YOUTUBE: The Heads (featuring Johnette Napolitano) "Damage I've Done (Moby Sad Gospel Mix)"

The Heads consisted of 3/4 of influential New York art-punk new wave band the Talking Heads: Jerry Harrison (Guitar, Keyboards), Chris Frantz (drums) and Tina Weymouth (bass). Talking Heads had quietly dissolved in 1988 after the release of their album Naked, however Harrison, Frantz and Weymouth continued to be friends (Weymouth and Frantz being married, and also releasing records under the name Tom Tom Club) and in 1996 decided to record another record together, using guest vocalists to replace the missing David Byrne (who had no interest in recording with the band again.) They used the name 'The Heads' as a nod to their former group and slyly named the album "No Talking, Just Head' in reference to the fact that former vocalist, David Byrne, was not present on the recording (as well as a less obvious joke relating to the common expression "giving head" as a synonym for performing fellatio...)

The album featured a number of vocalists, representing some of the most distinctive voices of '80s and '90s alternative rock, including Debbie Harry of Blondie, Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde, Andy Partridge of XTC, Gordon Gano of Violent Femmes, Michael Hutchence of INXS, Ed Kowalczyk of Live, Shaun Ryder of Happy Mondays, Richard Hell, and Maria McKee. The album was accompanied by a tour which featured Johnette Napolitano as the vocalist, however Byrne took legal action against the rest of the band because of "The Heads" abbreviation—something he saw as "a pretty obvious attempt to cash in on the Talking Heads name." (Spoilsport.)

This was, at the time, intended to turn into a full-time project, with further studio albums and tours with Napolitano as permanent lead singer, however Byrne's legal action sadly put a halt to future plans for The Heads/Napolitano supergroup. If "Damage I've Done" (the first single off of 'No Talking Just Head' that also features Napolitano on lead vocals) is any indication, Byrne has robbed us of what could have amounted to a tremendous musical alliance. Now, perhaps Byrne wonders to himself, "How can I undo the damage I have done?" (Nah. Pretty doubtful.)

Anyway, this is the remix of "Damage I've Done" done by Moby, which is alternately called the "Moby Deep Melodic Mix" as well as the "Moby Sad Gospel Mix". It's a moving and soulful re-interpretation of the original. I re-cut the original video with some footage from the Moby video for "Porcelain" (which is musically similar in parts to what Moby does here.) Enjoy!