Wikipedia:Featured list candidates/List of songs recorded by Talking Heads/archive1

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The following is an archived discussion of a featured list nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured list candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The list was promoted by Giants2008 via FACBot (talk) 00:26, 26 November 2018 (UTC) [1].[reply]

List of songs recorded by Talking Heads[edit]

List of songs recorded by Talking Heads (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

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Nominator(s): BeatlesLedTV (talk) 17:11, 15 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

After taking a break from editing and FLC's for a while, I'm back. My return to FLC is another song list, this time by the rock band Talking Heads. I will also return to commenting on other FLCs like I used to earlier this year. As always, comments are appreciated and welcomed. Happy editing! BeatlesLedTV (talk) 17:11, 15 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Comments
  • "Talking Heads were an American new wave band" - I am not American but my understanding is that American English would say "Talking Heads was an American new wave band". This applies in a number of other places eg "their debut", so probably worth confirming with someone American :-)
    • That's how it's worded on their main page so I worded it the same here.
  • "12 of which weren't officially released" => "12 of which were not officially released" – Done
  • "live recordings of songs from their four albums (at the time)" => "live recordings of songs from their four albums to date" – Done
  • "only Top ten hit" - no need for capital T on Top – thought so
  • "a song that the English rock band of the same name named themselves after" => "a song from which the English rock band of the same name took its name" – Done
    • You haven't used the wording I suggested, and what you have put in doesn't make grammatical sense - you need to say "song from which", not "song that" -- ChrisTheDude (talk) 10:49, 18 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • "The album marked a return the experimentation" - think the word "to" is missing – yes it is
  • "After Naked, the band went on a "hiatus"" - can't see why hiatus is in quote marks
    • It's in quotes because that's how it was perceived by the public. They really broke up in 1988 but didn't officially announce it until 1991, so to the public they were on "hiatus"
        • Then you need to clarify that with actual wording. Simply putting the word in quote marks doesn't convey that at all -- ChrisTheDude (talk) 07:37, 18 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • Removed the quotes. I mainly used them because AllMusic & their main page puts the word in quotes as well. BeatlesLedTV (talk) 14:39, 18 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • "12 previously unreleased songs have seen official release" => "12 previously unreleased songs have been officially released" (songs don't have eyes and therefore can't see anything) – Done
  • "Non-album single, B-side to "Psycho Killer"" - if it was the B-side then it wasn't a single, so change to "non-album song"
    • That's how I've had it for my other featured song lists so I think it's fine
  • ""Take Me to the River" - (Al Green) cover" - closing bracket is in the wrong place – yes it is
  • They released 22 singles as far as I can see. Was there really only one non-album song on all those B-sides?
    • The song "New Feeling" was originally a B-side but was later released on their debut later the same year. I have that fact in a note on the song. Yeah unlike the Smiths, Talking Heads never really had many non-album B-sides

Hope this helps - ChrisTheDude (talk) 08:04, 16 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Support from MaranoFan
  • The only thing different I noticed about this list compared to other FLs of the same type is single releases being indicated separately. But its helpful to readers so no need to remove them.

The prose is great. This list has my support for FL promotion!--NØ 09:00, 17 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Resolved comments from The Rambling Man (talk) 18:13, 5 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Comments
  • "The group has been described as "one of the most acclaimed bands of the post-punk era" by Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic.[1]" seems a little one-dimensional, i.e. where they described as such luminaries by anyone else? Or is there any counter-claim?
  • Added a statement by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That better? BeatlesLedTV (talk) 19:36, 30 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Beginning as former art school students, Talking Heads released their debut single, "Love → Building on Fire", in early 1977," at that time, did they just self-release independently? Did they have a label?
  • "The album received acclaim..." again, from one reviewer, is there any balance?
  • AllMusic reviewers seem to get the free pass here as the de facto commentators, any counter-points? Or even, corroborations?
  • "ways with Brian Eno and" no need for Brian. Avoid repeating the first names throughout.
  • Sortable table should have every linkable item linked every time.

The Rambling Man (talk) 20:42, 29 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Comments by Dudley[edit]

  • "Beginning as former art school students" This sounds a bit clumsy to me. Maybe "After leaving art school"?
  • Fixed
  • "but suffered from David Byrne's "lyrical pretensions"" This is editorialising and should be attributed inline.
  • Yeah I never liked that because it seems biased and non-encyclopedic. I just removed it.

Source review –

  • Ref 14 has a bit of all caps (TIME) that should be taken out. Otherwise, all of the references are well-formatted and the link-checker tool shows that the links are all in working order.
  • Given that Discogs is generally considered an unreliable source because it has user-generated content, we can do without the links in refs 3, 19, and 35. The liner notes themselves are perfectly fine sources, and it's not worth it to include an unreliable source even if they are just convenience links.
  • Spot-checks of refs 14 and 17 turned up no problems. Giants2008 (Talk) 23:17, 14 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • With those comments resolved, I'd say this source review is a pass. Giants2008 (Talk) 22:20, 18 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Resolved comments from A Thousand Doors (talk | contribs) 18:28, 17 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Comments Looks good, these are my comments.
  • My main problem is that I think the lead lacks a little focus. This is an article about songs that Talking Heads have recorded, and the lead needs to focus on that. A lot of the prose seems more centred on discussing Talking Head's albums, which feels like it would be better suited in a discography or a biographical article. That sentence about the documentary, for example, seems really out of place. In fact, "album" appears 26 times in the lead, whereas "song" appears less than half that amount (12). I'd suggest rewriting it slightly to make the songs the focal point of the text. For example, rather than "The album is characterized as more polished than its predecessor, featuring songs that emphasized experimentation", you could have "The album's songs are characterized as more polished than their predecessors, emphasizing experimentation". This is all just a suggestion, and not something that I would oppose over. Anyway, have a think about it.
Look better?
  • "which managed to chart". At what position did it chart, and in which territory? America, the UK, elsewhere? If you can't find any way to easily work this into the prose, just stick it in a note at the bottom.
Just removed it – its a song list not a discography page
  • "pop-song" -> "pop song", surely? – Done
  • "written by David Byrne alone" -> "written by Byrne alone" – Done
  • "took its name" -> "took their name". Just for consistency. You've been describing bands in the plural throughout the article so far (although, like Chris above, I have a sneaking suspicion that American English uses the singular).
I originally had it like this but then I changed it even though 'their' makes more sense.
  • The final paragraph seems little overlinked to me. Words like "outtake" and "reissue" are probably common enough that they don't need to be linked. I'd argue that "compilation album" and "box set" might be too, but I'll leave that with you. – Done
  • "List" isn't a great header for a section. How about "Songs" instead? – Done
  • [c][b] -> [b][c] – Knew it.
  • The non-album singles aren't grouping together when sorted (I believe its because "I Wish You Wouldn't Say That" has a misplaced apostrophe before the {{N/A}} template).
Yep. Fixed.

Thanks, A Thousand Doors (talk | contribs) 12:51, 17 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

  • Notes b, c, and d aren't complete sentences, so don't need terminating periods. – Done
Note a is a complete sentence, so needs a period. Also, "a unfinished" -> "an unfinished". A Thousand Doors (talk | contribs) 18:28, 17 November 2018 (UTC) – Done[reply]
  • Per WP:OVERLINK, major geographical features such as United States or London don't need to be linked to.
Removed them but kept the first instance of 'US' linked
"London" is still wikilinked. A Thousand Doors (talk | contribs) 18:28, 17 November 2018 (UTC) – Done[reply]
  • "I'm Not in Love" needs to be above "In Asking Land" and "Moon Rocks" needs to be above "Mr. Jones". – Done
  • Some of the formatting of the liner note references is a little inconsistent. Talking Heads is wikilinked in citations 3, 22, 23 and 34, but not in the any of the others. – Done

A Thousand Doors (talk | contribs) 18:28, 17 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

A Thousand Doors All done. Thanks again! BeatlesLedTV (talk) 21:14, 17 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • "musical transition". What does Ruhlmann believe the band were transitioning from and to?
Basically Remain in Light built upon Fear of Music in its use of African polyrhythms and things like that. Ruhlmann just talks about how Fear of Music was basically the precursor to Remain in Light and showed what was yet to come. Make sense?
Yes, that makes sense. But, looking now at what the source says, Ruhlmann actually describes it as a "transitional album", rather than a "musical transition". A Thousand Doors (talk | contribs) 18:28, 17 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Ruhlmann actually used "musical transition" in his review of Remain in Light so I added that ref to that sentence.
I still think it might be worth very briefly expanding on what he meant by "musical transition", though. So Fear of Music was the band's transition from their more straightforward first two albums, to the musical experimentation of Remain in Light? A Thousand Doors (talk | contribs) 12:25, 19 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]
A Thousand Doors Affirmative :-) BeatlesLedTV (talk) 17:50, 19 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I still believe that this needs to be (briefly) explained in the article, then. "Musical transition" isn't really a common enough phrase that it can be just dropped into the lead without further clarification. A Thousand Doors (talk | contribs) 21:28, 22 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]
A Thousand Doors I decided to remove the "musical transition" part and instead put "The style and sound of Fear of Music was expanded upon on their final Eno collaboration, Remain in Light (1980)". As Remain in Light built upon Fear of Music this is correct and I believe better explains the "transition". BeatlesLedTV (talk) 16:48, 23 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.
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