blondie to name a few.   Rising to the top of the heap were Talking Heads.  (Yes folks, no 'the.).

Around the time of their first album '1977' came a few singles.

First up:

Love -> Building on Fine b/w New Feeling.

The first single released in advance of the first album features a stand alone A-Side which would be part of the live show for many years to come.  As the cover photo indicates, Talking Heads was a three piece at this point.  Jerry Harrison had yet to join.  The B-Side was re-recorded for their debut LP.

Between the release of this and the first LP, distribution of Sire Records went from ABC to Warner Brothers.  As a result, this single went out of print quickly.

The album gets released and the first single is dropped hoping to get their music on the radio.....

Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town b/w I Wish You Wouldn't Say That

They graced us with a B-Side.  A cute little track that clocks in under two minutes.

As the reputation of the band grew through their live gigs in clubs and at college campuses across the USA, one track from the first album became a standout.  It got the single treatment.

Psycho Killer/Psycho Killer (acoustic version)

Psycho Killer would be played at every Talking Heads live show throughout their career.    The single release gave us an acoustic version as the B-Side.  On Talking Head's 'Stop Making Sense' tour - their last - an acoustic version of this song opened the show.