Album: The Name of This Band is Talking Heads
Year: 1980
. . .
It’s pretty much lore now how Talking Heads realized how the four of them were never going to be able to replicate the dense, layered sound they and Brian Eno had created for Remain in Light, which is where the idea for the expanded lineup came from. And in fact, it was originally only going to be for a couple of shows: the Heatwave Festival and the Central Park gig, both in August, 1980. But they were so successful that Sire ponied up for a full tour, and Talking Heads never performed a full show as a four-piece ever again.
And so, what I’m thinking about right now is the degree of difficulty involved with — I was going to to say “reproducing” but that’s not quite right — recreating the Remain in Light songs with real live human beings: in a song like, say, “The Great Curve,” there is so much going on that everybody has to be playing what they need to be playing when they need to playing it. And yet, and yet, it also couldn’t be sterile, either.
That was the balance achieved by the Remain in Light songs captured on The Name of This Band is Talking Heads: the arrangements were intricate but funky, the performances were incredibly tight, but also loose, and everybody sounded like they were having a shit-ton of fun. When I say The Name of This Band is Talking Heads is one of the all-time great live albums, I really mean the second disc. And when I say I mean the second disc, I really mean the three Remain in Light songs that were on the original album: “Houses in Motion,” “Crosseyed and Painless” and today’s song, “The Great Curve.”
Recorded at the same Central Park ice rink as “Life During Wartime,” “The Great Curve” wastes no time exploding into its groove; with each main Head supplemented by a doppelganger (or two): Busta Jones joins Tina Weymouth on bass; Steve Scales accompanies Chris Frantz on percussion (though if you look at any footage from this tour, nearly everybody with a free hand adds percussion at some point); Funkadelic’s Bernie Worrell adds keyboards and backing vocals. Also on backing vocals are Dolette McDonald and Nona Hendryx, as is Adrian Belew — the fact the Adrian Belew sounds like David Byrne in the same way David Byrne sounds like Brian Eno is can’t be a coincidence even if it was — who also adds guitar, about which we’ll discuss more in a bit.
Anyways, there is almost instantly so much going on, it’s hard to know what to listen, but I do love Steve Scales on the percussion, and Byrnes crazed seemingly-random-but-of-course-perfectly-timed rhythm guitar stabs, all of which leads us into the first verse.
Sometimes the world has a load of questions
Seems like the world knows nothing at all
The world is near, but it’s out of reach
Some people touch it, but they can’t hold on
But the thing about “The Great Curve” is that it’s mostly dominated by its choruses, and really the vocal arrangements on said choruses, which are less busy than on Remain in Light, and subsequently, much easier to enjoy. Sometimes, less is more: and the setting up of Byrne & Belew doing the lead vocals and McDonald & Hendryx (and maybe Bernie Worrell, who singing them on the Hendrix-less Dortmund version below). Or maybe it’s McDonald & Hendryx (and maybe Worrell) on lead vocals and Byrne & Belew on backing vocals.
She is moving to describe the world
(Night must fall, now! Darker! Darker!)
She has messages for everyone
(Night must fall, now! Darker! Darker!)
Holding on for an eternity
(Night must fall, now! Darker! Darker!)
Gone, ending without finishing
(Night must fall, now! Darker! Darker!)
What matters is the contrast between laconic way Byrne & Belew draw out their lines vs how hard McDonald & Hendryx (and maybe Worrell) hit theirs. This is also the case in the second chorus, where the backing vocals (unless they’re the lead vocals) are now singing “Divine to define, she is moving to define, so say so, so say so” which leads directly into Adrian Belews first guitar solo, divebombing out of the sun and strafing the stage with malicious intent. It’s amazing that anybody is alive to sing the third verse, but it’s all hands on deck for the third verse with everybody yelling “the world moves!”
The world moves on a woman’s hips
The world moves, and it swivels and bops
The world moves on a woman’s hips
The world moves, and it bounces and hops
Look. I know that David Byrne says that he was talking about “something metaphysical” here, that the woman in the song is more of a creation myth, but on the other hand, this is a song called “The Great Curve” and it has an irresistibly funky sexy groove, so there’s that.
And on the second half of this verse, everybody is singing in unison:
A world of light, she’s gonna open our eyes up
A world of light, she’s gonna open our eyes up
She’s gonna hold it, move it, hold it, move it
Hold it, move it, hold it, move it
A world of light, she’s gonna open our eyes up
And on the last couple of lines, as everybody is yelling “hold it, move it!” Chris Frantz sneaks into a double time and resolves it with a quick build before one last unison vocal of “a world of light, she’s gonna open our eyes up,” at which “The Great Curve” begins its extraordinary outro which is mostly three lines juxtaposed against each other: McDonald & Hendrix (and maybe Worrell) sing either “Night must fall now! Darker! Darker!” or “Divine to define, she is moving to define, so say so, so say so.” and Byrne & Belew are singing “Sheeeeeeee waaaaannnn deefiiiiiiinnnne, so say so, so say so” throughout.
And that’s pretty much it, except for only last double-timed “hold it, move it, hold it move it” bit. Every so often, everybody joins in on on “so say so, so say so” and it’s like the heavens have open and the sun is flinging life-affirming cosmic rays everywhere. Or maybe that’s Belew’s second solo: which is even more amelodic than than the first one. Like he’s trying to rip open the groove with his guitar, but of course, this groove is utterly unkillable, so it and his guitar come to a truce and end at the same time.
“The Great Curve (Central Park 08-27-1990)”
“The Great Curve” Live in Dortmund, 1980
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