Talking Heads fans, rejoice: this year’s Record Store Day Black Friday is bringing a rare gift from the archives. The band is releasing Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live, a collection of long-lost demos, early versions, and live recordings from the earliest years of their existence.

The recordings date from 1974–1976 — a period when David Byrne, Chris Frantz, and Tina Weymouth were still shaping their sound and, at times, still performing as The Artistics, the pre-Talking Heads college-era band that laid the foundation for their future. These early sessions include original demo versions of “Psycho Killer” and “Warning Sign,” recorded before the band officially became Talking Heads.

What’s on the Release

The compilation includes an LP plus a bonus 7-inch, offering:

  • 1975–1976 demos that predate the band’s debut album Talking Heads: 77.

  • A 1976 live performance from the Ocean Club in New York, including a raw early take of “Artists Only.”

  • The earliest known recordings from their Artistics era, including proto-versions of future Talking Heads classics.

The collection captures the band in their formative, exploratory stage — when their tight, minimalist sound was still emerging from scrappy, inventive jam sessions and grainy basement tapes.

Why This Release Matters

For longtime listeners, Tentative Decisions is a rare archival deep dive.

  • It reveals the evolution of some of their most iconic songs.

  • It preserves early chapters of their story that have long existed only as lore among fans.

  • It follows the 2024 deluxe reissue of Talking Heads: 77, continuing a renewed effort to open up the band’s archive.

Because it is a Record Store Day Black Friday exclusive, it’s also a limited pressing — meaning collectors will likely be lining up early.

What It Feels Like to Hear These Recordings

There’s something electric about listening to Talking Heads before they were Talking Heads.

You hear the beginnings of the nervous, angular rhythms that would define their later work. You hear the band experimenting with space, silence, and Byrne’s unmistakable vocal delivery as it was still taking shape.

A demo like the early 1975 “Psycho Killer” captures the band in black-and-white — before the polish, before the studio finesse, before the myth. And that’s the magic: it’s history with the dust still on it.