I Need Two Heads
1980 single by The Go-Betweens
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"I Need Two Heads" is a stand-alone single by Australian indie group The Go-Betweens. It was released as a 7" vinyl record on the Postcard Records label in the United Kingdom in June 1980[2] and by Missing Link Records in Australia, with "Stop Before You Say It" as the B-side.
| "I Need Two Heads" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Single by The Go-Betweens | ||||
| A-side | "I Need Two Heads" | |||
| B-side | "Stop Before You Say It" | |||
| Released | June 1980 | |||
| Recorded | 28 April 1980 | |||
| Studio | Castle Sound Studios, Pencaitland, Scotland | |||
| Genre | Post-punk | |||
| Length | 2:29 | |||
| Label | Postcard | |||
| Songwriters | Robert Forster, Grant McLennan[1] | |||
| Producer | Alex Ferguson | |||
| The Go-Betweens singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
In November 1979 Forster and McLennan travelled to England. It was during this time that their music was influenced by English post-punk bands, such as the Pop Group, the Raincoats and Gang of Four.[3] In February 1980 they were approached by Alan Horne and Edwyn Collins, who had recently established a Glasgow-based independent record label, Postcard Records.[4][5] In March that year Forster and McLennan went to Glasgow and signed with Postcard Records. During their eight-week stay in Glasgow they played three shows, with label stable mates Orange Juice and Josef K.[3] Postcard Records engaged Alex Ferguson (Alternative TV) to produce a number of the label's releases, including The Go-Betweens.[3][5] On 29 April Forster and McLennan recorded two songs at Castle Sounds Studios, with Ferguson.[6] They were "I Need Two Heads", a song written after they arrived in England, for which Forster described "I was being confronted with so much information over there, my head was just spinning, and I remember walking down the street thinking: 'I need another head to take this all in'"[3][7] and "Stop Before You Say It", an older pre-Europe song about irritation. The songs were both recorded using Steven Daly, Orange Juice's drummer.[4][6]
The single was released in June 1980 after Forster and McLennan had left the UK, where NME named it 'Single of the Week' and it reached No. 6 on the independent charts.[3][8][9] In Australia, Melbourne-based independent record label, Missing Link, acquired the rights from Postcard Records to release "I Need Two Heads" in Australia.[3][5][6]
Reception
Jonathan Greer, in his review of The Go-Betweens - G Stands for Go-Betweens Volume 1 1978-1984, believes the song is "a wonderfully original piece of post-punk-pop – by turns enigmatic, exciting and unpredictable."[10]
In his book, Simply Thrilled: The Preposterous Story of Postcard Records, Simon Goddard describes the song as a tune which betrays "a susceptibility to 'doomeh' shadows of Joy Division in its ho-humming bass, if not in its frisky handclaps and peculiar lyrics about bank books and child detectives".[5]
PopMatters states that the song sounds "a little like the Velvet Underground covering some obscure Monkees or Mersey-beat songs."[11]
Track listing
Original 7" Vinyl release
All tracks are written by R. Forster, G. McLennan[1]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "I Need Two Heads" | 2:29 |
| 2. | "Stop Before You Say It" | 2:54 |
| Total length: | 5:23 | |
Release history
| Date | Region | Label | Format | Catalogue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 1980 | United Kingdom | Postcard | 7" vinyl | Postcard 80 4 |
| November 1980 | Australia | Missing Link | MISS 23 | |
Credits
- The Go-Betweens
- Robert Forster — vocals, rhythm guitar
- Grant McLennan — vocals, bass guitar, lead guitar
- Additional musicians
- Steven Daly — drums
- Production
- Engineer — Calum Malcolm
- Producer — Alex Ferguson