The release of Once in a Lifetime, Sire/Warner/Rhino's oddly packaged 3CD/1DVD box set gives fans a reason to rejoice. This box set puts together a wonderful collection of Heads tunes and throws in a few (4) alternate versions, a live cut, and an outtake. In addition to 3 CDs laden with Heads classics and favourites there is an expanded version of Talking Heads popular and out of print VHS classic, Storytelling Giant making its first appearance as a DVD. That compelling fact alone makes this set more than a 'must buy' collection.
The awkward rectangular, horizontally positioned book-styled set provides 80 pages of bound textual and photographic gems. There are 13 essays with some of them written by each member of the band, lots of great photographs, a complete listing of every track in the set with exhaustive crediting, discography with cover shots, and everything needed to become a Talking Heads expert. That includes the 3CDs crammed with remastered songs, 55 of 'em, and a DVD complete with 13 videos.
Upon purchase and removal of the shrinkwrap, be prepared for a bit of a shock as the artwork is ripe with illustrated nudity both male and female. It's bold art for such a collectable set that might embarass some fans. Be prepared...I'm not joking. But Byrne has always been about art as a naturally integrated form of what music is all about, an visual/audio composite creating a complete experience. And so the presentation of Once in a Lifetime.
The three CDs that are a part of this set is literally filled with the best of Talking Heads. While this may be subjective guesswork considering the expansive overall quality of all of Talking Heads completed works, it's necessary and is actually quite a nice selection at that.
Disc One provides the most songs in this chronologically shaped set simply because early Talking Heads songs were short coming in on the post-punk train where short was the essential part of the style. The better for fans. On disc one are also the first two of 4 alternate versions of very familiar songs, "Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town" and immediately after, "New Feeling", both from Talking Heads '77, the band's stellar debut Sire release. This disc also offers a live cut of "A Clean Break". The "Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town" alternate is a nice variation that is only slightly disarming but regardless of its variances, you'll be pleased. "New Feeling" is the same, nice, a bit funkier, but it works. I would have liked the originals to be included but you know the old saying, 'you can't satisfy everyone'.
Disc Two begins the Eno influenced period that saturates their Fear of Music and 1980's stupendous Remain in Light spilling over into their funkier Speaking in Tongues, itself a segue between the complex rythmic and the emerging final styles of their career. This disc also contains the other two alternate versions found on this set, "Cities" and "Drugs", both from Fear of Music. The alternate of "Cities" is bleak with sirens blasting at the opening but this throwaway alternate works. Similarly, the alternate "Drugs" is a very dark rendition, so dark it borders on frightening.
Disc Three enters into another era of style for The Heads, a sort of combined relocation comprised of the less complex but brighter collection of their early material while scrubbing in, where necessary, residual rhythms extracted from their more musically diverse times. Consider the three periods of Talking Heads as advancement and then a step back to recapture the simplistic style without giving up the whole. Also found on this third disc, an outtake from the Naked sessions, "In Asking Land" and the two unreleased (as of Vaseline in the Sand and found on that collection), "Sax and Violins" and "Lifetime Piling Up". "In Asking Land" as an outtake from Naked reveals the type of songs that were left off the album. This version is a weak Heads tune sounding rushed and fairly unisnpired in music and vocal delivery. It's easy to see why it was left off. Its inclusion on this set is tributary at best.
The bonus inclusion of the out-of-print spectacular known as Storytelling Giant and before now only released on VHS is a wondrous addition. It's expanded to include the videos for "Blind", "(Nothing But) Flowers" from the Naked album and "Sax and Violins". This makes for 13 videos in their entirety interpersed with fun commentary spawned by a Byrne induced world where only David Byrne could create such intriguing and hilarious dialogue. The lack of an enhanced audio for Storytelling Giant is somewhat disheartening but not so much to detract from its inclusion and certainly not enough to bemoan the lack of 5.1 tracks or a DTS remastering. The fact that it's here, in this Box set, is a singular joy that serves to make the set a pickup beyond value. The one major bummer is the cardboard slipcovers the CDs are housed in. They are tight and restrictive and require that you smudge your CDs in the retrieval and open up the risk of scratching the disc in the re-insertion into the cover.
The list-price tag is a bit on the hefty side coming in at $59.98 but you can usually find it a few bucks below that if you look for it. Rhino has done the usual fine job assembling a collection that compliments the band. With Once in a Lifetime, they have exceeded all expectations and have produced the quintessential Talking Heads repository. With the remastered songs a sparkling success and the package a necessity for the whole of Talking Headsdom, if you will, Once in a Lifetime is just what it says.
Track Listing: Disc One - Sugar on My Tongue; Love-Building on Fire; I Wish You Wouldn't Say That; Don't Worry About The Government; Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town (Alternate Version); New Feeling (Alternate Version); Pulled Up; Psycho Killer; Warning Sign; Artists Only; Tentative Decisions; No Compassion; Stay Hungry; I'm Not In Love; The Book I Read; Thank You for Sending an Angel; Found a Job; A Clean Break (Live); Take Me To The River; The Big Country; Heaven.
Disc Two - I Zimbra; Cities (Alternate Version); Life During Wartime; Air; Memories Can't Wait; Drugs (Alternate Version); Once in a Lifetime; Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On); Listening Wind; Houses in Motion; Crosseyed and Painless; Burning Down the House; Making Flippy Floppy; Girlfriend is Better; Slippery People; Swamp; This Must be the Place (Naive Melody).
Disc Three - And She Was; Stay Up Late; Creature of Love; The Lady Don't Mind; Road to Nowhere; Wild Wild Life; Love for Sale; People Like Us; Puzzlin' Evidence; City of Dreams; Blind; Mr Jones; The Democratic Circus; (Nothing But) Flowers; In Asking Land (Outtake); Sax and Violins; Lifetime Piling Up.
DVD (Storytelling Giant) - Once in a Lifetime; Wild Wild Life; Stay Up Late; Blind; Crosseyed and Painless; Burning Down the House; And She Was; Sax and Violins; This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody); The Lady Don't Mind; Love For Sale; (Nothing But) Flowers; Road to Nowhere.
Talking Heads: David Byrne - Vocals / Guitars; Jerry Harrison - Keyboards / Guitars; Tina Weymouth - Bass; Chris Frantz - Drums / Percussion.
