Review by Shawn Perry
Photos by Ron Lyon
Hard to believe that Talking Heads have been out of commission since 1991. Though they came out of the same New York City scene that spawned Blondie and the Ramones, their art-school sensibilities helped shaped a distinctively different sound than their peers. Any sort of reunion has been ruled out by singer, guitarist and the band’s main songwriter David Byrne. But thanks to Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew, the music of Talking Heads has a life after wartime.
Harrison, who played guitar and keyboards as a member of the original quartet, was joined by Belew, who recorded and toured with the band in 1980, for an evening of Remain In Light, the fourth and arguably finest album from Talking Heads. Harrison and Belew began the night with actress Tawny Newsome, who led a discussion about the band and various career highlights.
Both musicians said a video of the 1980 concert in Rome that’s been making the rounds on YouTube provided the impetus for bringing Remain In Light back to the concert stage. They shared stories about recording the album in the Bahamas. AC/DC was in the next room making Back In Black, and apparently the two bands spent time together, playing pool at the studio. Belew remarked that he cut all his tracks for the album in one day at a studio in New York City, adding that it was “all in one key.”
They also touched on the ensuing tour that took the band around the world. While they were in Italy performing, a major transport strike was underway in the country. They also received news that back home in New York City, John Lennon had been murdered. “One of our heroes died,” Belew lamented. It eventually came to light that Talking Heads albums were being reissued as the band’s popularity enjoys a resurgence.
During the brief Q&A that followed, Belew was asked to recount the story of when he was approached to work with David Bowie while he was in the middle of a Frank Zappa tour. According to the guitarist, Zappa wasn’t too happy about this particular turn of events, and when he encountered Bowie, he expressed his feelings with a blunt: “Fuck you Captain Tom.” Despite the verbal melee, Belew went on to record and tour with Bowie, noting that Zappa had demoted the singer from a major to a captain in one full swope. For his part, Harrison was asked if he ever tried on the big suit that David Byrne famously wore in the Stop Making Sense film. Answer? He didn’t.
After a brief intermission, Harrison and Belew returned to the stage with a full band that included former members of Turkuaz, bassist Julie Slick, and percussionist Yahuba Garcia-Torres. Even though the night was dedicated to Remain In Light, that didn’t stop the ensemble from opening with “Psycho Killer,” Talking Heads’ first hit from 1977 that barely scratched the Top 100. Since then, the song has achieved a legacy all its own, so it was the right one to get things rolling.
Suddenly, the entire floor of the Wiltern started to move, and the band kept the pace going for the next 90 minutes. “Crosseyed And Painless” most definitely got the party started, especially when Belew blazed through the first of many quirky guitar solos. The funky reggae feel of “Houses In Motion” gave way to the World and African rhythms of “I Zimbra” and “Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On).”
Belew sang “Cities,” one of several tunes pulled from Fear Of Music, and it immediately became apparent how similar the timbre of the singer’s voice resembled that of Byrne’s. Giving Belew a short break, Harrison took over for “Rev It Up, from his 1988 solo album, Casual Gods. Belew returned to perform King Crimson’s “Thela Hun Ginjeet,” which seamlessly blended in with the mood of the night, and nearly gave the few progheads in the audience a heart-attack in the process.
Although several members from Turkuaz had left the band in 2021, many were here tonight, including singers Shira Elias and Sammi Garett, as well as saxophonist and singer Josh Schwartz, who assumed the lead vocal duties for “Life During Wartime” and “Once In A Lifetime,” two of Talking Heads’ most beloved songs. The Wiltern had, by his time, transformed into a party and a disco with plenty of fooling around. Belew returned to the mic for Al Green’s “Take Me To The River,” a song extensively covered by Foghat, Bryan Ferry and — you guessed it — Talking Heads, who took it to the Top 40.
An encore of “The Great Curve,” the longest song from Remain In Light, brought the night home in grand, rapturous style. Harrison, Belew and their cracking band took well-earned bows, as the house roared their approval and hoped for more. Likely, a few ventured up to San Francisco over the weekend to watch the group run through a shorter set and reconnect with the music of Talking Heads. Oh yeah, to quote one of the night’s numbers, I got it figured out.
