Chris Frantz

Remain in Love is Chris Frantz’s memoir of his time as the drummer of Talking Heads and one half of the driving force behind Tom Tom Club. It is also a memoir of his 42-year marriage (and the dating years before that) with Tina Weymouth, the sublimely inventive bassist of Talking Heads and the other half of Tom Tom Club. This book talks about the joys of putting together a good groove, the challenges of life on the road, and naturally the conflicts with David Byrne and the perma-hiatus that Talking Heads has ended up on.

Reviews of this memoir suggest that Frantz is bitter about Byrne’s treatment of the rest of the Talking Heads. It is true that there was plenty of love lost: among other things, Byrne would leave the others behind on tour without letting them know and would take sole credit for co-written songs such as the classic “Psycho Killer” (the story behind how this song got put together is really interesting). Byrne also seemed unable to be happy for the successes of others in the band (e.g., Tom Tom Club going gold). However, the overriding tone of the book is by no means as bitter as the reviews suggest. Frantz focuses on the good times, of which there were many, and the sheer delight of performing music with a bunch of cool people who are on the same musical page. And this includes Byrne—Frantz does not hesitate to mention Byrne’s inventiveness and talent.

The book is written in a conversational style and contains lots of anecdotes about the music scene (especially about touring Europe with the Ramones, among other bands) and about Frantz’s and Weymouth’s families. Throughout the book are black-and-white pictures that span childhood, musical career, and parenthood. I would definitely recommend this to fans of Talking Heads, and would suggest that it be read with any of their albums in the background. I chose their live album, The Name of This Band is Talking Heads.… (més)