(Credits: Far Out / Alamy / A24)
Sat 13 September 2025 20:00, UK
Never underestimate the power of a great producer. While the band themselves usually get the credit for making good music, it’s the work of others that can take that something good, and make it something incredible, turning a good album into a completely timeless classic. Need an example? Look at Talking Heads.
Talking Heads were always good. That’s why they wound up quickly fostering attention amidst the hectic and thriving New York scene. While the CBGB was buzzing with punk music, David Byrne and his band offered something new and different. It wasn’t obviously punk, it wasn’t basic rock and roll, it was more than both of those things, also including influences from various genres and even different musical cultures.
Watching back any old footage of the band performing, and you can see that all the signs are there. Even at their first documented gig, ‘Psycho Killer’ sounds like the usual anthem it is. Even on their debut album, when they were still relative unknowns, the tracklist is packed with interesting decisions and unique songwriting that was utterly peerless in the musical landscape of the time. So it’s no wonder that the band caught the attention of a cult following that was swiftly growing and coming to include some big leagues.
Big leagues like Brian Eno. He’s a man who really needs no introduction as he boomed to success with Roxy Music and went on to become one of the most respected men in music, producing David Bowie’s career-shifting Low in 1977, which launched his Berlin Trilogy.
But in 1977, Eno also went along to a birthday party. On May 14th, at Rock Garden, an old venue in London, Byrne was celebrating his 25th birthday live on stage by playing a gig. Eno was reluctant to go out that night, but John Cale forced him to get off his arse, mostly because the Ramones were playing, with this new band, Talking Heads, supporting them.
Obviously, the Ramones were good, but it was Byrne who had Eno utterly transfixed. He was hypnotised by the performance, the band’s sound and their singer’s unique presence. “He’s a genuine eccentric,” Eno would later remark about the musician with years of time spent together, but even in that first instance, he instantly wanted to know more about the artist.
So, he invited the group to come over to his apartment the next day. Over a few hours of conversation and sharing music, during which Byrne was introduced to the sound of Fela Kuti, another transformative moment, they bonded. By the end of the day, it was clear they’d work together.
The power of a great producer is undeniable on More Songs About Buildings and Food, Fear of Music and Remain in Light, the three records Eno and Talking Heads made together. Across those three albums, a good band becomes an iconic one as Eno helps them bring in their broad influences, adds his own, but also polishes the package into something that’s both unique and approachably fun for the masses to get on board with.
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