Talking Heads (Trio!) : Love is All Around, 1,2,3 Red Light [covers The Troggs and the 1910 Fruitgum Company!] | Alan Bershaw

And more from the always interesting Alan Bershaw  . . . . . 

Talking Heads: Love Is All Around, 1,2,3, Red Light

Alan says:

I recently accomplished phase one of a deep dive through the B.A.M. vault in search of Talking Heads recordings that I never had time to watch or listen to, let alone transfer or digitize. I’m now going through some of the more interesting finds, and beginning to share some of them, so lets continue by going waaaaaay back.

This is a truly incredible sequence, recorded live at The Kitchen on March 13, 1976, when Talking Heads were still a young trio that hadn’t released anything yet. Although older footage does exist, this may be the earliest color footage and may have been the first attempt at documenting an entire Talking Heads performance.

The Kitchen, for those unfamiliar with the venue, was a small experimental performing arts space that moved locations several times, but was at this point located on the corner of Wooster and Broom streets in New York City. Keep in mind, this was 1976, when video recording equipment was just beginning to become available to consumers and video itself was still considered to be an experimental art form. This Talking Heads performance, and the shoot itself, was all part of the experimental nature of the venue. 

All of this show was captured, including the entire soundcheck and both of the band’s sets. I found seven DVDs worth of raw footage, documenting all of it from both cameras, as well as various edits and high quality audio recorded in stereo!

We’ll be joining Talking Heads at the tail end of the second set that evening, when they had exhausted their original repertoire. They conclude the performance with several choice covers that I think you'll find engaging and amusing. If you collected 45s in the late 1960s or actively listened to AM radio hits, all three of these songs will be familiar to you. You'll also notice that it must have been quite warm in The Kitchen, as David is literally drenched in sweat. 

They begin this closing sequence with a nod to The Troggs - not with their biggest hit “Wild Thing,” but with their lesser known followup, “Love Is All Around.” Then they end the second set with a take on the bubblegum pop hit “1, 2, 3, Red Light” by the 1910 Fruitgum Company. After a relatively long sequence of encore applause and David switching from acoustic to electric guitar (which has been edited out to keep this flowing), they return for an encore of the classic ? & The Mysterians hit “96 Tears.” 

Personnel is:

David Byrne - vocals, acoustic and electric guitar

Tina Weymouth - bass

Chris Frantz - drums 

Every great band starts somewhere, but it’s rarely documented as well as this. None of these songs have ever turned up on a Talking Heads release and I hope you enjoy this remarkable glimpse back to the band in it's embryonic state 49 years ago. Click the pic to watch and listen and crank it up for best results!