TALKING HEADS
A set as opening act for the Ramones
Unknown location (USA)
Uncertain date, early 1977
01 Pulled Up
02 New Feeling
03 Don't Worry About the Government
04 The Book I Read
05 Let's Work (aka A Clean Break)
06 I'm Not in Love
07 Love -> Building on Fire
-- encore --
08 Uh-Oh Love Comes to Town
09 Thank You for Sending Me an Angel
Source: AUD (Mono) > Cx? > unknown transfer > WAV > FLAC > EZT in 2004 > CDR.
Transfer: CDR > WavMerge > Wavelab > TLH > FLAC 1644 April 2013.
Note: Tape damage first minute of show. Small mono FLAC files, not lossy.
Here's a great little TH set opening for the Ramones in a sparsely crowded bar or
club. Based on the sound of this performance, it could be the earliest circulating
recording of TH with Jerry as a full-time band member; he's playing guitar on tracks
1, 2, and 5 thru 9, and keyboards on tracks 3 and 4. (Currently, the 03/31/77 CBGB's
tape is the earliest circulating recording of TH as a quartet.)
These nine songs appeared in a torrent that was labeled “May 31, 1977 CBGB’s”. These
tracks were labeled as the “2nd set”. The set of songs in that torrent labeled as the
“1st set” turned out to be an exact copy of the “Grape Tape” recording of 03/31/77.
It’s possible that this is the late set from 03/31/77, but it doesn’t seem likely,
because (a) the two recordings do not sound alike, and (b) TH were not known to repeat
songs in the same night in this period – three of the songs appear on both tapes.
It’s also not likely this set could be from 05/31/77, because (a) TH & Ramones were in
Swindon UK, on that date, and the crowd is definitely American as can be heard between
songs, and (b) based on tapes we have, TH played the same setlist every gig during that
first European tour, and this setlist doesn't match that at all.
Some clues point to this being an earlier date, for example, the tentative arrangement
of Pulled Up, and the formative sound of Jerry's guitar parts. TH and Ramones did play
together at various gigs in late 76 and early 77, so this could be from Max’s, MFP, or
CBGB’s, or some other venue where they shared the bill. Judging from the sound of the
performance and song selection, February of 77 might be a good guess...
length expanded size cdr WAVE problems fmt ratio filename
5:02.39 53364572 B --- -- ---xx flac 0.2728 th1977-unknown-t01.flac
3:42.06 39174956 B --- -- ---xx flac 0.2738 th1977-unknown-t02.flac
3:25.52 36284348 B --- -- ---xx flac 0.2719 th1977-unknown-t03.flac
5:56.68 62958380 B --- -- ---xx flac 0.2756 th1977-unknown-t04.flac
5:09.56 54639356 B --- -- ---xx flac 0.2785 th1977-unknown-t05.flac
5:54.65 62598524 B --- -- ---xx flac 0.2762 th1977-unknown-t06.flac
3:18.23 34981340 B --- -- ---xx flac 0.2765 th1977-unknown-t07.flac
2:55.38 30959420 B --- -- ---xx flac 0.2834 th1977-unknown-t08.flac
2:17.58 24303260 B --- -- ---xx flac 0.2829 th1977-unknown-t09.flac
37:43.30 399264156 B 0.2763 (9 files)
No errors occured.