The Talking Heads - Gangster of Love - Non-Album Tracks (1986-1992)

I've had a problem with making albums out of the Talking Heads' stray tracks. When I looked at their career, such tracks came in three clusters: one in their formative years, 1975 to 1977, one during a big gap between official albums, 1982 to 1983, and then a mere four songs in the tail end of their career, 1986 to 1992. But those four songs are too good to ignore.

So I've made an album with those four songs, plus the best solo songs from that time period. Is it a Talking Heads album. Only sort of. But it is an album of solid music? Definitely!

The Talking Heads ended with a whimper instead of a bang. They stopped touring entirely in 1983 (with the tour stretching a little bit into 1984), but they released three more studio albums after that. The last album, "Naked," came out in 1988, but they got together to finish off a "Naked" outtake, "Sax and Violins," for a 1991 movie soundtrack. Then they finished off another outtake in 1992, "Gangster of Love," for a best of compilation. And that was it. They've done nothing together since (except for a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame appearance in 2002) and bad blood between members makes it likely there never will be a reunion.

So of course I included those two songs, plus two more "Naked" outtakes that were released years later, "Lifetime Piling Up" and "In Asking Land." Personally, I think all four of these songs, which were at least attempted during the "Naked" sessions, are better than most of the songs that made the final cut of that album.

But I'm still left far short of an album's worth of music. So I chose my four favorite songs from David Byrne's first solo album, 1989's "Rei Momo." One of those, "Loco D'Amor," was actually released three years earlier for a movie soundtrack. I also included the one minor Jerry Harrison hit from this time period, "Rev It Up," and one Tom Tom Club song, "Love Wave." Tom Tom Club released two albums during this time, but didn't have any real hits. However, I think that one song is my favorite from those albums.

Someone else putting an album like this together may well have selected different songs. Especially with the Byrne material, there aren't four songs that are universally considered the best of that album. But these are the ones I like the most. I think if all these solo songs would have been done by the Talking Heads, it would have made for a very excellent final album.

By the way, the songs are in chronological order. I think it works pretty well, even though it results in three solo David Byrne songs in a row.

01 Loco D'Amour (David Byrne with Celia Cruz)
02 Lifetime Piling Up (Talking Heads)
03 In Asking Land (Talking Heads)
04 Rev It Up (Jerry Harrison)
05 Dirty Old Town (David Byrne)
06 Good and Evil (David Byrne)
07 Lie to Me (David Byrne)
08 Sax and Violins (Talking Heads)
09 Love Wave (Tom Tom Club)
10 Gangster of Love (Talking Heads)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16376810/TTALKNGHDS1986-1992GngsterofLve_atse.zip.html

Thanks to Peter at the Albums I Wish Existed blog for the cover art.