Chris Frantz Talking Heads Memoir ‘Remain In Love’ Set For May 2020 Release

By Scott Bernstein Dec 13, 2019 11:24 am PST

Co-founding Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club member Chris Frantz will release a memoir entitled Remain In Love on May 12, 2020 via St. Martin’s Press. The long-in-the-works book includes the inside story of the Talking Heads from Frantz’s point-of-view and documents his romance with bassist and now wife Tina Weymouth.

Remain In Light comes just in the time for the 40th anniversary of Talking Heads’ seminal Remain In Light LP. An “official” Talking Heads Instagram account was recently launched by a member of Jerry Harrison‘s camp sparking rumors of a reunion. “I have never heard of this, I don’t know what it is or who is doing it, so clearly it can’t be a ‘official’ Talking Heads account,” David Byrne told Rolling Stone in a statement. “Whatever plans others in the band may have is strictly their own business and I wish them well.” Harrison will celebrate Remain In Light by performing the album with Turkuaz and former Talking Heads touring guitarist Adrian Belew at festivals next summer.

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Here’s a description of the 320-page Remain In Love:

One of the most iconic bands of the ‘70s and ‘80s, Talking Heads distinguished themselves from the ultra-cool Rolling Stones, the chaotic Sex Pistols, and glam rockers like David Bowie. They burst onto the scene when Frantz’s girlfriend Tina Weymouth taught herself to play bass and joined him and lead singer David Byrne, playing at CBGBs and touring Europe with the Ramones. Their hits from ‘Psycho Killer’ to ‘Burning Down the House’ to ‘Wild, Wild Life’ captured the post-baby boom generation’s intense, affectless style. Their Jonathan Demme-directed concert film Stop Making Sense remains a classic. Frantz’s and Weymouth’s creativity surged with Tom Tom Club, bringing an Afro-Caribbean beat to their fresh hits like ‘Genius of Love.’

Remain in Love is studded with memorable names from the era: Grace Jones, Andy Warhol, Stephen Sprouse, Lou Reed, John Cale, Richard Hell, Twyla Tharp, Brian Eno, Debbie Harry, and many more. Beautifully written with immersive vivid detail, the book moves from the rooms where the songs were made―including Providence, RI and the Chrystie Street loft Frantz, Weymouth, and Byrne shared―to the meals eaten and the clothes worn, right to the dynamics of a long and complicated working relationship with a mercurial frontman.

With the sense of place and time that characterized Patti Smith’s book Just Kids, Remain in Love is as frank and open as autobiographies from rockers Neil Young and Keith Richards.

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