HEAD COUNT: The Talking Heads return this...

HEAD COUNT: The Talking Heads return this fall, at least in spirit, with a two-CD anthology featuring a host of the band’s most popular material as well as three never-before-released recordings. The new songs include “Sax and Violins,” which will be the album’s first single. . . . New York Times critic Jon Pareles has a shrewd theory about record industry economic cycles. Put simply, it goes: The more record labels spend on T-shirts for radio programmers and rock critics, the closer the industry is to passing its sales peak and sliding into a precipitous decline. Only these days, deejays and critics get more than T-shirts and buttons. The most lavish vanity item of recent weeks is Geffen Records’ box for its new “Love Hurts” Cher CD. When you open the blond-wood box, you get a specially packaged CD and a series of ornate, oversize playing cards, each decorated with a different drawing and full of information about a song on the current album. At least the label isn’t just giving the fancy boxes away. While about 5,000 copies were earmarked as promotional items, another 20,000 copies are on sale at retail outlets. . . . And local promoters GoldenVoice, who have specialized in alternative rock concerts, have signed on as exclusive promoters at the Palace, which has been keeping a low profile on the local club scene. The first GoldenVoice show, scheduled for July 31, features Xymox and Death Ride 69.