bus vibes #16 - heads, mentals and $tone$

hi there

wow, up to number sixteen already? it's not a problem for me, and i am pretty sure that it isn't for you dear reader. all two of you, look you see. however, if i am to stick with this numbering system, it means that it can only be in another 53 bus trip times that i can listen to Prince, really.

for the more avid, if not devout, reader, you will be aware that i don't start reading new books on the bus on a Friday, for then it is only the Monday that i will return to it and, being a simple man, i would have forgotten what i read. time for the vibes it was, then. the only problem was that i had no idea at all of what i wished to have a listen to.

circumstantially, or if you like as a consequence, to have a listen to Talking Heads seemed, to me, to be an exciting idea. oddly i fancied listening to True Stories, but i hadn't re-added it after the most recent exercise in blanking my ipod off of Apple. it was, then, to be the seminal, celebrated live album The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads. 

this lavish reissue of the album, featuring an absolute stack of songs not on the original tape issue, covers what for many was the greatest period of creativity for the band, stretching from the debut album 77 through to the much cherished, much admired Remain In Light album. this period rather nicely captures my favourite album by the band, Fear Of Music, so not for me to argue. far more accessible, of course, is the other, rather more celebrated live album, Stop Making Sense. either or both would be pretty damned essential listening in my books. and yes, it is rather rare for any artist to do one decent live album, let alone two. they are, frankly, that good live.

my love affair with Talking Heads, one that lasts to this day, began with the song Once In A Lifetime being rather superbly used to bookend the rather superb film Down & Out In Beverly Hills. yeah, Road To Nowhere was a hit that i was aware of before i saw that film, but Once In A Lifetime led me to the Remain In Light album, and indeed Stop Making Sense.

i should probably do a mega, fan-wankery overlong tribute to Talking Heads at some point, i guess. for now, though, it is perhaps sufficient to say that they didn't do a bad album, and it's frustrating that they ceased to be a going concern by the arrival of the 90s. their last album, Naked, suggested that whilst they perhaps didn't have as much to say at the end of the decade as they did at the start, they all the same were saying, or if you like singing, interesting things.

what's that above? oh, just some train tickets. yes, i am going on a journey at some point within the next couple of months. these tickets are really confusing. i mean, why do i have ten separate tickets for one return journey. it looks like some of them i have to show in conjunction with each other or i will not be offered the passage i paid for; whereas some suggest that if i show them to a railway employee it could be that i experience the full rendition experience if they are displeased.

yes, i am indeed sticking with the Commodore 64 mode pictures for here, and indeed the videos off of the proper ipod were taken with my ipod touch for a change. hope you like. 

after selected highlights of The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads, it was on to Mental As Anything, specifically the Cats & Dogs album. which you can only buy as some sort of download thing, i think. although my Dad has the CD somewhere.

how to describe it? a perfect piece of throwaway pop that has endeared and stayed with me for, oh, 33 or so years. they say that the songs you love in your youth are the ones that stay with you forever. yep, can pretty much sing the album for you, although not as well as the band, so rather get their versions than ask for mine.

much like Split Enz, outside of small pockets around the world there is not much love outside of Australia and New Zealand for Mental As Anything. that, i would like to think, is simply because the people, or if you like the kids, simply are not aware of them. they did, of course, get a flash of fame with Live It Up off of Crocodile Dundee around 1986. as great as that song was, however, i will always love this album that bit more.

a snip of my favourite tune? why sure. that would be If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?. it's just brilliant, it is. here's the intro.

man, i love that dur-dur-dur-durrrrh searing psychedelic bass or guitar on it. i've never worked out if it is the bass or the guitar; i don't care i really just love it.

i have a bit of a dilemma with all this train business, do i not? i mean, it's a fair few hours that i am sat on one, so i expect i will have a bit of a listen to some vibes. do i start off "train vibes" too, then, or something like that?

i have had a look at these tickets a couple of times now, and i am none the wiser as to which i show when, or to who. i think that if anyone at any point asks me for a ticket i shall just hand them all over and tell them that they must decide which one that want to inspect and do whatever the hell they like with.

where is it that i am going? i shall tell you when i have been and gone, thanks. although, as a means of a preview, i believe my travels shall include a visit to a canal of some picturesque value, apparently enhanced by the recent addition of a disused, possibly distressed oil drum.

finally, with it being a friday afternoon that i returned home for the weekend, i went with some Rolling $tone$ for the journey. actually, this is the music of the Rolling Stones, i suppose. it all heralds from a time when money was important, for sure, and certainly earned, but it was not the sole purpose or reason for them doing what they did. is it now? ask Ronnie Wood's selection of divorce lawyers.

Grrr! is the most recent of some 30 best of / greatest hits collections that exist of the band. it is also, i am happy to report, nowhere near as bad as the lame, lousy, this will do name of the compilation suggests.

it's better than the one before it, Forty Licks, for instance, as in this three CD set they have found space for the cracker of a tune that is We Love You. and a nifty one called Heartbreaker, which you can hear a snippet of just now. basically, though, i suppose that when it comes to the Stones, practically anything they did between, say, 1964 and 1981 would qualify for any best of compilation.

you don't really need me to tell you all that much about the Stones, for their life and works have been fairly well recorded all over the place. here, then, as suggested at in the previous paragraph is a snippet of a top, perhaps slightly lesser known, Stones classic.

where, if for some reason you are unaware of the Stones, should you start with their music? basically any compilation you like. i would say the cheapest would probably do, but the $tone$ don't really do cheap releases. for an album, Let It Bleed is my favourite one, easily.

i believe, should i get the requisite or sufficient levels of sleep in advance of it, that on Monday i shall start reading another book. as and when i do have some vibes on the go on the bus, however, i shall surely be sure to post an update here, if for some reason you are interested.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!