Before Sire Records, before Jerry Harrison, before any of it, there were three art school kids in New York City trying to figure out what they sounded like. ‘Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live’, out now from Talking Heads and Rhino, answers that question in full, collecting 15 previously unreleased CBS demos from September 1975 alongside more than a dozen unreleased live recordings from the band’s first two years, all presented across three CDs.
The collection traces the original trio of David Byrne, Chris Frantz, and Tina Weymouth from their earliest apartment recordings through two pivotal live shows: an October 1976 night at Max’s Kansas City in New York, recorded just weeks before they signed to Sire Records, and a January 1977 set at The Jabberwocky Club in Syracuse, one of the last performances before Jerry Harrison joined the band in March. The CBS demo session, recorded at Mark Spector’s request, preserved early versions of songs that would anchor the band’s first two albums, including “Don’t Worry About The Government,” “The Book I Read,” and “Stay Hungry.”
The collection also reaches back to The Artistics, the band Frantz and Byrne formed at the Rhode Island School of Design, where the earliest known recordings of “Psycho Killer” and “Warning Sign” were captured in 1974 at Frantz’s apartment on Benefit Street in Providence. A black-vinyl edition is also available now, including a 7-inch single featuring The Artistics’ 1974 recordings of both songs.
‘Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live’ Tracklist:
CD 1:
- Psycho Killer (September 1975 Demo)
- Tentative Decisions (September 1975 Demo)
- No Compassion (September 1975 Demo)
- Warning Sign (September 1975 Demo)
- I’m Not in Love (1976 Demo)
- Thank You For Sending Me An Angel (1976 Demo)
- The Book I Read (1976 Demo)
- I Wish You Wouldn’t Say That (1976 Demo)
- Love Goes To A Building On Fire (1976 Demo)
- Happy Day (1976 Demo)
- Artists Only (Live at the Lower Manhattan Ocean Club, New York, NY, 8/17/76)
- Psycho Killer – The Artistics
- Warning Sign – The Artistics
CD 2: CBS Demos (September 1975) [Previously Unreleased]
- Psycho Killer
- Sugar On My Tongue
- Thank You For Sending Me An Angel
- I Want To Live
- I Wish You Wouldn’t Say That
- The Girls Want To Be With The Girls
- Who Is It?
- With Our Love
- Stay Hungry
- Tentative Decisions
- Warning Sign
- I’m Not In Love
- The Book I Read
- Love Goes To A Building On Fire
- No Compassion
CD 3: Previously Unreleased Live Tracks
Take Me To The River [Live at the Lower Manhattan Ocean Club, New York, NY (8/17/76)]
Artists Only [Live at Max’s Kansas City, New York, NY (10/9/76)]
1, 2, 3 Red Light [Live at Max’s Kansas City, New York, NY (10/9/76)]
Happy Day [Live at Max’s Kansas City, New York, NY (10/9/76)]
Don’t Worry About The Government [Live at Max’s Kansas City, New York, NY (10/9/76)]
Psycho Killer [Live at Max’s Kansas City, New York, NY (10/9/76)]
Love Goes To A Building On Fire [Live at Max’s Kansas City, New York, NY (10/9/76)]
Thank You For Sending Me An Angel [Live at Max’s Kansas City, New York, NY (10/9/76)]
With Our Love [Live at Max’s Kansas City, New York, NY (10/9/76)]
Pablo Picasso [Live at Max’s Kansas City, New York, NY (10/9/76)]
I’m Not In Love [Live at Max’s Kansas City, New York, NY (10/9/76)]
No Compassion [Live at the Jabberwocky Club, Syracuse, NY (1/26/77)]
New Feeling [Live at the Jabberwocky Club, Syracuse, NY (1/26/77)]
Psycho Killer [Live at the Jabberwocky Club, Syracuse, NY (1/26/77)]
A Clean Break (Let’s Work) [Live at the Jabberwocky Club, Syracuse, NY (1/26/77)]
Sugar On My Tongue [Live at the Jabberwocky Club, Syracuse, NY (1/26/77)]
I Wish You Wouldn’t Say That [Live at the Lower Manhattan Ocean Club, New York, NY (8/17/76)]