Talking Heads: 77
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Talking Heads: 77
Talking Heads: 77 is the debut album by American rock band Talking Heads. It was recorded in April 1977 at New York's Sundragon Studios and released on September 16 of that year by Sire Records. The single "Psycho Killer" reached number 92 on the Billboard Hot 100. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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GQ
The debut album from the band, Talking Heads: 77 pioneered a new sound in music. All of those art-school punk characteristics that the four musicians carried were piled into its production.
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The Student Playlist
While they would soon surpass it as an artistic achievement, notably with 1979’s excellent Fear Of Music and 1980’s polyrhythmical masterpiece Remain In Light, the utter originality of their debut makes it striking, even four decades later.
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Peanut Butter Pope
This is a post-punk triumph if I ever heard one, with the aloof over-the-top wackiness that holds hands with genuine outspoken statements, I love it, it’s one of the greatest introductions to any recording artist.
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Paste
Talking Heads’ debut album spawned one of their biggest hits, “Psycho Killer,” and it marked the formal start of one of the most important art-punk bands ever.
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Aphoristic Album Reviews
I’ve always found Talking Heads: ’77 the most inaccessible of the Heads’ albums; it’s tuneful and interesting, but difficult to approach.
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A Pop Life
The album’s songs sound very direct and barely produced, even though the guitars are clearly multi-tracked. It all sounds very organic and spontaneous.
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The Omega
Talking Heads: 77 is a fantastic album in every aspect. Despite being nearly forty years old, the erratic pop of vocalist David Byrne, funky rhythms of bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Frantz, and the loose guitar work of Jerry Harrison make Talking Heads: 77 a timeless treat.
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COS
Still, their debut is simply sensational in any context. It introduces a band that’s gifted in sardonic observations and itinerant melodies, fully capable of out-grooving a seasoned R&B band or out-excoriating a rabid punk band.
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Only Solitaire
I guess it's also the most optimistic album you'll ever be hearing from these lads - heck, if even 'Psycho Killer' doesn't sound frightening, then what's to be said about the love songs (which, confusedly enough, form the majority of the album)? If all these reasons aren't enough for you to go out and buy the record, you must be a reclusive Phil Keaggy fan or something.
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WARR
In small doses it's great, but after a whole album - at roughly the same tempo - may start to feel like water torture.
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The Young Folks
The record provided a musical outlet for outsiders and “artfags,” as well as anyone else who didn’t feel an attachment to disco or arena rock. The phrase “ahead of its time” gets used to death, but with this album, it is actually warranted.
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AOTY
"Talking Heads: 77" is a great introduction to the New Wave sound of Talking Heads. David Byrne's charming performances and writing are on full display here, and the catchy lyrics and great instrumentation help further this, at the time, very new sound.
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The Rumpus
There isn’t a weak song on Talking Heads: 77. It’s funny, it’s lyrical, it rocks, and the songs stick in your head.
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Sputnik Music
Talking Heads: 77 proves itself a token of clarity from the most humanly inhuman band of all time.
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Rolling Stone
Talking Heads are not even remotely punks. Rather, they are the great Ivy League hope of pop music. I can’t recall when I last heard such a vital, imaginatively tuneful album.
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Drowned in Sound
And, though Talking Heads 77 was ahead of its time, it can sound dated in places. Then again, with music this good, that’s half the attraction.
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No Filler
Talking Heads came straight out of the New York punk scene with a sound that needed a new classification, quickly pioneering the term "new wave" with their mix of punk, art rock, and funk.
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Listnd
The album is very funky, the guitars, drums and especially the bass are wonderful, and David Byrne's vocals are perfect as always. There are a lot of great decisions and ideas on this album.
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Post Ponk Munk
This was nothing else but a band who trusted their artistic instincts; and their instincts served them spectacularly well in turn.
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Bored and Dangerous
Each and every song is so completely Talking Heads, and so completely belongs together here on Talking Heads
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Lemon Wire
Talking Heads’ debut often remains forgotten, sometimes with good reason. At the very least, it is an interesting portrait of a unique band on the verge of super-stardom.
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Diffuser
'Talking Heads: 77' is the sound of one of the era's most exciting, and restless, bands finding its groove.
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Kamer Tunes Blog
Their debut album, Talking Heads: 77, is my favorite re-discovery, and I would now put it on the list of greatest debut albums of all time.
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