Talking Heads are set to release a Super Deluxe Edition of their landmark debut studio album, Talking Heads: 77. The expanded version of the influential New Wave band’s 1977 album is due out on November 8.
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Talking Heads: 77 (Super Deluxe Edition), which can be pre-ordered now, will be available in multiple formats and configurations, and will include a newly remastered version of the original album, rarities, alternate takes, and live tracks.
A vinyl box set version of the Talking Heads: 77 reissue featuring four LPs and four 7-inch singles will be available exclusively at Talking Heads’ official store and Rhino.com.
The first LP features the remastered album, while the second “Rarities” collects B-sides, outtakes, and alternate version of several songs from Talking Heads: 77. The other two LPs boast a previously unreleased recording of the band’s final performance at the historic New York City punk club CBGB that took place in October of 1977.
The four vinyl singles replicate the four original singles Talking Heads released in conjunction with their debut album.
The vinyl box set’s discs are housed in a box with a lift-off lid. The package also features an 80-page hardcover book featuring rare photos, artwork, and memorabilia, as well as liner notes offering contributions from the group’s four members—Tina Weymouth, David Byrne, Chris Frantz, and Jerry Harrison—and from studio engineer Ed Stasium.
A newly remastered acoustic version of Talking Heads’ classic song “Psycho Killer” has been released as an advance digital track from the reissue. The track, which features late eclectic New York City musician Arthur Russell on cello, originally was released as the B-side of the “Psycho Killer” single.
Other Versions of the Reissue
The Talking Heads: 77 reissue also will be released as a three-CD/Blu-ray package featuring the same tracks and book as the vinyl box set. The Blu-ray will boast multiple high-res mixes of the tracks, overseen by Harrison.
A two-LP version of the reissue also will be released on standard black vinyl and limited-edition neon-green vinyl. The colored-vinyl variant will be available exclusively at Barnes & Noble stores.
About Talking Heads: 77
Talking Heads: 77 was released in September 1977. The album introduced the world to the quirky, kinetic punk and New Wave sound of the Talking Heads, who emerged from the CBGB scene alongside the Ramones, Blondie, Television, and others.
In addition to “Psycho Killer,” the album included such enduring gems as “Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town,” “The Book I Read,” “Don’t Worry About the Government,” and “Pulled Up.”
Although Talking Heads: 77 only peaked at No. 97 on the Billboard 200, the album’s influence on ensuing generations of punk, New Wave, and alternative-rock bands has been immeasurable.
More About the Reissues “Rarities” Disc
Besides the acoustic version of “Psycho Killer,” the “Rarities” disc included in the deluxe reissue features two previously unreleased tracks. They are a different alternate version of that song and an “Alternate ‘Pop’ Version” of “Pulled Up.”
Among the other tracks on the disc are the non-album single “(Love Goes To) Building On Fire” and an early version of “Stay Hungry,” a tune that appeared on Talking Heads’ 1978 second album, More Songs About Buildings and Food.
About the Live Recordings
The Talking Heads: 77 reissue features a full, previously unreleased recording of a show the band played at CBGB on October 10, 1977. The 13-song performance includes versions of 7 songs from the band’s debut album, “(Love Goes To) Building On Fire,” and three tunes that would later appear on More Songs About Buildings and Food. Among the latter songs is a cover of Al Green’s “Take Me to the River,” which became the group’s first hit.
Talking Heads: 77 Super Deluxe Edition Vinyl Track List:
Original Album Remastered
- “Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town”
- “New Feeling”
- “Tentative Decisions”
- “Happy Day”
- “Who Is It?”
- “No Compassion”
- “The Book I Read”
- “Don’t Worry About the Government”
- “First Week/Last Week… Carefree”
- “Psycho Killer”
- “Pulled Up”
Rarities
- “Sugar on My Tongue”
- “I Want to Live”
- “(Love Goes To) Building On Fire”
- “I Wish You Wouldn’t Say That”
- “Psycho Killer” (Acoustic Version)
- “Uh-Oh Love Comes to Town” (Alternate “Pop” Version)
- “New Feeling” (Alternate “Pop” Version)
- “Pulled Up” (Alternate “Pop” Version)*
- “Stay Hungry” (1977 Version)
- “First Week/Last Week… Carefree” (Acoustic Version)
- “I Feel It in My Heart”
- “Psycho Killer” (Alternate Version)*
Live at CBGB’s, New York, NY, 10/10/77:
- “(Love Goes To) Building On Fire”*
- “Don’t Worry About the Government”*
- “Take Me to the River”*
- “The Book I Read”*
- “New Feeling”*
- “A Clean Break”*
- “No Compassion”*
- “Thank You for Sending Me an Angel”*
- “Who Is It?”*
- “Pulled Up”*
- “Uh-Oh Love Comes to Town”*
- “Psycho Killer”*
- “Stay Hungry”*
7” No. 1: “Love -> Building On Fire”
“(Love Goes To) Building On Fire”/“New Feeling”
7” No. 2: “Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town”
“Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town”/“I Wish You Wouldn’t Say That”
7” No. 3: “Psycho Killer”
“Psycho Killer”/“Psycho Killer” (Acoustic Version)
7” No. 4: “Pulled Up”
“Pulled Up”/“Don’t Worry About the Government”
* = previously unreleased.
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