Tuesday, April 8, 2008

"This ain't no party, this ain't no disco."

I've often said that my favorite music "scene" is likely New York City in the late 1970s. You had The Ramones, Blondie, Television, Patti Smith and the Talking Heads - often sharing bills at CBGB, the Mudd Club, Max's Kansas City...I can only imagine catching some of those shows. In the spirit of the lat 1970s NYC scene, I bring you an aural snapshot.



First up is a 4-song collection of Blondie demos from 1975. The highlight for me is a cover of the Shangri-Las' classic "Out in the Streets." Tight!

Blondie- Demo EP
1. Out in the Streets
2. Thin Line
3. Platinum Blonde
4. Puerto Rico



Following that line of thought, here are a collection of demos that the Talking Heads presented to CBS Records, also from 1975. Most of these songs were re-recorded for the band's first two albums, and the demo versions definitely exhibit the energy of those discs. The others wound up on the Sand in the Vaseline collection, and later as bonus cuts on the glorious Brick boxed set, which I **highly** recommend. I actually owned all of the albums previously, but was still blown away by the revamped collection. Well worth the money.

Talking Heads - CBS Demos

01 Psycho Killer
02 Sugar On My Tongue
03 Thank You For Sending Me An Angel
04 I Want To Live
05 I Wish You Wouldn't Say That
06 The Girls Want To Be With The Girls
07 Who Is It?
08 With Our Love
09 Stay Hungry
10 Tentative Decisions
11 Warning Sign
12 I'm Not In Love
13 The Book I Read
14 Love Goes To Building On Fire
15 No Compassion

7 comments:

Dan said...

I'll spare you the gratuitous link to my site, but I came across you today when looking for a Zappa picture and had to link you up (to my 5 dedicated readers).

This is a really excellent thing you have going here. Keep up the good work.

Gonzo said...

No - please do share your link! I can't access your profile for some reason.

Thanks for stopping by, and for the kind words!

Anonymous said...

I happened to come across this blog post of yours at the same time I came across the following Muxtape mix: http://nylife.muxtape.com/, which, though not exactly related, strikes me as at least somewhat related.

Dan said...

I usually get annoyed by people throwing up ad/links, but posing as people interested in the blog...that's why I did not.

And I am having trouble with the blocked profile...sorry about that.

Anyway, musingsfromcleveland.blogspot.com.

I do post up music a few times a week, but then venture off into other random amusements.

Thanks again, you have a lot of cool stuff here I have to explore!

Dolph said...

Hi Gonzo -- great post! The Blondie stuff rules. I'm trying to open the Talking Heads file but I'm being asked for a password, and I couldn't find a reference to one. Help!

Gonzo said...

Dolph- Hmm. I generally don't put passwords on my uploads, so I'm at a bit of a loss - I can't remember! Try the URL of the blog. Otherwise, you might be able to find this elsewhere, or maybe I will reupload it sometime.

Dolph said...

Thanks for getting back to me. Unfortunately, all the variations I've tried of your URL haven't worked. I'll keep looking, and if I find these elsewhere I'll post the link -- but if you have time to re-up it, even better!