# More Songs About Buildings and Food
Released by [Sire Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/sire-records) on July 14, 1978, More Songs About Buildings and Food is [Talking Heads](https://www.edgepedia.org/talking-heads), an American rock band's, second studio album.[1](https://record.club/releases/albums/talking-heads-more-songs-about-buildings-and-food) It was the first of three albums the band produced with [Brian Eno](https://www.edgepedia.org/brian-eno), and it moved the New York quartet toward a danceable, groove-oriented style that set the course for the rest of its 1970s output.[2](https://media.rhino.com/press-release/more-songs-about-buildings-and-food-super-deluxe-edition)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | Second studio album by Talking Heads, July 14, 1978, Sire Records; 11 songs, 41 minutes[1](https://record.club/releases/albums/talking-heads-more-songs-about-buildings-and-food) • [3](https://music.apple.com/us/album/more-songs-about-buildings-and-food/302108628) |
| Producer | Brian Eno, the first of three Talking Heads albums he produced, alongside Fear of Music (1979) and Remain in Light (1980)[2](https://media.rhino.com/press-release/more-songs-about-buildings-and-food-super-deluxe-edition) • [4](https://www.musicradar.com/music-tech/studios/rather-than-scratching-his-chin-saying-i-dont-know-if-this-works-yet-hell-go-this-could-be-the-beginning-of-something-incredible-lets-keep-pushing-in-that-direction-david-byrne-discusses-treating-the-studio-like-a-playground-with-brian-eno) |
| Hit single | A cover of Al Green's "Take Me to the River," the band's first hit, peaking at No. 26 on the pop chart[3](https://music.apple.com/us/album/more-songs-about-buildings-and-food/302108628) |
| Title origin | Drummer Chris Frantz's idea, answering bassist Tina Weymouth's question about what to call an album just about buildings and food[5](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/NEW-ZEALAND/Rip-It-Up/Rip-It-Up-1979-06.pdf) |
| Chart performance | Peaked in the Top 30 of the Pop Albums charts and eventually reached gold record status[6](https://www.classicrockreview.com/2018/07/1978-talking-heads-buildings-food/) |
| Contemporary reception | The New York Times named it the "No. 1 disk of 1978"; Vogue called Talking Heads the "most fascinating experimental rock band in the world"[2](https://media.rhino.com/press-release/more-songs-about-buildings-and-food-super-deluxe-edition) |
## Background and recording
Talking Heads were a New York quartet of former art and architecture students who were among the first bands on the city's "new wave" scene.[7](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/70s/78/Record-Mirror-1978-07-15.pdf) The band signed to Sire Records in November 1976 and added keyboardist and guitarist [Jerry Harrison](https://www.edgepedia.org/jerry-harrison) early in 1977.[6](https://www.classicrockreview.com/2018/07/1978-talking-heads-buildings-food/)
**Meeting Eno.** The seeds of the collaboration were planted in London in 1977, when the band met the producer while touring behind its debut album. According to a Pitchfork retrospective, Talking Heads toured Europe with the Ramones in the spring of 1977, and toward the end of the tour played a small show in London. Having just finished producing [David Bowie](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-bowie)'s *Low*, Brian Eno attended the show, then asked the group to join him for lunch the following day, an outing that ended up becoming a record-listening session at his apartment; there he played [Fela Kuti](https://www.edgepedia.org/fela-kuti)'s *Afrodisiac* and, as the reviewer put it, blew their minds. By the following spring the band had replaced its original production team and taken up recording *More Songs About Buildings and Food* with Eno in the Bahamas.[8](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/talking-heads-more-songs-about-buildings-and-food/)
The band members later recalled that the arrangement with Eno suited them. "We weren't all that comfortable in a recording studio, so this arrangement made us comfortable and put us at ease," runs a recollection quoted in Rhino's reissue materials.[2](https://media.rhino.com/press-release/more-songs-about-buildings-and-food-super-deluxe-edition) [David Byrne](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-byrne) later described working with Eno in the studio as treating it "like a playground," with Eno pushing promising ideas forward rather than dismissing them.[4](https://www.musicradar.com/music-tech/studios/rather-than-scratching-his-chin-saying-i-dont-know-if-this-works-yet-hell-go-this-could-be-the-beginning-of-something-incredible-lets-keep-pushing-in-that-direction-david-byrne-discusses-treating-the-studio-like-a-playground-with-brian-eno)
## Music
Many tracks on the album were live staples dating back to 1975, but they took on a more groove-oriented sound as the band progressed and played to its strengths. Incorporating disco rhythms separated Talking Heads further from [Television](https://www.edgepedia.org/television), their closest corollary in the CBGB scene; tempos were slowed down and left simmering, while layers of instrumentation and effects were built up.[8](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/talking-heads-more-songs-about-buildings-and-food/) Apple Music's editorial notes describe a denser, more foreboding sound than the debut, crediting Eno's "thickening studio effects" on Frantz's hypnotic drums on "Warning Sign" and Weymouth's sliding bass line on "With Our Love."[3](https://music.apple.com/us/album/more-songs-about-buildings-and-food/302108628)
**Byrne's subject matter.** Byrne's songs on the album portray a narrator puzzled by power dynamics, whether in relationships or at the office. "The Good Thing" carries echoes of the philosopher [Ayn Rand](https://www.edgepedia.org/ayn-rand) in its hard-work ethos, ending with Byrne chanting "Work! Work!" in a way that leaves unclear whether he is giving orders or complaining about them. In "The Big Country," Byrne itemizes the humdrum sites visible from a flight over the middle of the country and concludes, "I wouldn't live there if you paid me."[3](https://music.apple.com/us/album/more-songs-about-buildings-and-food/302108628)
**The single.** The album's commercial anchor is its only cover song, a distinct version of [Al Green](https://www.edgepedia.org/al-green)'s 1974 song "[Take Me to the River](https://www.edgepedia.org/take-me-to-the-river)." The band had been used to playing the song at a fairly fast tempo like Green's original, but tried it slower, and the version gave the band its first hit single.[2](https://media.rhino.com/press-release/more-songs-about-buildings-and-food-super-deluxe-edition) • [3](https://music.apple.com/us/album/more-songs-about-buildings-and-food/302108628) Classic Rock Review describes it as featuring "a sound that defines an eighties hit while still in the late 1970s."[6](https://www.classicrockreview.com/2018/07/1978-talking-heads-buildings-food/)
The album peaked in the Top 30 of the Pop Albums charts and eventually reached gold record status.[6](https://www.classicrockreview.com/2018/07/1978-talking-heads-buildings-food/)
## Reception and place in the band's career
Contemporary critics took note of the album's sharp songwriting and Eno's layered production: The New York Times named it the "No. 1 disk of 1978," and Vogue called Talking Heads the "most fascinating experimental rock band in the world."[2](https://media.rhino.com/press-release/more-songs-about-buildings-and-food-super-deluxe-edition) AllMusic's review treats the album as a significant step forward from *[Talking Heads: 77](https://www.edgepedia.org/talking-heads-77)*, documenting a group that had gained a wealth of confidence and focus in the ten months separating the two LPs.[9](https://www.allmusic.com/album/release/more-songs-about-buildings-and-food-mr0001201149) A Louder/Classic Rock review calls it a transitional record that filtered the existential blankness of European art-rock through a uniquely American lens, with Byrne and Jerry Harrison's guitars anticipating later indie and post-punk records while Weymouth and Frantz developed a rhythm section that would have hits of its own.[10](https://www.loudersound.com/music/albums/talking-heads-more-songs-about-buildings-and-food-deluxe)
Eno's work here began a run of three landmark Talking Heads albums, continuing with *Fear of Music* (1979) and *Remain in Light* (1980).[4](https://www.musicradar.com/music-tech/studios/rather-than-scratching-his-chin-saying-i-dont-know-if-this-works-yet-hell-go-this-could-be-the-beginning-of-something-incredible-lets-keep-pushing-in-that-direction-david-byrne-discusses-treating-the-studio-like-a-playground-with-brian-eno) The Afrobeat influence Eno introduced to the band at the London meeting would culminate in *Remain in Light*.[8](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/talking-heads-more-songs-about-buildings-and-food/)
## 2025 reissue
Rhino released a Super Deluxe Edition of the album on July 25, 2025, as the band celebrated its 50th anniversary. The 3CD/1Blu-ray set includes remastered audio, 11 rarities including four previously unreleased alternate versions of album tracks, a live recording of the band's August 1978 show at New York's Entermedia Theatre with footage from that show and a Sproul Plaza, University of California, Berkeley concert, [Dolby Atmos](https://www.edgepedia.org/dolby-atmos) and 5.1 surround mixes by E.T. Thorngren and Jerry Harrison, and a 60-page hardcover book with new liner notes from Weymouth, Byrne, Frantz, and Harrison. A 4LP version adds reissues of four international 7" singles in a store-exclusive configuration, and 2LP deluxe editions appeared on black and red vinyl.[2](https://media.rhino.com/press-release/more-songs-about-buildings-and-food-super-deluxe-edition)
## References
1. [More Songs About Buildings and Food (1978) by Talking Heads, Record Club](https://record.club/releases/albums/talking-heads-more-songs-about-buildings-and-food)
2. [More Songs About Buildings and Food (Super Deluxe Edition), Rhino Media](https://media.rhino.com/press-release/more-songs-about-buildings-and-food-super-deluxe-edition)
3. [More Songs About Buildings and Food, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/more-songs-about-buildings-and-food/302108628)
4. [David Byrne discusses treating the studio "like a playground" with Brian Eno, MusicRadar](https://www.musicradar.com/music-tech/studios/rather-than-scratching-his-chin-saying-i-dont-know-if-this-works-yet-hell-go-this-could-be-the-beginning-of-something-incredible-lets-keep-pushing-in-that-direction-david-byrne-discusses-treating-the-studio-like-a-playground-with-brian-eno)
5. [Talking Heads interview, Rip It Up (New Zealand), June 1979](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/NEW-ZEALAND/Rip-It-Up/Rip-It-Up-1979-06.pdf)
6. [More Songs About Buildings and Food by Talking Heads, Classic Rock Review](https://www.classicrockreview.com/2018/07/1978-talking-heads-buildings-food/)
7. [Food for Thought, Record Mirror, 15 July 1978](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/70s/78/Record-Mirror-1978-07-15.pdf)
8. [Talking Heads: More Songs About Buildings and Food Album Review, Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/talking-heads-more-songs-about-buildings-and-food/)
9. [More Songs About Buildings and Food, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/album/release/more-songs-about-buildings-and-food-mr0001201149)
10. [Talking Heads More Songs About Buildings And Food (Deluxe) album review, Louder](https://www.loudersound.com/music/albums/talking-heads-more-songs-about-buildings-and-food-deluxe)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Albums and recorded releases › Studio albums › New wave and post-punk albums › Post-punk albums*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license