Comments Inspired by POLL - Talking Heads - REMAIN IN LIGHT [DVD-A DualDisc]

[Titch]

Easy to see and feel the difference if you have both versions. The DualDiscs stick in my car CD-player and struggle to get loaded in my MacBook Pro disc slot. Obviously, they never get get played in anything else than my Oppo now.

 

[vegas]

Easy to see and feel the difference if you have both versions.

If you decide to sell one of them just give me a note!

 

[quicksrt]

I have plenty of two-sided DVD movies with widescreen on one side, and full-screen on the other. Never heard of one not playing in any player.

 

[ddahl44]

I have plenty of two-sided DVD movies with widescreen on one side, and full-screen on the other. Never heard of one not playing in any player.

Just got an Acura with 5.1 thru USB. I have been busy converting DVD-As to wav files. I was disappointed when the LG USB Blu-ray drive couldn’t handle DualDiscs, jamming up. So I dug out my old LG DVD drive and it works. Definitely a thickness issue. I can verify that some players have DualDisc warnings. My home players don’t seem to have problems with them.

 

[humprof]

I'm still trying to work out what's going with these apparent represses. (Both Remain In Light and 77 are still out there for sale, by the way--and at jpc.de they're cheaper for US residents, once the 19% VAT is removed, than they are at Amazon. €15.12 for 77, €12.60 for RIL, plus nominal shipping charges--€4.20 for both.)

All I was able to come up with was this piece at a New York-based review site, Review Fix, that I wasn't previously familiar with: "Upcoming Rhino Reissue of Talking Heads' Studio Catalogue."

The piece is dated November 20, 2019--implying that all the titles were slated to appear soon (but maybe the whole project got scuttled by the pandemic?). Otherwise, it's puzzling: it leads off with a sentence about Rhino preparing to reissue "the entire catalog of Talking Heads songs as a Deluxe CD/DVD package." But farther down in the review, it alludes (for the first time) to "The Brick" containing "all eight of the Talking Heads’ studio albums in DualDisc format."

So...is this an old piece that somehow got reposted and misdated during a site upgrade or something? Or did this low-profile site somehow get a scoop about an early 2020 "Brick" reissue that none of the bigger sites got wind of, or . . .?

https://reviewfix.com/2019/11/upcoming-rhino-reissue-of-talking-heads-studio-catalog/

 

[Glenshoreham]

If their entire catalogue is ultimately revisited, I'd truly appreciate surround treatment for their 12" mixes (as per the 12×12" Original Remixes compilation), and also the tracks that were included on their retrospective compilation (particularly Lifetime Piling Up).

 

[surround.sound.enthusiast]

Well, the article you found humprof, is regurgitating some of the phrasing in this pitchfork.com article from 2005. In particular:

2019 ARTICLE:
"The reissue includes a clean remastering of sound quality that fleshes out the depth and dynamic range and boosts the level of the recordings. This is most evident in the earliest albums including More Songs About Buildings and Food and 77. These tracks sound better than ever, as nervy and punchy as their music. Notably, these two albums mark the band’s first phase, with Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz laying down r&b-influenced, thick grooves while David Byrne and Jerry Harrison offer dense texture and tricky underplay."

2005 ARTICLE:
"As for the albums themselves, the clean remastering has made a spectacular difference in sound quality, boosting the levels and fleshing out the depth and dynamic range of the recordings. The earliest albums benefit most-- 77 and More Songs About Buildings and Food sound better than ever, as punchy and nervy as the music they contain. Those two albums effectively mark the band's first phase, with Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth laying down thick, r&b-influenced; grooves while Jerry Harrison and David Byrne, always an under-rated guitarist, offered up tricky interplay and dense texture."

Whew! That should have raised a plagiarism red flag with an editor!

So, it is still unclear what might be going on, or if that article from 2019 has any validity to it. I sure hope they are reissuing the CD + DVD packages again. It's all already in the bag (mixing, mastering, art, packaging), so re-press and ride that cash cow! And help out all of us fans by making them available again!

 

[humprof]

Well, the article you found humprof, is regurgitating some of the phrasing in this pitchfork.com article from 2005. In particular:

2019 ARTICLE:
"The reissue includes a clean remastering of sound quality that fleshes out the depth and dynamic range and boosts the level of the recordings. This is most evident in the earliest albums including More Songs About Buildings and Food and 77. These tracks sound better than ever, as nervy and punchy as their music. Notably, these two albums mark the band’s first phase, with Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz laying down r&b-influenced, thick grooves while David Byrne and Jerry Harrison offer dense texture and tricky underplay."

2005 ARTICLE:
"As for the albums themselves, the clean remastering has made a spectacular difference in sound quality, boosting the levels and fleshing out the depth and dynamic range of the recordings. The earliest albums benefit most-- 77 and More Songs About Buildings and Food sound better than ever, as punchy and nervy as the music they contain. Those two albums effectively mark the band's first phase, with Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth laying down thick, r&b-influenced; grooves while Jerry Harrison and David Byrne, always an under-rated guitarist, offered up tricky interplay and dense texture."

Whew! That should have raised a plagiarism red flag with an editor!

So, it is still unclear what might be going on, or if that article from 2019 has any validity to it. I sure hope they are reissuing the CD + DVD packages again. It's all already in the bag (mixing, mastering, art, packaging), so re-press and ride that cash cow! And help out all of us fans by making them available again!

Yowch--that's some heavy borrowing, all right. I wrote to the editor of "ReviewFix" but haven't had a reply. Regardless, as you say: it would be nice to see all of those titles reissued.

 

[himey]

No matter how much of a fan of Talking Heads one is, and I count myself as a huge fan, you can't get past the fact that side 1 of the Naked album is absolutely fantastic up to and including (Nothing But) Flowers. Terrific grooves, tunes and lyrics all the way. And then from side 2 they kill the whole vibe stone dead with the godawful Democratic Circus, The Facts Of Life and Mommy Daddy You And I. But even the godawful songs sound less godawful on the 5.1 versions.

The Facts of Life is the best song on Naked. Also, the end of Democratic Circus when it segues into Facts of Life is amazing!

 

[surround.sound.enthusiast]

Yowch--that's some heavy borrowing, all right. I wrote to the editor of "ReviewFix" but haven't had a reply. Regardless, as you say: it would be nice to see all of those titles reissued.

I thought about it afterwards: it could have come from label originated PR material in both cases. Fingers eagerly crossed regardless.

 

[quicksrt]

The Facts of Life is the best song on Naked. Also, the end of Democratic Circus when it segues into Facts of Life is amazing!

I never got 100% into Naked as an album. I need to revisit it maybe.

 

[Bill B]

I never was a fan of dual discs but that's what I could get at the time. I originally picked up RIL, LC and TS on dual discs. I am picking up both of these re-issues just because of my dislike of DDs. I hope they release more of them. I'd especially like Naked because my favorite TH song is "Nothing But Flowers".

Thanks Beefalo and ngv88 for the Amazon links.

FYI: Some of the early movies released on DVD were "flipper discs". Half of the movie would be on each side. I believe that was necessary before dual layered DVDs were developed. Talk about a buzz kill. Having to flip a disc over midway through a movie. I have no idea if they were thicker than a regular, one sided DVD.

 

[perzon57]

I never was a fan of dual discs but that's what I could get at the time. I originally picked up RIL, LC and TS on dual discs. I am picking up both of these re-issues just because of my dislike of DDs. I hope they release more of them. I'd especially like Naked because my favorite TH song is "Nothing But Flowers".

Thanks Beefalo and ngv88 for the Amazon links.

FYI: Some of the early movies released on DVD were "flipper discs". Half of the movie would be on each side. I believe that was necessary before dual layered DVDs were developed. Talk about a buzz kill. Having to flip a disc over midway through a movie. I have no idea if they were thicker than a regular, one sided DVD.

Laserdisc was the same,one hour and you had to flip.Later Pioneer came with players that played both sides.I have DVD-A's with stereo on one side and surround on the other.

 

[Bill B]

Laserdisc was the same,one hour and you had to flip.Later Pioneer came with players that played both sides.I have DVD-A's with stereo on one side and surround on the other.

Laserdiscs, talk about a format where they tried to bang a square peg into a round hole. So far ahead of it's time. The necessary technology just wasn't there to make it great, affordable and thus more palatable to the masses. Always wanted one back in the day but could never justify it.

 

[Titch]

I never got 100% into Naked as an album. I need to revisit it maybe.

Of course you do, but don't listen to himey, he's just winding everyone up Tremendous session musicians used on the album. You could just see David Byrne was just itching to go the full Latin music style and make Rei Momo, the greatest David Byrne non-Talking Heads album. I wish he could have substituted some of the more dirge-like songs on side 2 of Naked with some of those. Fun fact: Carnival Eyes on Rei Momo is a reworked version of the unfinished In Asking Land, which they put on the Once In A Lifetime compilation.

 

[Beefalo]

The only one I'm missing is Fear of Music. As others have said, I hope these sell well and the rest are repressed.

@weekendtoy
There is a DualDisc "Fear of Music" VG on Amazon.
Dearborn Music. The seller confirmed it is a DualDisc.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000C3H4M2/ref=tmm_fbs_acd_title_5?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Not sure if the more expensive new one is listed correctly....