Track Listing

1. Uh Oh Love Comes To Town
2. New Feeling
3. Tentative Decisions
4. Happy Day
5. Who Is It
6. No Compassion
7. Book I Read
8. Don't Worry About The Government
9. First Week
10. Last Week... Carefree
11. Psycho Killer
12. Pulled Up

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12288 in Music
• Released on: 1999-10-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Next to CBGBs peers like the Ramones and the Voidoids, Talking Heads barely sounded like a punk band. After the startlingly non-conformist "Love Building on Fire", '77 made for a surprisingly tuneful collection of songs: nervy vignettes of urban unease, arranged for a tight little new wave quartet. The most overtly disturbed song, "Psycho Killer", now sounds a touch heavy-handed; more unassuming tracks like "New Feeling", "Happy Day", and "Don't Worry About the Government"--preppie pop with brains--have aged better. The first of four consecutive masterpieces for Sire, '77 is the work of a truly great American band. --Barney Hoskyns

CD Description
When they burst out of the New York underground/CBGB's movement, the Heads stood apart from the pack because not only were they unlike anything that had gone before, they were even anomalous to their contemporaries. A million miles from the detached irony of Blondie or the willful primitivism of the Ramones, Talking Heads virtually invented geek-rock, setting the stage for everyone from the Violent Femmes to They Might Be Giants. Lyrically, David Byrne came off as the guy who thought too much about everything. Fortunately, he also happened to be a unique visionary, whose quirky, hyper-cerebral modernism echoed the work of poet John Ashbery and "serious" composer Robert Ashley.
All this high-mindedness doesn't detract from the infectious rock & roll appeal of the tunes on the band's debut album, though. Their twitchy, preppies-on-amphetamines rhythms and semi-neurotic gestalt fueled tunes like twisted anthem "Psycho Killer" and the jubilant "Pulled Up". Byrne's high, yelping tenor was the perfect complement to the band's tightly-wound but kinetic rhythms, and 77 is an auspicious debut.

Customer Reviews

Wonderful
This album is brim-full of fabulous, refreshing, off-the-wall music that is still as good today as it was on its release in 1977. Nervy, sparse-sounding, but also melodic and intelligent, this album is Talking Heads' wonderful debut.

It's not quite so brilliant as their next 3 albums, which were produced by Brian Eno. Hence the 4 stars, rather than 5.

Utterly brilliant
One of those rare ablums where the tracks start off brilliant and just get better, every one is a gem. Last two tracks Psycho Killer and Pulled Up - amazing. IMHO one of the finest albums of all time. Talking Heads at their very best.

Excellent
I think Talking Heads first 4 albums all deserve 5 stars. If you listen to them in chronological order you can track the progress of one of popular music's most inventive and unique bands. Today this might be classed as powerpop, but there's so much more going on. It's not that i can't review all the tracks critically, its just i'm choosing not to. That's because this album is one of those rarities, that can and should be listened to all the way through from beginning to end. No filler in classic albums like this. Worth every penny.