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From the Vault...
11/23/2014
#1439 |
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info
Tom Tom Club
"Tom Tom Club"
© Sire Records
Year of Release: 1981
Rating:
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track listing
Wordy Rappinghood
Genius Of Love
Tom Tom Theme
L'Elephant
As Above So Below
Lorelei
On On On On
Booming And Zooming
Under The Boardwalk
Lorelei (Remix)
Wordy Rappinghood
(Remix)
Genius Of Love
(Long Version)
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Tom Tom Club
"Tom Tom Club"
The Tom Tom Club was the creation from two members of the Talking Heads: Tina Weymouth amd Chris Frantz. They gathered a well-tamed enotourage
of musicians to form this band. Members included well-known guitarist Adrian Belew (King Crimson, Frank Zappa), the (Tina) Weywmouth Sisters Chorale
(Tina, Laura and Lani), ex-Wailer Tyrone Downie, and others. Recorded in the Bahamas, the purpose of their debut album was to reflect both of the
the tropical pulse of the Caribbean, and urban rhythms that were heard from ghetto blasters and Manhattan dance clubs. Their name was originated from
the dancehall in the Bahamas where they rehearsed for the first time while on hiatus from the Talking Heads.
The Tom Tom Club album has all of the songs reflectling a "Caribbean, tropical experience." Trying to distinguish on particular musical styles,
it not-so-reggae, no-so-new wave, so in actuality, it is one disinctive word: DIFFERENT. The two songs that easily stands out, were the two "hits":
"Wordy Rappinghood," (a catchy number), and the most popular, "Genius Of Love,' which would be the main reason to acquire this album. This
song would be sampled in many future songs; the most popular used by Mariah Carey in 1995, in her #1 hit, "Fantasy." They released five albums as
the Tom Tom Club, their most recent, in 2012.
"The Tom Tom Theme" is a short, Caribbean piece, where "L'Elephant" continues the catchy, Carribbean/Tropical sounds, as the two hits.
"As Above, So Below" is yet another tune in Carri/Trop form, yet it is one of those uniquely sounding tracks, that being heard from the band that
made Weymouth and Frantz famous, The Talking Heads. The same can be said for "Lorelei." "On, On, On, On" is more of a dance club track.
"Booming And Zooming" is just incredibly "weird" with the "hold your nose" spoken voice.
Rounding out the rest of the CD release, are bonus tracks. Their remake of "Under The Boardwalk" is cool, upbeat, tropical-ish, reggae-ish.
It's fantastic. Remixes of "Lorelei," "Wordy Rappinghood" and "Genius Of Love" is a 7-minute long version. In most cases, the remixes
are better than the original versions. "Lorelei" is this case. The original and remix of "Wordy Rappinghood" are about the same. And
"Genius Of Love" is best in original and remixed forms.
Like The Talking Heads, their music can be identified as "weird, strange" -- especially for leader David Byrne, the true different, unique, weird and
strange individual. "Genius Of Love" by The Tom Tom Club was definitely different, as the rest of their debut album is truly different, unique,
and for some, weird and strange. Still trying to define it as New Wave? Maybe not, but the bandmembers have labeled them as Carribbean, Tropical, and
dance club mix. Maybe even pre-Techno? One thing for sure, it is definitely different, and unique.
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