Often hailed as one of the most innovative rock acts of the 20th century, Talking Heads burst onto the scene in September 1977 with their aptly-titled debut Talking Heads: 77. Recorded at New York City's Sundragon Studios in April of that same year, the tightly-constructed 11-track collection showcased the band’s penchant for blending angular, danceable grooves with frontman David Byrne’s delightfully maniacal vocals.
Talking Heads: 77 is often categorized as part of the new wave movement, but the band's influences were widespread and varied. Their music draws inspiration from punk's rawness and simplicity, while simultaneously incorporating elements of funk and art rock to produce a completely unique sound. The album wasn't an instant commercial success–it barely cracked the Billboard top-100 in the US–but the group would steadily gain traction and popularity as the decade wore on.
In 2005, Rhino Records–Warner Brothers’ catalog division–released the career-spanning Brick boxed set, containing all eight Talking Heads studio albums released between 1977 and 1988. The set utilized the short-lived ‘DualDisc’ format: a double-sided optical disc with a standard CD layer on one side and a DVD layer on the other. For the DVD portion of each disc in the Brick, Talking Heads keyboardist/guitarist Jerry Harrison and producer Eric “ET” Thorngren created brand-new 5.1 surround sound mixes from 96-khz/24-bit digital transfers of the original multitrack tapes.
Editor's Note: The 8-disc Brick box set from 2005 contains the entire Talking Heads studio discography remixed in 96-khz/24-bit 5.1 surround sound by Jerry Harrison and E.T. Thorngren. The 5.1 mixes of each album were later released separately as standalone DualDiscs in the United States and CD/DVD-Audio sets in Europe.
Though the Talking Heads’ music is ideal for multichannel reproduction–especially later recordings like 1980's Remain in Light and 1983's Speaking in Tongues, with their intricate layered polyrhythms–Harrison and Thorngren took a measured approach in bringing this iconic music into the third dimension. Their 5.1 mixes are tastefully subtle, keeping the main band mostly in front of the listener and then utilizing the rear speakers to selectively bring in secondary elements like harmony vocals, percussion, and keyboards.
Nearly two decades later, Harrison and Thorngren revisited the Talking Heads’ catalog once more–this time in Dolby Atmos, for release via streaming services in September 2022 to commemorate the debut album’s 45th anniversary. The duo also went on to complete an Atmos remix of the band's seminal 1984 live album Stop Making Sense, which sadly proved to be their last immersive collaboration prior to Thorngren’s tragic passing in May 2024.
Now, to further celebrate Talking Heads: 77, Rhino has compiled a lavish four-disc Super Deluxe Edition that charts the early development of the band. For immersive audio enthusiasts, the centerpiece of the set is certainly the audio-only Blu-Ray disc containing both the original 2005 DualDisc/DVD-Audio 5.1 surround mix and the 2022 Dolby Atmos mix that was previously exclusive to streaming services.
The music is timeless, but I found 77 to be the least-engaging Talking Heads album purely from a surround sound point-of-view. That's not meant as a criticism of Harrison and Thorngren's remixing work, but rather an admission of the economical nature of the source recordings. These compositions are quite sparse–especially in comparison to subsequent works–providing the duo with limited opportunities to fully utilize the extended soundstage without 'ungluing' the instrumentation.
As such, the arrangement of the 5.1 mix is relatively simple. Chris Frantz’s drums, Tina Weymouth’s bass, and David Byrne’s vocals are kept largely upfront (his voice resides in the 'phantom' front center rather than isolated in the center speaker), while Harrison and Byrne's dueling rhythm guitars appear between the front and back speakers. There are only a handful of distinct elements, such as the backing vocals in "Tentative Decisions" and keys in "Happy Day," panned completely behind the listener.
So, given the conservative nature of the 5.1 mix, I was pretty skeptical about 77’s Atmos prospects. If there was barely enough instrumentation to engage five speakers, how were they supposed to fill a 7.1.4 or 9.1.6 array?
“77 presented quite a challenge. It was recorded on a 16-track recorder with only four tracks devoted to drums. Some of the songs only consisted of eight tracks; yet the songs still adapt well to [the] 5.1 surround remix. This album did not lend itself to events taking place in the rear, or to much movement; rather, the songs just occupied a larger soundstage.”
Jerry Harrison, 2005
With those concerns in mind, I’m very pleased to report that the new Dolby Atmos mix does offer a meaningful upgrade over the prior 5.1 surround release. Now working within an even larger space, Harrison and Thorngren have taken a more adventurous approach in deconstructing-and-reconstructing these classic songs all around the listener. However, it's worth noting that only the original 11 album tracks have been remixed in Dolby Atmos–whereas the 2005 5.1 release included two bonus songs: an alternative version of "Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Down" and an acoustic rendition of "Psycho Killer."
The rhythm section and lead vocal remain upfront, but have now been elevated halfway up the room–hovering between the front and front height speakers. The chugging rhythm guitars that were previously placed in both the front and rear speakers are now almost completely isolated in the side surrounds, giving those parts a startling new precision. Finally, the rear surround and rear height channels occasionally chime in with those few additional layers of background vocals, keyboards, and percussion.
Additionally, the new Atmos mix seems to have a more-relaxed tonality than the prior 5.1 version–perhaps due to there being less dynamic range compression applied. Since the 5.1 mix is included on the Blu-Ray, it's easy to make comparisons–just bear in mind that the TrueHD/Atmos audio is presented at a significantly lower level than the DTS-HD and multichannel PCM streams.
The opening track “Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town” immediately sets the tone for the album, with jangly rhythm guitars from the side surrounds playing off Tina Weymouth's funky bassline upfront. After the chorus, Harrison's keyboards appear centered in the rear surrounds–floating directly behind the listener's head. Intermittent guitar blasts emerge from the rears throughout "New Feeling," while Byrne's voice amusingly swirls around the room towards the end.
"Tentative Decisions" is definitely a highlight of the immersive presentation, as the harmonies ('oh, the boys wanna talk...') appear isolated in the rear surrounds. Starting in the second verse, the short vocal interjections of 'I wanna talk' and 'I'm gonna give' cleverly bounce around the four quadrants. Strummed acoustic guitars fill up the side surrounds for "Happy Day," with Harrison's ethereal organ part creeping in from the back of the room.
Chris Frantz’s drumming shines throughout the playful "Who Is It?," featuring dueling rhythm guitars in the side surrounds and Byrne's vocal echoes in the rear. The guitars extend from the sides up into the rear heights throughout "No Compassion," while the groovy rhythm section owns the front stage.
“When we do a mix for Atmos, we have the same philosophy as we did for 5.1–more like you’re watching it from close to the stage. It’s still in front of you, but you’re hearing reflections and certain things. We did move sounds around the room for effects. Like the song “Drugs” from Fear of Music has all these sounds...and “The Great Curve” from Remain in Light–with the three contrapuntal vocal lines happening simultaneously–it was so great in surround to have them coming from different directions. When we were remixing [that album], there was so much room in an Atmos mix that we were able to make the drums and the bass a little more present, without taking away from the feeling of the stereo mixes.”
Jerry Harrison, January 2023
Moving into what originally constituted side 2 of the album, Frantz's drum kit upfront alternates with guitars from the sides for the "The Book I Read." During the chorus of "Don't Worry About the Government," the layered harmony vocals extend from the side surrounds up into the height array. The horn section in "First Week/Last Week… Carefree" is heavily featured in the rear speakers, with the saxophone locked mostly to the back left corner.
The sinister bass intro to "Psycho Killer" sits between the front and front height speakers, quickly joined by scratchy electric guitars protruding from the side surrounds. During the chorus, an additional guitar part bursts from the rear. "Pulled Up," the final track on the album, again divides the multiple guitar parts between the side and rear surround speakers while Byrne's frenzied vocals soar from the front stage.
More than four decades on, Talking Heads: 77 continues to resonate. The album introduced the world to a band that offered a new vision for what rock music could be, paving the way for future experiments in sound and structure. Its minimalist aesthetic and cerebral approach influenced countless artists, from post-punk bands like Joy Division and XTC to modern indie rock acts like Vampire Weekend or St. Vincent. It’s a brilliant start to a legendary run of albums, each more ambitious and genre-defying than the last.
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