The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads is a rare and precious thing and not only because copies of the original (1982) live double-vinyl/cassette release are hard to find.
Bucking the convention that a live LP should capture one shining moment in a band's career, it instead charts the New York outfit's passage through adolescence, stopping just short of the launch into mainstream success that came with Jonathan Demme's 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense.
Performances from 1977, 1979, 1980 and 1981 line up like a time-lapse reel of arresting images, building from the bare-bones brashness of the original quartet's live-to-air gig for radio station WCOZ to the fleshed-out funk of the 10-piece band's Tokyo gig at the Sun Plaza Concert Hall.
A much-expanded 2004 CD edition tops up the collection with a generous handful of essential songs, but there's no arguing with the immediacy and charm of the 17-track original.
Material drawn from Talking Heads: 77, More Songs About Buildings and Food, Fear of Music and Remain in Light documents Talking Heads' transition from pasty art-rock dweebs of the New Wave to exponents of a sophisticated blend of white soul, angular rock and polyrhythmic world music.
Opening tracks New Feeling, A Clean Break, Don't Worry About The Government, Pulled Up and Psycho Killer snap with electricity, frontman David Byrne peppering his lyrics with grunts, growls and squeals and hitting his soaring vocal marks with ease.
Artists Only, Stay Hungry, Air, Love - Building On Fire and Memories (Can't Wait) see the four-piece add a layer of sonic fat before songs recorded during the band's Remain in Light tour kick in, drawing on a palette that is wider still and includes the expressive guitar work of a young Adrian Belew.
As the likes of Houses in Motion, Crosseyed and Painless and Take Me To The River play out, Talking Heads makes its name as an enthralling live unit.
