‘Tentative Decisions’ collects early demos and live gems from the band’s formative years
Legendary art-rockers Talking Heads are celebrating their 50th anniversary by reaching deep into the archives and delivering a record-store treat just in time for Black Friday.
On 28th November, the band will release a new rarities compilation, Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live, exclusively through participating independent record stores as part of Record Store Day Black Friday.
The LP spans material recorded between 1975 and 1976, including original demos of songs that would later appear on their debut album Talking Heads: 77 (1977) and sequel record More Songs About Buildings and Food (1978).
Among the standout inclusions are early versions of now-classic tracks like ‘Psycho Killer,’ ‘Warning Sign’ and ‘Thank You for Sending Me an Angel.’
There’s also a rare live recording of ‘Artists Only,’ captured at the Ocean Club in New York in August 1976.
Importantly, the collection revisits the band’s earliest incarnation: prior to Talking Heads, founding members (including David Byrne and Chris Frantz) performed under the name The Artistics and “Psycho Killer” and ‘Warning Sign’ are presented in those very raw, early Artistics recordings.
For fans of the band or collectors of vinyl rarities, Tentative Decisions offers an intimate, behind-the-scenes glimpse at the birth of a defining group in post-punk and art-rock history.
With just one copy per customer at many stores, it’s a reminder of why events like Record Store Day still matter.
