Tom Tom Club – Tom Tom Club – 1981
Ah, piffle.
It’s pretty well known that Tina Weymouth was becoming more and more frustrated with the control over Talking Heads that David Byrne was wielding. As though he was the genius and they were lucky to be there.
So, on the side, while he was making My Life and Catherine Wheel, Tina and her husband, Chris Frantz enlisted some other players as well as her sisters and tossed off a bit of Rhythmic dance fluff.
And it’s probably been more sustaining for them than anything they’ve ever done. I mean, come on, “Genius of Love”? How ubiquitous is THAT song???
What they were successful at, more than anything else, was creating a pop version of the tribal musings of Talking Heads. Like TH lite.
Let’s be honest here: “Genius of Love” is one of the catchiest tracks of the 80s. Hands down. Just plain fun. And no one, NO ONE ever said that about Talking Heads before.
While there are some dull parts (“L’Elephant” goes on too long and “As Above, So Below” treads dangerously close to experimentation instead of dancey fun) the entire affair is too cute and short to linger too long.
I think of this album as the anti-Remain in Light. Or the anti-My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. It’s sort of a triumph that it’s paid such dividends for Frantz/Weymouth. While Byrne and Eno were taking themselves SOOOOO seriously, the “lesser” members of the band outdid them with something that everybody liked, everybody bought and everybody danced to. Byrne is what you SHOULD eat. Tom Tom Club is candy.
And sometimes you gotta have a piece of candy.
Grade: B
ASide: Genius of Love, Wordy Rappinghood
BlindSide: On On On On, Booming and Zooming
DownSide: Lorelei
