Lindsey & The Talking Heads

[BlueGrass]

I around the time Tusk was being recorded Lindsey was listening to a lot of different types of music, like the underground punk scene. He also mentioned Talking Heads as being an inspiration,

I d/l a few songs like "Burning Down The House" and you can hear their influence. Especially in the sparatic acoustic guitar work and vocals on songs like "The Ledge," "Not That Funny" and "I Know I'm Not Wrong."

What do you guys think? I know we always talk about his Kingston trio and Brian Wilson influences but I'd like to hear you opinions on this one.

[Skylark]

Lindsey speaks of his interest in the "newer" music of the
time...he liked all those new "punkier" bands! He wanted to
move ahead not just stick to a tried formula! You can hear
these influences in his TUSK Tunes for which he was rebuked!
He said it hurt him...but...it is his favorite album to this day!!!;)

Andrea Bocelli was talking to Charlie Rose and he said it is
very necessary for an artist's music to stay fresh! Bye, sky:)

[BlueGrass]

Okay.

[blinker12]

Yeah, I can definitely hear the Talking Heads influence on "Tusk" and even some of the more experimental stuff on "Mirage" (such as "Empire State").
BlueGrass, "Burning Down the House" was from the album "Speaking in Tongues," which was released in 1983. You might check out some of the Heads' earlier albums, including "77," "Fear of Music" and my personal favorite, "More Songs About Buildings And Food," to hear how the group influenced Lindsey on "Tusk." You can hear it in Lindsey's singing _ he gets kind of punky-nerdy on "Not That Funny," in a style reminiscent of David Byrne _ and in the more aggressive, punkier guitar playing.

[BlueGrass]

Originally posted by blinker12
Yeah, I can definitely hear the Talking Heads influence on "Tusk" and even some of the more experimental stuff on "Mirage" (such as "Empire State").
BlueGrass, "Burning Down the House" was from the album "Speaking in Tongues," which was released in 1983. You might check out some of the Heads' earlier albums, including "77," "Fear of Music" and my personal favorite, "More Songs About Buildings And Food," to hear how the group influenced Lindsey on "Tusk." You can hear it in Lindsey's singing _ he gets kind of punky-nerdy on "Not That Funny," in a style reminiscent of David Byrne _ and in the more aggressive, punkier guitar playing.

Cool thanks.

[BlueGrass]

Yeah, he gets punky on WMYTYTO too.

[Les]

Time Bomb Town and the herky-jerky vocal delivery, which I love, always struck me as having a flavor or two of David Byrne in there.

[BlueGrass]

Originally posted by Les
Time Bomb Town and the herky-jerky vocal delivery, which I love, always struck me as having a flavor or two of David Byrne in there.

YES

[sulamith]

Lindsey also talked at that time about how he would be more comfortable in a band like The Clash than in FM.

I hear some Clash influences on Tusk and L&O as well.

-Sharon

[Skylark]

THANKS Sharon...The Clash is the group I was
trying to remember him talking about! He jumped
up on stage with REM in 1995! Maybe he Should
have joined one of those Rockin' Groups!:cool: Sky:)

[DownOnRodeo]

Originally posted by Skylark
THANKS Sharon...The Clash is the group I was
trying to remember him talking about! He jumped
up on stage with REM in 1995! Maybe he Should
have joined one of those Rockin' Groups!:cool: Sky:)

FM IS a rockin group!
They're getting rid of the women, one by one!!! lol:laugh: ;)

[CarneVaca]

I wonder how many would make the association with the Talking Heads if Lindsey hadn't mentioned it. In addition, maybe it's just me, but I don't hear any Clash in Lindsey's or Fleetwood Mac's sound. Lindsey also has mentioned that back then he was listening to the B-52s, a band that I simply never got. I still think their music was fairly idiotic. Yet, I do hear a bit of influence from them in some of Lindsey's early 80s stuff.

More recently, he said he was listening to Bach and Radiohead a lot while recording GOS songs. The Bach thing may explain the evolution of his acoustic playing style. The Radiohead influence is a little murkier, but maybe you can hear some of that in "Come." Then again, if he had never mentioned it, I would never have made an association with Radiohead. And I don't know if he's actually mentioned it, but I suspect he had been listening to Beck as well. Considering the Tom Petty-Beck link, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Lindsey and Beck have crossed paths. I can certainly see a Lindsey influence in Beck's music, whether it is conscious or not.

[chiliD]

Originally posted by DownOnRodeo

They're getting rid of the women, one by one!!! lol:laugh: ;)

Well, after this big hoo-ha, maybe Stevie will leave, they get Rick Vito AND Bob Welch (longshot, I know, but hey, weirder things have happened in this band!) back and then the three of 'em will have knock-down, drag-out, guitar-slinging duels night after night. :laugh:

:blob2:

Oh, chili, you're so ridiculous!

[David]

Originally posted by CarneVaca
I wonder how many would make the association with the Talking Heads if Lindsey hadn't mentioned it. In addition, maybe it's just me, but I don't hear any Clash in Lindsey's or Fleetwood Mac's sound.If I understand Lindsey's general idea accurately, I think that the "influence" a lot of these bands left on Lindsey was at least as much about approach & conception as it was about actual sounds---maybe more so, even.

All these groups---Beck, Talking Heads, B-52s, the Clash, Radiohead---conceived of track-building & arrangement & instrumentation in innovative ways. I think what energized him was the freedom these other bands must have felt in their own recordings to stray from the conventional perspective of the Quarterflash hit-single sound, which sounded pretty tired even when it was brand new.

I can picture Lindsey, back in the late '70s or early '80s, hearing the latest radio single by Quarterflash or Styx or Pat Benatar or a million others & just groaning from the sheer, enervated deadweight of it all: music that was so cliched & so ponderous in its use of the recording medium that it was the radio equivalent of paint-by-numbers---you take your "artwork" to the local swap meet & sell a bundle to all the booboisie, who want every last brush stroke to resemble every other brush stroke, right down the straight-&-narrow path of copycat conventionality.

I think Lindsey (& thousands of other hip kids listening to college & underground radio at the time) had absolutely no patience for this kind of mass-market dreck. The irony is that Fleetwood Mac came dangerously close to this dreck pretty often over the years, more so in his absence, but still ....

[Skylark]

Les...Time Bomb Town does sound like that fun staccato-like
innovation they had! They were Great! Still make us laugh!!!:)
Lindsey also said he listened to Chinese music and Kodo-
music! We saw a Kodo group in Fla....they were GREAT! Sky:)

[seteca]

Originally posted by David
If I understand Lindsey's general idea accurately, I think that the "influence" a lot of these bands left on Lindsey was at least as much about approach & conception as it was about actual sounds---maybe more so, even.



Yes, I totally agree, and after hearing "Tusk" SO many times over the years, it is possible to quite clearly identify how and from who (or perhaps it would be better to say "from which groups") Lindsey got the ideas for some of his songs. Like you said, not really anything to do with the sound, but "approach and conception".

:wavey: :wavey: :wavey:

[Mac Fan]

Originally posted by CarneVaca
but I don't hear any Clash in Lindsey's or Fleetwood Mac's sound.


Neither do I.