Talking Heads Unveil ‘Tentative Decisions’ Early Demos and Live Collection with Unreleased “Love Goes To A Building On Fire”

Last year, Talking Heads celebrated the 50th anniversary of their formation. Among other high-profile observances of the landmark, including a new “Psycho Killer” music video starring Saoirse Ronan, was the release of an unprecedented artefact from their origins: Demos of the legendary art-punk band’s first recordings as The Artistics, discovered on long-lost reel-to-reel tape in the Rhode Island School of Design’s archives. Now, that Record Store Day exclusive release has been expanded as Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live, a three-CD collection due on March 6 via Rhino.

Tentative Decisions captures the frenetic curiosity of Talking Heads’ original trio of David Byrne, Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth as they bloomed from a college cover band to pursue boundary-pushing new fusions of rock and pop. Alongside the original 13-song set, including The Artistics’ 1974 first passes on what would become “Psycho Killer” and “Warning Sign” and 11 other demos from 1975 and 1976, the new compilation notably adds 15 unreleased demos cut for CBS in September 1975. That session, conducted at the request of Mark Spector, didn’t net a contract, but it did set down for posterity the seeds of future classics like “Thank You For Sending Me An Angel” and “Stay Hungry.”

On the third disc, Tentative Decisions unearths 17 more remarkable early live versions that chart the band’s catalog in development as they made their mark in New York. At the famed Max’s Kansas City, on Oct. 9, 1976, Talking Heads blazed through tracks like “Artists Only,” “Love Goes To A Building On Fire” and “Pablo Picasso” just weeks before Seymore Stein signed them to Sire Records. At Syracuse, N.Y.’s Jabberwocky Club on Jan. 6, 1977, the trio worked out entries including “No Compassion,” “New Feeling” and “Sugar On My Tongue” in one of their last shows before Jerry Harrison signed on in March.

Tentative Decisions is available to pre-order and pre-save now. Listen to the CBS demo for “Love Goes To A Building On Fire” below, and read on for the full tracklist.

Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live – Talking Heads:

Disc One:

“Psycho Killer” (September 1975 Demo)

“Tentative Decisions” (September 1975 Demo)

“No Compassion” (September 1975 Demo)

“Warning Sign” (September 1975 Demo)

“I’m Not in Love” (1976 Demo)

“Thank You For Sending Me An Angel” (1976 Demo)

“The Book I Read” (1976 Demo)

“I Wish You Wouldn’t Say That” (1976 Demo)

“Love Goes To A Building On Fire” (1976 Demo)

“Happy Day” (1976 Demo)

“Artists Only” (Live at the Lower Manhattan Ocean Club, New York, NY, 8/17/76)

“Psycho Killer” – The Artistics

“Warning Sign” – The Artistics

Disc Two:

CBS Demos (September 1975)

“Psycho Killer” *

“Sugar On My Tongue” *

“Thank You For Sending Me An Angel” *

“I Want To Live” *

“I Wish You Wouldn’t Say That” *

“The Girls Want To Be With The Girls” *

“Who Is It?” *

“With Our Love” *

“Stay Hungry” *

“Tentative Decisions” *

“Warning Sign” *

“I’m Not In Love” *

“The Book I Read” *

“Love Goes To A Building On Fire” *

“No Compassion” *

Disc Three:

Live at Max’s Kansas City, New York, NY (10/9/76)

“Artists Only” *

“1, 2, 3 Red Light” *

“Happy Day” *

“Don’t Worry About The Government” *

“Psycho Killer” *

“Love Goes To A Building On Fire” *

“Thank You For Sending Me An Angel” *

“With Our Love” *

“Pablo Picasso” *

“I’m Not In Love” *

Live at the Jabberwocky Club, Syracuse, NY (1/26/77)

“No Compassion” *

“New Feeling” *

“Psycho Killer” *

“A Clean Break (Let’s Work)” *

“Sugar On My Tongue” *

Live at the Lower Manhattan Ocean Club, New York, NY (8/17/76)

“I Wish You Wouldn’t Say That” *

“Take Me To The River” *

*Previously unreleased