Music For Activities Freaks
January 20, 2019 2:15 PM   Subscribe

You may know True Stories as a 1986 movie by Talking Heads with an accompanying album. What isn't widely known is there is a second album, released on vinyl and cassette only -- Sounds From True Stories: Music For Activities Freaks, a score album from the movie [41m]. It's worth a listen! Side A: Cocktail Desperado (Terry Allen And The Panhandle Mystery Band), Road Song (Meredith Monk), Freeway Son (David Byrne), Brownie's Theme (David Byrne), Mall Muzak: Building A Highway / Puppy Polka / Party Girls (Carl Finch), Dinner Music (Kronos Quartet)

Side B: Disco Hits! (David Byrne), City Of Steel (David Byrne), Love Theme From True Stories (David Byrne), Festa Para Um Rei Negro (Banda Eclipse), Buster's Theme (Carl Finch), Soy De Tejas (Steve Jordan), I ♥︎ Metal Buildings (David Byrne), Glass Operator (David Byrne)
posted by hippybear (23 comments total) 40 users marked this as a favorite
 
Only on cassette and vinyl? Nonesuch recently released these tracks... anyway, always down for more Talking Heads deep cuts.
posted by gusandrews at 3:03 PM on January 20, 2019 [3 favorites]


The 1986 album Sounds From True Stories was only released on vinyl and cassette. True Stories: The Complete Soundtrack is a different album entirely. It includes performances of songs by actors in the film which were performed by Talking Heads on their album of the same name as the film and some other material not available on either previous release.
posted by hippybear at 3:08 PM on January 20, 2019 [3 favorites]


Woo this is good stuff! I always liked Road Song but figured it was just some interstitial music. Listening now it's totally clear it's a Meredith Monk thing, even if she isn't howling singing along. Just sort of biting off the Philip Glass Orchestra sound. (I snark because I love!). Eesteban Jordan is a nice bonus here.

This is on the main soundtrack album, not this one, but Papa Legba is my favorite musical number in the whole show I think. Although it's hard to beat Louis the Dancing Bear doing People Like Us. Hard to imagine this was John Goodman's first big role, with his previous career limited to "Cop in Diner" and "Coach Harris".

America did not deserve this movie.

Oh, Spaulding Gray...
posted by Nelson at 3:22 PM on January 20, 2019 [9 favorites]


Spaulding! *sniffle*
posted by hippybear at 3:25 PM on January 20, 2019 [3 favorites]


Wow! Can't begin to thank you for posting this. I'm a huge fan of Talking Heads but didn't know about this album.
posted by grimjeer at 4:03 PM on January 20, 2019 [4 favorites]


I expected Brave Combo would be involved
posted by thelonius at 4:03 PM on January 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


YAY SO MUCH TALKING HEADS TO HAVE
posted by gusandrews at 4:29 PM on January 20, 2019


Glass Operator was a favourite many years ago - but now it sounds very synth-y. Road Song still sounds good. Perhaps the soundtrack is best listened to while watching the film.

A personal note: The film is often dismissed as silly - I couldn't articulate why it resonated with me in the '90s, in the industrial UK with its out-of-town shopping parks. Byrne never mentioned politics or capitalism in interviews around the film, as far as I know.

But now the re-release text does mention "a hyperrealistic late-capitalist landscape of endless vistas, shopping malls, and prefab metal buildings."

The film is in part a tour around late-stage capitalism.

It's an expansion of the themes in More Songs About Buildings and Food.

"Finally, Byrne breaks the fourth wall to present the bigger picture: “So think about this little scene/apply it to your life/if your work isn’t what you love, then something isn’t right.”

"The conflation of work and love; the particular TV theme, as if television were the center of aesthetic and moral life; the portrayal of hard work as a productive force that will solve everything in your life — what an image of suburban capitalism and the Protestant work ethic."
posted by Speculatist at 4:37 PM on January 20, 2019 [1 favorite]


The love theme is just beautiful. Nobody writes a naive melody like David Byrne.
posted by MrVisible at 4:52 PM on January 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


Hard to imagine this was John Goodman's first big role, with his previous career limited to "Cop in Diner" and "Coach Harris".

And true to his dialogue here, he has for the most part maintained a very consistent panda bear-like shape for the last thirty-odd years.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:43 PM on January 20, 2019 [1 favorite]


That mall was near where I grew up. I remember being so excited to watch that movie when it came out. I remember thinking it was so weird. I loved it. I was like 10?
posted by nikaspark at 7:05 PM on January 20, 2019


"Road Song" was my introduction to Meredith Monk. Above all else, I'm grateful for that. (It's still my favorite piece of hers.)
The 1986 album Sounds From True Stories was only released on vinyl and cassette. True Stories: The Complete Soundtrack is a different album entirely. It includes performances of songs by actors in the film which were performed by Talking Heads on their album of the same name as the film and some other material not available on either previous release.
Maybe we're splitting hairs, but ... yes, technically the collection compiled and issued as Sounds from True Stories was only available on cassette and LP with that particular art and running order, but the entirety of that release is on the Complete Soundtrack - along with much more - so gusandrews is right to point it out.
posted by mykescipark at 8:02 PM on January 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


Wow. I didn't know this existed. Mall Muzak is brilliant. The rest is also very good. I'm going to be listening to this for a long time.

I'm a little bit embarrassed by how much I love True Stories. It's beautiful. But, it's clearly written by coastal city-dwellers making fun of the suburbs. On the other hand, that's not a bad description of my identify and habits. I just don't do it nearly as well as the film does.

I'm even more embarrassed by how much I love the Hey Now video. It has no place in the movie. The filming and acting are sloppy as hell. But, it's absolutely delightful.
posted by eotvos at 8:10 PM on January 20, 2019 [1 favorite]


Maybe we're splitting hairs

We're splitting a 32 year old hair here.

Yes, it's commonly available today, but not in the running order or even entirely the same format as originally available, and many of my links are from tracks from the new release, not the original, because that's what available.

I'm not arguing with you about the availability of the tracks. This post is about a specific release. If I'd intended it to be about the release from last year, it would have been about that.
posted by hippybear at 8:14 PM on January 20, 2019


I love True Stories, a film that I really think was at least ten, and more likely twenty years ahead of its time. The deadpan sarcasm, the surrealism, the music interludes...IT ME.

And the music, both the A-sides and the score album are some of my favorites from Talking Heads. Now you've got me wanting to see the movie again.
posted by happyroach at 8:18 PM on January 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


But, it's clearly written by coastal city-dwellers making fun of the suburbs.

I think it's more like David Byrne has a complicated relationship with the (American) suburbs. It's definitely not just sneering contempt.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:29 PM on January 20, 2019 [6 favorites]


I'm not arguing with you about the availability of the tracks. This post is about a specific release. If I'd intended it to be about the release from last year, it would have been about that.

My point is only to underline that people reading this post can buy these songs now, legally, in a high-fidelity format, today, if they so choose. I'm not arguing with your post framing. I had that original album and loved it. So let's get back to talking about how awesome it is. :-)
posted by mykescipark at 9:32 PM on January 20, 2019


No, he obviously has an affection for them. I've lived in and around Texas for portions of my life, and other small town areas, these things in this movie make sense to me even while they are obviously parody.

That's the brilliance. It's so gentle, you accept it as being part of your own experience.
posted by hippybear at 9:33 PM on January 20, 2019 [1 favorite]


I bought the original album on cassette as a remaindered item from the late 80s eqivalent of Dollar General, and ended up sourcing the vynil on eBay a couple decades later to use at a wedding (the tape had met a Bad End). My way of bringing someone who couldn’t be there along for the day.
posted by tilde at 11:01 PM on January 20, 2019 [1 favorite]


Oh hey, thanks for this, I'd always preferred the Annie McEnroe version of Dream Operator to the album version but I had trouble finding it.
posted by painquale at 12:44 AM on January 21, 2019 [1 favorite]


I pre-ordered the DVD of the movie the instant I heard about it, having fond memories of the original release. The movie has aged very well, and I still love the fashion show and "Dream Operator".
posted by acrasis at 8:07 AM on January 21, 2019


it's clearly written by coastal city-dwellers making fun of the suburbs

Huh. I grew up in Texas during the sesquicentennial, and watched this movie at the time as an alternateen, and remember being struck by how much love is in the film. How Byrne captures the decency and quirkiness of the best parts of Texas. It's maybe a bit too much Marfa / Austin and not enough El Paso / Tyler. But it's got plenty of Lubbock and Midland and Dallas in it too, with little nods to Brownsville and Houston.

A triple feature of Lone Star, True Stories, and Slacker would be a pretty solid coverage of alternative culture takes on Texas from this era.

A celebration of special-ness.
posted by Nelson at 8:14 AM on January 21, 2019 [7 favorites]


Criterion also just released their version in November. Haven't seen it yet but I heard it also had some other songs on it.

Love this movie, love the music, love love love the post!
posted by Snowishberlin at 9:05 AM on January 21, 2019


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