Talking Heads releasing newly discovered early demos as The Artistics for Record Store Day Black Friday 2025

Record Store Day Black Friday is this Friday (11/28), the day after Thanksgiving, and among the exclusives this year is Talking Heads‘ Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live. It includes very early demos of “Psycho Killer” and “Warning Sign” from when they were known as The Artistics, recordings that were thought lost until recently discovered in the Rhode Island School of Design archives. The band just shared some information about the release on their socials, along with the album art:

BEFORE THEY WERE TALKING HEADS: Band members Chris Frantz and David Byrne met at Rhode Island School of Design and made music as The Artistics. In the spring semester of 1974, the band gathered in Chris’s apartment to record a demo tape featuring tracks that eventually became classics in the Talking Heads discography – “Psycho Killer” and “Warning Sign.”

Over 50 years later, you can now listen to this newly discovered material, plus live tracks recorded by the original trio lineup of @frantzchris, @davidbyrneofficial, and Tina Weymouth, on “Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live.”

Check out the tracklist and artwork below.

Other RSD Black Friday exclusives include releases by Ramones, Bad Brains, Bratmobile, Son Volt, Chappell Roan, Deltron 3030, Led Zeppelin, Jonathan Richman, Voivod, and more.

Check out our ranking of all Talking Heads albums.

Talking Heads – Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live
A1. PSYCHO KILLER (SEPTEMBER 1975 DEMO)
A2. TENTATIVE DECISIONS (SEPTEMBER 1975 DEMO)
A3. NO COMPASSION (SEPTEMBER 1975 DEMO)
A4. WARNING SIGN (SEPTEMBER 1975 DEMO)
A5. I’M NOT IN LOVE (1976 DEMO)
B1. THANK YOU FOR SENDING ME AN ANGEL (1976 DEMO)
B2. THE BOOK I READ (1976 DEMO)
B3. I WISH YOU WOULDN’T SAY THAT (1976 DEMO)
B4. LOVE GOES TO A BUILDING ON FIRE (1976 DEMO)
B5. HAPPY DAY (1976 DEMO)
B6. ARTISTS ONLY (LIVE AT THE OCEAN CLUB, NEW YORK, NY, AUGUST 17, 1976)
A1. PSYCHO KILLER – THE ARTISTICS
B1. WARNING SIGN – THE ARTISTICS