Chris Frantz has written an evocative, resonant and provocative coming-of-age memoir about his life as drummer/songwriter and founding member of both Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club. Fans of Patti Smith's Just Friends will find much to admire in Frantz's Remain in Love, especially the sensory way he describes life as a struggling musician in the early 1970s on New York City's Lower East Side. He remembers stepping over corpses on the sidewalks; avoiding five-dollar hookers and their pimp armed with a baseball bat; and never making eye contact with anyone on the streets. But Frantz also recalls neighbors including Debbie Harry, Lauren Hutton, William S. Burroughs and Robert Mapplethorpe.
Frantz shared an apartment (with toilets in the hall) with future wife Tina Weymouth, as well as David Byrne. In 1975, their musical group Talking Heads made its debut opening for the Ramones at CBGB bar. Jerry Harrison joined the group in 1977. Frantz offers fascinating stories of world travels, working with idols and how the group's style repeatedly changed. There are also tales of conflict within the band, which Frantz tells with remarkable clarity, fairness and insight. In 1991, "David sneaked out of Talking Heads," with Byrne announcing the end of the band without consulting the other members. A decade later, there was finally a happy ending when the band reunited to play at their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Fans of the new wave music scene will appreciate Frantz's generously detailed and compelling memoir of those volatile and exciting times. --Kevin Howell, independent reviewer and marketing consultant