Talking Heads "Slippery People/Making Flippy Floppy"

[stevie nice]

Spending 6 weeks at the #2 spot on the club charts in the summer/fall of 1983 under its chart placing of "Speaking In Tongues (all cuts), these two tracks were among the esence of what made TH a great band, and further explored their use of world rhythms started roughly with Fear Of Music and Remain In Light.

This double A sided 12 inch single was remixed by John Jellybean Benitez, and was not tampered with in any way, ie, no overdubs, no speeding up to make the songs 135 bpm, that type of stuff. Just extended breaks and tweaking of some of the tracks to give brighter sounds to the hi-hats.

WBLS in New York, was a major proponent of Slippery People, so much so that they played it with authority instead of the Staple Singers version which was released a few months later.

Any comments? Any TH fans out there? This was pretty much the last Heads album I really really got into, but give me their library from TH77 thru this album (including their first live album TNOTBITH) and I can pretty much make a valid arguement for them being as inventive as any music act ever, pretty much anyway.

BTW, this 12 inch version is not available on any of their CDs for some inexplicable reason, since they do have some remix albums out. I do have lots of vinyl to convert. sigh, another task....

[irock]

stevie said:

BTW, this 12 inch version is not available on any of their CDs for some inexplicable reason, since they do have some remix albums out. I do have lots of vinyl to convert. sigh, another task....

When you get it converted to mp3 I wonder if you'd email me a copy? I used to spin this at Zoli's discothèque. And I agree that the best of the Talking Heads pretty much ended with this album.

[stevie nice]

irock said:

When you get it converted to mp3 I wonder if you'd email me a copy?  I used to spin this at Zoli's discothèque.  And I agree that the best of the Talking Heads pretty much ended with this album.

I would be delighted to, you are referring to the 6 plus minute remix, I take it. My vinyl is at my old apartment, and it's not going to happen tonite, but, someday somehow I will. I have Logic software for my recording studio, and will try to clean it and tweak it enough to make it sound good. I convert my mp3s to 192bit (actually AAC), but to tell u the truth, I'm tickled just to see someone reply to this, so I may do it sooner rather than later.

If you are familiar with this early era of post disco/dance IRock, I'm wondering if you have checked out comp CDs like Mutant Disco, Disco Not Disco and Death Disco.

One comp (i forget which of those 3 it is and sorry, am 2 lazy to look now, is a Ze Records sampler, and is extended from the EP i found when i was 16-17 at a specially store near my daddys house. It featured an amazing song called "Wheel Me Out" by Was (Not Was), as well as the club classic "Deputy Of Love" and listening to a lot of this stuff now as I import onto my computer really 1) takes me back to my anti late 70-early 80s top 40 days, and 2) is stuff my 21 year old gf can listen to and see where stuff like Benny Benassi and Ladytron and some of the electroclash she is familiar with originated from.

I wish I was able to get this stuff when it first came out. I just got into Killing Joke 2 or so years ago, and remembered seeing their import 12inch singles in a record store near my daddys house, whose employee was THE Peter Holsapple, of the DBs fame, who would give me great tips on next big acts and the such. but spending 8 dollars on an import 12 inch by a band like Killing Joke because their song was #58 on the BB disco chart, as opposed to buying 5 singles for the same price, was a losing proposition.

There is also another CD I got, "New Religion Presents A Secret History." I bought it specifically because I couldn't find Alexander Robotnik's "Problemes D'Amour" on CD anywhere, and included on the disc is Paul McCartney's silly, yet listening to it now, groundbreaking track "Temporary Secretary" from his McCartney 2 album. My gf and I are going to use it as a mash someday I think.

Thanks for listening/reading...

[mst3k]

irock said:

When you get it converted to mp3 I wonder if you'd email me a copy? 

Me too (or upload it on yousendit). I only know the album version, I'd like to check out the extended mix.

[irock]

stevie said:

I would be delighted to, you are referring to the 6 plus minute remix, I take it.

Something like that, I forget exactly. I remember the 12-inch single and that it was an extension of the album track.

I convert my mp3s to 192bit (actually AAC), but to tell u the truth, I'm tickled just to see someone reply to this, so I may do it sooner rather than later.

Can you make an exception in this one case and run it at 256bps, or at least vbr with a base rate of 192 (if it's not too much trouble)? My ears are very sensitive to distortion and it is sometimes almost painful to listen to songs recorded at 192 or below.

If you are familiar with this early era of post disco/dance IRock, I'm wondering if you have checked out comp CDs like Mutant Disco, Disco Not Disco and Death Disco.

No, I haven't but perhaps I should. I remember some of the names you mention but it's been so many years that I can't place all of them.

One comp (i forget which of those 3 it is and sorry, am 2 lazy to look now, is a Ze Records sampler, and is extended from the EP i found when i was 16-17 at a specially store near my daddys house. It featured an amazing song called "Wheel Me Out" by Was (Not Was), as well as the club classic "Deputy Of Love" and listening to a lot of this stuff now as I import onto my computer really 1) takes me back to my anti late 70-early 80s top 40 days, and 2) is stuff my 21 year old gf can listen to and see where stuff like Benny Benassi and Ladytron and some of the electroclash she is familiar with originated from.

I remember WMO and I think I remember DOL, but again it's been so many years I can't be certain. When disco started to die out, my club went more toward funk (think George Clinton type stuff) and rap.

The period of time we're discussing here is contemporary with that of the Journey thread. Rock was in a decline in those days and as a dj I wasn't looking to rock as often for songs that would keep my folks dancing. There was the odd exception, of course - ZZ Top's Legs was immensely popular at my club - but for the most part we moved toward urban.

[stevie nice]

I spoke to my longtime friend/engineer Fernan just now, and it looks like he's going to help me do this on or around this coming saturday or sunday, so i hope there isn't a burning desire to hear it b4 hand. if irock or aaron are curious about any other mp3s, and certainly ne one else, u can send me a PM and I would be happy to provide it, providing I have it. mp3s of tracks like this, not something like safety dance or who can it be now, that u can find on any 7 dollar comp. but lately, i've been getting into lots of postpunk/dance stuff from this era, and with all the cds i've been buying at cd universe lately, (i think close to 3000 dollars in past 3 months) i'd be happy to see if i can get copies of songs that we just can't find.


my wishlist, or 2 songs that i don't even have on vinyl, and can't find on cd is:

1) i dig you & cult hero- cult hero (a very rare single by robert smith of the cure, i think i saw it for several 100 bucks on gemm.

2) papa's got a brand new pigbag - pigbag (i had this 12 inch and lent it out never to see it again)

3) love is blue (disco version only) - paul mauriat. i'm sure this is on a comp, i just don't know which of his million comps this particular version is on. but i found the 5 minute version of al martino's volare on my 1st try!! so little miracles do happen!!

4) this band has to be on cd somewhere, and I have the 12 inch import, but i would like a greatest hits of APB, that features the song rainy day (why did it have to rain?)

[stevie nice]

irock said:

Can you make an exception in this one case and run it at 256bps, or at least vbr with a base rate of 192 (if it's not too much trouble)?  My ears are very sensitive to distortion and it is sometimes almost painful to listen to songs recorded at 192 or below.

I'm really curious now; do u find 192 unacceptable? do u play mp3s on a home stereo? I started this project a year ago and made sure to do my mp3s at 192, and am now reimorting them at 192aac because of that? i havent gotten a good home theater system yet, but eventually will use an airport express to play my music.

i did a test a few months ago, importing the title track of brothers in arms at 192, 256 and 320, and could tell difference, but it just used too much space, at 320, and at 192, it sounded decent enough to me that a good equalizer sgould be able to take care of the rest. but i would appreciate ur insight. i can be a stickler about this, and now that i've already reimported 10000 tracks, hope i dont have to redo them all over again.

[irock]

192 is decent enough at relatively low volume, but when I crank it up it doesn't sound so good. Most people can't tell the difference, but for some reason I can and it bothers me. I'd be glad to get this mp3 at 192, but I'd have more fun with it if the bitrate were higher. You might try 212, quite often that's good enough. And yes, btw, I do play mp3s on my home stereo, but I can tell the difference in bitrates even with a nice set of computer speakers.

Incidently, I think some radio stations these days play compressed tracks at 192. Either that or the transmitters they build now aren't as good as they used to be.

I have a similar problem with video monitors. Back in the days of EGA and early VGA computer monitors I used to have to take frequent breaks in order to avoid getting headaches from the slow refresh rates (and I do mean bad headaches). It's not such a problem now since for the past few years monitors have become capable of running high-res modes at 85 hz or above.

[areyoureadytojump]

[Deleted]

The Stop Making Sense version of "Slippery People" is AMAZING!