My initial reaction on finishing Chris Frantz's memoir came as a wave of relief, a feeling of happiness for having read a story steeped mainly in positivity while we continue to ride out COVID. Coming off books weighed down by heartbreaks (Open Book) and heroin (Slowhand), I was ready for something to lift me. I figured I couldn't go wrong with the story of a co-founder of an awesome band who's still in love with his awesome co-founder wife after forty-plus years.

This is not to say you're getting 400 pages of unicorns and gummy bears in Remain In Love. While Frantz gives a straightforward and easygoing voice to his memoir, there's an underlying restraint in the passages that discuss the speed bumps in his journey - about 90% of which involve David Byrne (Johnny Ramone makes up some of the difference). Frantz's life is quite a learning experience, especially for those intent on pursuing a career in music. Though I went into Remain in Love knowing next to nothing about the band (and Frantz emphasizes here that what books exists aren't wholly accurate - par for the course), I suspected I'd find some history of "us versus him" when recounting work with Byrne. That Frantz is able to handle conflicts with song ownership and contracts with calm is very admirable, and even in his writing he doesn't paint pictures of villains.

Remain in Love is a fun history of the Talking Heads, Frantz and Weymouth's long relationship and their Tom Tom Club projects. It is bit of a non-linear story, so be warned if that rankles. The highlight for me was Frantz's steel-trap recall of the Heads' European tour with the Ramones early in their career, a micro-history within the era of CBGB, early MTV, and a band that straddled rock and punk so well. If you're a fan, you'll come away from Remain in Love with a smile and a valuable lesson: listen to the woman in your group.

Chris Frantz ends his autobiography by explaining that he's not a person who "moves on" from friends and family. Instead, he "remains" and "remains in love." Chris Frantz and his wife Tina Weymouth have been a matched set for over forty years since they met at the famed art college RISD and formed the rhythm section (drums and bass respectively) a unique and original band with classmate David Byrne and later Jerry Harrison. This is not just another rock legend biography, but a lifelong love story as well.

Although as with most of these rock star biographies, there are times Chris gets bogged down in the details of each tour, it is a fascinating and well-written book that takes us from Chris' childhood through his college years and the big adventure moving to the Bowery with Tina and David. And not signing a record contract till they were ready even though they wrote Psycho Killer years before it debuted on the radio, timed with amazing synchronicity as the Son of Sam (David Berkowitz) haunted the NYC streets. Their first world tour is across Europe opening for the Ramones.

Some of us perhaps never made the connection that the Tom Tom Club was Chris and Tina's solo project when Byrne and Jerry went to do solo albums. A completely different sound, an explosive beat, and they toured at least once with their second band opening for their first.

Of course, it's not all wine and roses as the book details Byrne's habit of taking credit for group lyrics and being the face of the Talking Heads. But, Chris and Tina's story is powerful in a world of short lived rock and roll marriages how they remained together creating On and off stage.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing a copy for review.

Chris Frantz steps out from behind the drum kit to chronicle an amazing life in music and marriage in Remain in Love, the memoir of the former Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club drummer. This book was highly anticipated for me, as the Talking Heads are one of my favorite bands of the post-punk era and they are also one of the more enigmatic ones, with little information surrounding their time together and eventual break up. Despite this, Frantz's memoir ended up being a bit of a mixed bag for me.

Written with an enthusiastic but clearly amateur zeal, the prose is at turns charming and infuriating as Frantz delves into what must be a near photographic memory, detailing the minutiae of his day to day life recording and touring, down to what everyone had to eat and drink on each particular day back in the 1970s and 80s. While these hyperactive details can get grating at times, the strength of the narrative comes when Frantz is talking about his relationship with his girlfriend and later wife, Talking Heads bassist Tina Weymouth. Frantz is clearly still head over heels for her and their relationship seems very strong, which is amazing given the amount of drugs and partying Frantz describes partaking in throughout the band's career.

Talking Heads fans looking for the juicy details on David Byrne's fractured relationship with his bandmates and the band's breakup may be a bit disappointed. Frantz is clearly a "go with the flow" type to the extreme, so even his occasional slights towards Byrne and collaborator/producer Brian Eno seem like afterthoughts. However, this lack of gossip is made up for by the fantastic stories Frantz relates about the CBGB era of the New York art/music scene: seeing Patti Smith play for the first time, opening for the Ramones and Television, drinking scotch with Iggy Pop, David Bowie stealing their peanuts, and eating ice cream and pancakes with Lou Reed at 4am.

While this book may not have been the tell-all expose I was expecting, it was a fun read that was made engaging by the clear zest the author has for life. Frantz also mentions offhandedly that Tina Weymouth is also working on a memoir about her life as a woman in music, so I am going to add that to my list of future reads to get another side of the story.

**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to St. Martin's Press**

Opening this book, I was a fan of TH music, but knew nothing about the band, outside of the name of their quirky lead singer. And so it was with interest and fascination that I read the story of drummer Chris Frantz, with a heaping side helping story of bassist Tina Weymouth, who would eventually become Frantz’s wife. The three principals of Talking Heads (joined later by Jerry Harrison), all seem to come from privileged backgrounds which converge at Rhode Island School of Design. Frantz walks us through the founding of the band while at RISD and then brings the NYC of the Late 70’s/80’s into Sensorial technicolor, with guest appearances by a long list of names from Warhol, Patti Smith, the Ramones and many more. A tour through Europe opening for the Ramones is full of minute detail, down to the meals and vintage of the wine consumed. Frantz must have kept a diary. While Frantz is enigmatic and somewhat befuddled in his account of why Byrne broke away from his band mates, and seems to harbor little resentment, his love for Weymouth (working on a book of her own, we’re told) leaps from almost every page. That, in itself, in the world of rock and roll, is remarkable.
Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.
#netgalley

Genuinely touching and thoroughly entertaining memoir from the drummer of seminal art rock band, Talking Heads. Chris Frantz shares his experiences growing up in Kentucky, going to art school at RISD, moving to New York City, the punk scene, touring in Europe and his personal and musical relationship with his wife, Tina Weymouth; and the disastrous experience of producing Happy Mondays in Barbados. I would highly recommend Remain in Love to fans of Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, culture historians of New York City's downtown music scene; and to anyone interested in reading about an artist who deeply cares about everyone he comes in contact with and is very sympathetic to challenging and mercurial fellow musicians.

I've been a huge fan of Talking Heads for a long time now, so I was thrilled to read Chris Frantz memoir. If you're not aware of Frantz, he was the drummer for Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club alongside his wife, bassist Tina Weymouth. I will admit though, that this book was a little disappointing. Frantz's writing style is a little too enthusiastic for my taste. He writes like he's an over-eager teenager. I appreciate his passion for his former bands and his deep devotion to Tina, but the writing just really irked me. I know he's not a professional writer so please forgive me if I'm being a little too hard on him. Also, there wasn't any juicy gossip that he dropped about former frontman, David Byrne. Byrne has admitted to being a control-freak during his time in Talking Heads. Frantz is an interesting person but this book felt a little lackluster for me. I felt like Frantz was tooting his own horn many times throughout this book. It's one thing to be proud of what you've accomplished professionally, it's another to be arrogant and self-centered about it. Ugh. I'd read worse memoirs than less and so I can't give this book less than 3 stars because Talking Heads is my favorite new wave band of all-time. Their music was life-changing and ahead of its time.

Thank you, Netgalley and St. Martins Press for the digital ARC.

Thanks for the opportunity to read this book, first off. Secondly it pains me but it needs some work. It's just a less than compelling read.

So when the word came down that there was another Rock and Roll Memoir coming out and Chris Frantz the drummer for both the Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club was the author, I was really anticipatory. There was some hype I suppose so when I was granted access to the galley I was actually really very excited. I am not a huge Talking Heads fan, but really do like the band. I also have liked the Tom Tom Club and honestly, candidly, when I was standing outside before we went into the show and saw Tina Weymouth I got a lot giddy when I saw her come off the bus to go into the venue. They are so iconic and was really walking into reading this book with the same enthusiasm.

So when the word came down that there was another "Rock and Roll Memoir" coming out and Chris Frantz the drummer for both bands wrote his, I was really anticipated something great. I was disappointed.

So. Here is where I get very uncomfortable but am going to be VERY deliberate in how I state this. I did not like what I read. . I got about 30 % into the book and decided... It was not for me.

I felt like I was reading a post card from a kid from camp. The writing and story telling was so stilted and it's boring. So boring. The shortest and most stilted sentences made for a difficult and boring read. Honestly I just decided I needed to move on. I was just saying aloud that there is something off about what I was reading... honestly it feels like a first draft that came off Chris Frantz's word processor and hadn't gone before a line editor yet. . What I read needs a lot of work to make it a more compelling read ... to me.

The hope when I started the book was that the bands he was or is in are know for being so creative, genre busting and dynamic that the book would be too. I didn't find it so.



Thanks to St Martin's Press for the galley. But this was not for me. I write this with great sadness as I was really excited and interested in the memoir.

I'm relatively new at wholeheartedly discovering Talking Heads (fall of 2018), and a thirst for anything related them after that first true helping of their music, naturally, led me to ask why they're not a band anymore. Between internet searches and talking to friends who are also substantial TH appreciators, the band dynamic laid out by Frantz in this book was essentially what I had already gathered. I wouldn't for a moment consider anything in here trash-talking, however; it all feels like it comes from a benevolent place, and that's one of the things that makes Frantz what has to be one of the more unique figures in music. Many moments of strife and turmoil the band encountered seemed to have a clear, singular source--but it's all treated, more or less, in a "c'est la vie" manner.

Now, while those tantalizing details/opinions (or the potential therein) about fellow band members might be what gets this book the most sales, I don't think it's the greatest thing going for it--not by far.

You get a front-seat tour into what it looked and felt like to be a musical pioneer (on two accounts), the experience of making what's arguably the best concert film ever made, not to mention meeting the love of your life, having the incredible experience of gaining fame alongside said partner, and being able to look back upon your career together as a high watermark for what a musical partnership can truly be. Frantz writes adoringly, and with great frequency, about Weymouth and her own artistic impacts. He's also frequently rubbing elbows with some incredibly famous names (most musicians, but some not) over the years, and, as such, has some hellaciously cool stories to tell us.

In terms of what precisely we're talking about here, we get to cover Frantz's youth, slowing things down around the time that TH first truly forms up until their final album is released, and then we kind of speed the business up to their Hall of Fame induction. Those looking for Frantz to become long-winded about Byrne leaving them high and dry aren't going to be satisfied: His thoughts on the matter are concise, though certainly memorable. His recounting of hitting the European tour circuit does get a little rinse-and-repeat, but it didn't really bother me.

The wisdom of rocking hard since the 70s brings forth a story so cool and wild that it's an absolute page-turner. Now knowing that Weymouth is working on her own book, I'll be waiting anxiously for that, as a complementary read, if nothing else.

Frantz says that all of the other TH biographies up and until this point haven't been worthwhile, so I suppose you need to take it from the man himself and check this out.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advance read.

interesting autobiography from the drummer of Talking Heads, his pre-band life, his relationship with the bass player and wife Tina. It also gives an insight into why the band split, describing a very fractured relationship with David Byrne. A good read.

Pretty invaluable as a source on a thinly-sourced rock group. You don’t really read it for the writing or the insight, but there have been so few books on Talking Heads that anything firsthand is useful.

The author of this book, Charton Christopher Frantz, starts by saying not many books about his main band, Talking Heads, were much cop. Well, in a way this isn't either, but it at least is an official volume. What's more, I think you can easily declare this has not been ghostwritten. There's an almost blunt, direct stylelessness about the memoir that proves he's not the ultimate purveyor of wordsmithery. The shot game for this book will kill you, if you imbibe every time a girl is rated by her looks (luckily, every one he can remember is gorgeous – and a lot of the blokes get a compliment, too). This does seem to stop, however, when he finally narrates his nuptials.

We have to accept this is an attempt at the definitive story, so accept a lot of fan-only detail of his childhood (military family moving around a lot, lots of private education) and college years. The shithole of the loft apartment Chris, Tina and David Byrne tried to live in while the Heads were a trio shows some of what the band has had to work through, private and art college schooling regardless. And then, on the basis of one single, copious live sets and an unfinished debut album, they toured France and Britain with the Ramones, which is again in forensic detail. You might take against this as a bit of name-dropping; I call it a minor marvel when Damon Albarn, working nights at a round-the-clock hotel bar, mentions he's got a band – especially as this is 1977 and he is nine years old.

So this is a mixed bag – the Head head will learn just as much about who did what at the author's wedding as they could ever care to, all the while praying for more than the gnomic dripfeed of What Went Wrong With the Band. By the end, with all the depth of detail, there's so little mention of Jerry Harrison, you might be led to believe there was a beef in that direction, and not just with what we are told was Byrne's irreparable selfishness. (They don't seem to have been really social together – it's unclear, but I don't think the full band were at Chris and Tina's wedding, and four people so allegedly close never seemed to really be connected outside of work.) But also by the end our guide to all this does seem a likeable and reliable narrator, telling us how the band managed to do more albums than the guy on the street might remember, and how he and Tina managed to work so well outside the Talking Heads world – even when Happy Mondays proved to be pretty much their worst nightmare come true. So by the end you do just about manage to forgive the nitpicking delivery of the early chapters, and appreciate the story for what it is. It might have been a lot shorter, it might have been a lot more subjective, but I was still grateful to read it.

Three and a half stars.