Rating: 
Summary: Being a die-hard TH fan...
Review: ... I was more than thrilled to find what seemed to be a comprehensive book on possibly one of the most intelligent and mold-breaking bands of the 80s. Being a young woman, David Byrne has always struck a soft spot in my heart and I have always found myself crediting David as the genius of the group. While I did not know the whole story of the band, and have heard stories of David's incorrigible temper, one viewing of Stop Making Sense is enough to see that TH was truly David. I do not discredit the rest of the band, but it was David who gave TH that edge that most of us adore the band for. The author of the book, David Bowman, wrote a book not about the evolution of the band, but a cruel misrepresentation of Tina Weymouth and a vague report of David's outstanding offerings to the band. His terribly biased book presents Tina (mind you, i'm not a big fan of her to begin with) as this power humgry wolf with hatred and despise for the band's lead singer. This may have been an acceptable method to present the band if Bowman had given any of David's views on the tension between he and Tina or had justified Tina's views in any way. Bowman just preferred to bash Tina, and haphazardly give facts on David and even fewer on Jerry and Chris. Another irritant that I suffered from was Bowman giving this historical, politcal perspective of New York city. Again, if the history and politics played a huge role with the band, I can see why Bowman would add this large bulk of information. Giving the context and setting of a band is excellent; wasting space due to the fact that the author clearly did not have enough information on the band is terrible. Half of the book could have been burned -- the rest is information that any person with the internet and the knowledge of three internet sites on the Talking Heads could have put together. I aplogize to the band for having such a terrible book written. I've waited for a truly fair and insightful book on the Talking Heads, and I am very sorry to say that this book is not it.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, could have been better.
Review: Bowman uses interviews from band members, friends and articles to write the story of Talking Heads. He succeeds about half of the time. While I did get some insight into how the band got together, rose through the ranks of NY bands and made a name for themselves, I also felt a lot was left out. Bowman takes too much time in writing about dance and art and the people that inhabit that world. These subjects are certainly part of the TH's (or mainly Byrne's) history and should be included, but not at the expense of what was let out or not followed up upon. This band had a very dysfunctional relationship between it's members and Bowman does point this out, but leaves several questions hanging. The tense relationship between Weymouth and Byrne is not really fleshed out (we know Weymoth has problems with Byrne, but why? How did these problems get started?)and the breakup of the band is treated almost as an afterthought. I do think Bownman does a good job going over the Big Suit tour and also pointing out what made TH sound so special. His writing style could be irritating to some, but, except in some spots, didn't really bother me. This is not a bad effort, it's just inconsistent.
Rating: 
Summary: The complete history of Talking Heads
Review: Bowman's book maps the early years, the huge worldwide success and eventual breakup of this talented band Talking Heads. Book One deals with Byrne and Weymouth's early years (Byrne's first band was called Revelation) and how the band came together. They began as New Wave art rockers who understood soul music. This part also covers the scene at the famous New York clubs CBGB's and Max's Kansas City, including interactions with other famous musicians like Patti Smith and John Cale - for example an interesting account of a John Cale gig at Lower Manhattan's Ocean Club. Book Two includes the account of the recording of More Songs About Buildings And Food with Brian Eno at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas, discussions of the albums Fear Of Music and Remain In Light, a quote from the respected rock critic Lester Bangs on the song The Big Country, the involvement of Adrian Belew with the band, Twyla Tharp as choreographer, Byrne and Eno's influential album My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, Weymouth an Frantz's solo project Tom Tom Club and much more. Book Three deals mainly with Little Creatures, True Stories and the conflict between Byrne and Weymouth that led to the demise of the band. The book concludes with a bibliography and notes, a discography, filmography and index. Black and white photographs enliven the text. Bowman's book is filled with memorable incidents, rock personalities and musical insights and reads like a novel. Highly recommended to all who enjoy the music of this unique band.
Rating:
Summary: Who's worse, Bowman or his editor?
Review: I came here to read these reviews to see if it was just me, or was this book truly that bad. I'm pleased to say that reading these reviews has confirmed two things - yes, the book really is that bad, and also that the majority of the people who've read the book and written a review here can actually write better than David Bowman.This entire novel reads like an undergraduate essay by someone with half a grasp of his subject matter and not enough research to reach the word limit. It's woefully researched and the only photos from the scant selection offered that aren't from stock sources seem to come from Mark Kehoe - a minority player in the overall story who commands an inordinate amount of space. (Is he a friend of Bowman's?) There are also some dreadful attempts to theorise and contextualise in an attempt to pad out the common knowledge that forms the bulk of the book. This book would be dreadful if it had been published as a vanity imprint. The fact it's got through an editor and into hardback is a sad indictment of the industry.
Rating:
Summary: Screw "True" Fans--It's All About TTH!
Review: I'm a big-time Talking Heads fan and I take issue with these messages from the "true" fans. Of course the main issue of the band has always been David and Tina. I remember reading about their fights in Rolling Stone around 1978. Chris was married to Tina. He's going to take her side of course. As for Jerry, Bowman portrays how time after time Jerry and David worked together, independent of the other two Heads. Whether or not you prescribe to Bowman's pro-David view, the pages are mostly about how the Talking Heads created their music in the studio, and that music's relationship to world culture. For example, I take the Walkman for granted, but I laughed when I read that originally it was designed it with two ear phone jacks because they imagined people would listen to the same tape on the street side-by-side? Apparently, no one could imagine Americans isolating themselves by walking down the street wearing headphones! The book is full of these terrifically weird quirky details. I have to say what the book could have used is an in-depth interview with Brian Eno. Eno comes across as a kind of Darth Vader. He's quite the mysterious guy! There are many reasons to read this book, but foremost, to me, is that it is well written and engaging. This is not your average "rock scene" self-indulgent journey. I stopped flagging pages with post-its after using half a stack on this book - it's got that much juicy info.
Rating:
Summary: The mystery is how this was ever published.
Review: It's a pretty terrible book overall. It's more like "Dick and Jane Go Downtown." There is plenty of information here concerning the band but Bowman's arrested development writing style makes the sledding rather tough, and at other times, outright laughable. One example is the purported "mystery" concerning how many times Byrne sings 'fa fa fa fa fa fa' in Psycho Killer's recorded performances, live performances, and the six fa-fa-fas documented on the liner notes for Talking Heads '77. As Bowman writes, "The mystery may never be solved". So gobsmacked was I to learn this that I nearly spilled me Jameson's down me loonpants! It also doesn't appear that Bowman actually spoke to any band members for this book. Further, he wears his own literary inclinations on his sleeve: if I read one more likening of Tom Verlaine or Patti Smith to Beaudelaire or Rimbaud I'm going to puke. It's just a not very good book - it reads more like undergraduate hero worship than objective critique. The photographs included in the book are laughable in their triviality. Only the captions are worse. Save your money, this is a real dud.
Rating: 
Summary: I Wouldnt Read This Book If You Paid Me To
Review: Perhaps my being a fan of the band makes my point of view harsh, but why else would someone buy a Talking Heads book if they were not a fan. Unfortunately, the author is an overly-opinionated intruder in his own book. Bowman gets hopelessly caught up acting as if he was there for the whole ride (when its obvious that he was never even close to catching the roadies' bus). Bowman brings along his swarmy faux hipness and distorted view of Chris, David, Tina and Jerry (see- he's even got me acting like I know these guys). The only saving grace to the book is the name-dropping and tie-ins the Heads had with the rest of the New York scene. The who's-who of tag alongs and left-behinds was interesting but could have been more developed with greater detail in some anecdotes. The Tina-bashing and non-commital-milk-toasty portrayal of Chris leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth. If Bowman had a bad time interviewing Tina, then lay it out on the line and let the reader in on your hostility. Too much hero-worship of Byrne (...) makes the reader feel like he didn't get any insight at all. By the way, the book was a gift... the ride was a Road to Nowhere.
Rating:
Summary: The great Talking Heads biography hasn't been written yet
Review: Talking Heads was my one of favorite bands of the 80s so I was looking forward to reading this book. Unfortunately I don't know what to trust in terms of what is accurate or otherwise. How much trouble would it have been to fact check if James Brown actually sang "More Bounce to the Ounce" as Bowman writes? (He didn't. The great funk band Zapp recorded the tune.) I also would have preferred a little more balance in Bowman's reporting. His bashing of Tina Weymouth puts the integrity of his story into question.
Rating:
Summary: An Almost Almost Famous for the 80's
Review: The author hasn't been there, but his research, however intrusive, is quite extensive and sound. David Bowman vividly brings back the era I grew up in, where my tastes were forming and outsider art and exotic music were becoming my means of release. Like the film that I title this review after, it brings back a warm nostalgia for that era, but unlike that film, it doesn't go soft on the warts of the subjects. Unfortunately, there isn't a Lester Bangs character or anyone of that caliber currently to serve as a referee and provide some perspective. Such is needed because of Bowman's tendency--in adhering to the rock mythos of group is formed, group succeeds, group then breaks up in acrimony--to frame Talking Heads as a kind of avant-garde Beatles with David Byrne as Paul and Tina Weymouth as Yoko. Both of them are difficult subjects to interview, but at least there is some balance in Dennis Franz and Jerry Harrison's points of view. Throughout all of this, the name dropping becomes very useful, like landmarks on a road map of sights one hasn't seen in years that just mount up in pleasurable recollections of that odd decade. My one regret of that time is that I never got to see Talking Head live, but this seems to fill the void in terms of getting as close to them as they will allow. This Must Be The Place is where we can see all four of them , as disparate as they are, in that time where they got along just enough to make musical history. And we are all the better for it.
Rating:
Summary: Like a long Vanity Fair article
Review: The book was terribly engrossing and a quick read, though I question some of the information. For instance, how could David have had a tooth he chipped when he was four or five years old repaired when he was in his 20s? The damaged "baby" tooth would have fallen out and been replaced by an undamaged tooth in the meantime. Others have commented on the author's apparent lack of knowledge the music world of that time. (Calling Patti Smith's second album the worst CBGB-spawned album out at the time is ridiculous unless all the other albums were pure genius: while "Radio Ethiopia" is no "Horses," it is intermittently brilliant.) The book reads like it was written by a younger Dominick Dunne, with lots and lots of name dropping. Still, nothing else I know of provides so much information about the band. I listened to Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club and David Byrne albums while reading. It left me missing them. I recommend it.
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