[1] Things Fall Apart (J.Harrison) - 4:57
[2] Slink (J.Harrison) - 4:20
[3] The New Adventure (J.Harrison) - 5:05
[4] Magic Hymie (J.Harrison/N.Hendryx/B.Worrell) - 4:48
[5] Fast Karma / No Questions (J.Harrison) - 3:55
[6] Worlds in Collision (J.Harrison) - 5:09
[7] The Red Nights (J.Harrison) - 3:57
[8] No More Reruns (J.Harrison) - 4:21
[9] No Warning, No Alarm (J.Harrison) - 3:35
Jerry Harrison - Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Synthesizer, Clavinet, Organ,
Piano, Melodica, Percussion, Producer, Arrangements, Mixing, Sleeve
Design
Adrian Belew - Guitar Solos on [1-3,6,7,9]
Yogi Horton - Drums on [1,4-9]
George Murray - Bass on [1,4,8,9]
Eluriel "Tinker" Barfield - Bass on [2,4,5,8]
Bernie Worrell - Clavinet on [4,5], Organ on [2], Synthesizer on [4]
John Cooksey - Drums on [2]
Steve Scales - Drums, Percussion on [3]
Nona Hendryx - Backing Vocals
Dolette Mcdonald - Backing Vocals
Koko Mae Evans - Backing Vocals
Dave Jerden - Producer
Nona Hendryx - Vocals Producer & Arrangements
Butch Jones - Engineer
Dave Jerden - Engineer, Mixing
Eddy Schreyer - Mastering
Chris Callis - Artwork, Cover Photo
Recorded at Blank Tapes Studios in New York (June 3-17, 1981).
Engineered by Butch Jones with Dave Jerden and Eldorado Recording Studios, Los Angeles (June 23 - September 12, 1981).
Engineered by Dave Jerden, Mixed at Eldorado by Dave Jerden and Jerry Harrison.
Mastered at L.A. Mastering by Eddy Schreyer.
Previously unreleased on CD, reissued from original 1981' vinyl format only.
The Red and the Black is the first solo album by Jerry Harrison, who
rose to prominence as a member of The Modern Lovers and Talking Heads.
While the myth has been widely propagated that David Byrne was the sole
creative presence of any consequence among his Talking Heads cohorts,
The Red and the Black makes perhaps the strongest case against such a
claim. Jerry Harrison, no musical novice by any stretch (check out his
work with the early Modern Lovers), proves his formidable talent as a
multi-instrumentalist and songwriter for the first time in this
close-up. There's little doubt that Harrison's debut is informed most
directly by the last few Talking Heads albums, particularly the
genre-defining Remain in Light. The polyrhythmic exercises, spoken word
interludes, and Enoesque knob twiddling are standard parts of Harrison's
palette. He's also free to indulge in some impressive keyboard
pyrotechnics, much of which hints at the arena funk of Stop Making
Sense. Denser, more abrasive, and yet more musical than Remain in Light,
The Red and the Black mines the same musical terrain, but it does so
with more urgency and focus. While David Byrne sounded like a man
suffocating under the weight of the modern world, Harrison takes a more
sober, straightforward approach. He's able to discriminate the desirable
parts from the undesirable, and to celebrate the whole. While Byrne's
persona was strictly that of an observer, Harrison isn't afraid to get
his hands dirty. His baritone warble may lose pitch or escape as a
helpless bark on occasion, but there's warmth and humanity to his
timbre, a yearning to connect rather than to distance. This is reflected
most immediately in Harrison's no-nonsense pep talks that pop up in the
middle of a few songs, just when the intensifying rhythms and synth
lines become almost too cacophonous to bear. "Have you ever been in a
traffic jam?," he inquires in "Slink." "Have you ever needed a gram? I
have, but I got over it." When Harrison shifts the focus from third
person to second, the effect is jarring and surprisingly effective. On
"Magic Hymie" he grows more impatient with us: "There's a way out of
that corner you painted yourself into...you gotta decide you wanna do
it, and then you're just gonna do it." Throughout much of the album,
Harrison continues to lay heavy condemnation upon modern attitudes of
helplessness and irresponsibility. Modern, particularly urban, life has
its pitfalls, he seems to say, but we're all equipped to deal with them
if we accept some accountability. Besides the relentless attack of
fired-up synthesizers and frenzied rhythms, Harrison incorporates a cast
of soulful female background vocalists, many of whom would end up on
the next Talking Heads record and following tour. Not surprisingly given
Harrison's brainy and self-conscious approach, the singers add little
soul, but serve rather as a Greek chorus, repeating Harrison's lyrical
motifs and bringing substantial drama to his already tense and paranoid
compositions. Elsewhere, on "Worlds in Collision," he throws in samples
of barking hounds and Hitlerian rally cries to punctuate the monotone
din of the rest of the song. The Red and the Black more than holds its
own against the rest of Talking Heads' oeuvre, and shows where the band
could have gone, had they not opted for a more minimalistic approach
later in their career. As a solo project, Harrison's debut is
phenomenal. The album's complex and funky musical style has aged
impressively, as have Harrison's observations on the modern condition.
