Before Talking Heads were Talking Heads, they were the Artistics. Rhode Island School Of Design students David Byrne and Chris Frantz formed the Artistics in 1973, and they made a kind of music that wasn’t really known as punk rock yet. The band didn’t last long. Shortly after the Artistics were done, Byrne and Frantz both moved to New York, and they started Talking Heads with Frantz’s then-girlfriend, now-wife Tina Weymouth on bass. Now, the long-lost Artistics demo is finally about to see the light of day.
The Artistics recorded a demo tape that included early versions of the Talking Heads songs “Psycho Killer” and “Warning Sign.” A few years ago, as WJAR reports, RISD archivists discovered a reel-to-reel tape of that Artistics demo, which was long thought to be lost and which the college seemingly acquired by accident. RISD hand-delivered that tape to Frantz and Weymouth, who digitized it and then returned it, to be included in the college’s permanent collection.
Two of the three songs from the Artistics’ demo appear on a new Talking Heads compilation called Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live. This is one of those helpful situations where the cover art tells you exactly what’s on the record: Demos and one live track from the very early Talking Heads days, including the Artistics’ demo versions of “Psycho Killer” and “Warning Sign.” But it seems that the record won’t have “Spin Spin,” the still-unreleased third song from that Artistics tape. Earlier this year, Rachel Brown asked Byrne about that in their Stereogum We’ve Got A File On You interview, and Byrne said, “We might’ve abandoned it.”
In any case, “Spin Spin” isn’t on the tracklist that appears on the Record Store Day website. The Tentative Decisions compilation is being released as an LP, with the other two tracks from the Artistics demo included on a bonus 7″. Here’s what’s on the comp.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Psycho Killer” (September 1975 Demo)
02 “Tentative Decisions” (September 1975 Demo)
03 “No Compassion” (September 1975 Demo)
04 “Warning Sign” (September 1975 Demo)
05 “I’m Not In Love” (1976 Demo)
06 “Thank You For Sending Me An Angel” (1976 Demo)
07 “The Book I Read” (1976 Demo)
08 “I Wish You Wouldn’t Say That” (1976 Demo)
09 “Love Goes To A Building On Fire” (1976 Demo)
10 “Happy Day” (1976 Demo)
11 “Artists Only” (Live at the Ocean Club, New York, August 17, 1976)
12 The Artistics – “Psycho Killer
13 The Artistics – “Warning Sign”
Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live is out 11/28 as a Record Store Day exclusive release.
