| '77 | review #2 | 1977 |
| More Songs About Buildings And Food | review #2 | 1978 |
| Fear Of Music | review #2 | 1979 |
| Remain In Light | review #2 | 1980 |
| The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads (live) | 1982 |
| Speaking In Tongues | review #2 | 1983 |
| Stop Making Sense (live) | 1984 |
| Little Creatures | review #2 | 1985 |
| True Stories | review #2 | 1986 |
| Naked | 1988 |
| Popular Favorites, 1976-1992: Sand In The Vaseline (compilation) | 1992 |
In the late '70s, Talking Heads burst out of the New York CBGB scene and instantly became one of the most artistically controversial bands of all time -- no one could seem to agree on whether they were artistic genius or pathetic, festering crap. It's pretty easy to see why, just looking at the format of the band. David Byrne has made his mark on history as probably the nerdiest guy ever to head a band, delivering his lyrics in a paranoid, scared manner, and appearing on stage in kilts and oversized white suits. Jerry Harrison mostly relegated his guitar role to playing jerky, schizophrenic riffs, and the rhythm section of husband-wife team drummer Chris Frantz and bassist Tina Weymouth sometimes seemed to be working to make the band sound as cold and robotic as possible. Add the fact that three out of four band members were art-school graduates, and that their nerdy, wiry sound was just the type that ambient producer extraordinare Brian Eno loved to work with, and you have a band with just as much potential to annoy as they had to entertain. However, it is almost impossible to deny that they were a fun, interesting band, and even though their albums became less interesting as they became more adventurous and mainstream, most of their canon consists of classic material.
--Rich Bunnell
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(Rich Bunnell's review)
The Heads' debut is probably the closest match to their jerky live sound, and on first listen it sounds like one of the most boring albums ever made. The tempo and tone of the material stay pretty much the same for the album's whole run, emphasizing straightforward beats topped off by clunky chunka-chanka guitar picking. It takes a few listens to be able to dig into the material and differentiate between the songs, but then then it dawns on you....this stuff is pretty friggin' weird! "Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town" is a misleading opener, since it sounds like a simple, direct pop song, with a plodding tempo, catchy bassline and some cheesy Caribbean steel drums. Then the stomping, abrasive "New Feeling" sets in, and throws any pretense of normality out the window and into the theoretical waste disposal unit.
The album doesn't let up from that point onward, delivering no less than three absolute Heads classics. The first is the album's centerpiece, "No Compassion," which mixes murky, slow instrumental sections and bizarre, offbeat faster sections so well that it's hard to believe that they still found room for the topnotch guitar hook that they did. The second is "Don't Worry About The Government," a catchy, faux-anthemic song which simplifies the life of a government agent in Washington D.C. to living in a building which "has every convenience." The final is the album's most well-known song and enduring classic, "Psycho Killer." It's amazing how perfect this song is. Starting with a simple, repetitive bassline, the song moves into crashing, uneasy verses, before going into the infamously nonsensical chorus "Psycho killer, Q'est-ce que c'est? Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa, better, run run run, run run away!" Yes, it makes no sense whatsoever, but neither do most of the songs on the album, and the song is catchy as hell.
The album isn't perfect. "Happy Day" is one of the most instantly annoying songs the band ever composed, and overall the material just isn't as interesting as their best work. But if you pick this up, don't let the simplicity fool you -- this album doesn't get praise because it's less pretentious than their other work, because it ISN'T. It just seems that way at first. It's an interesting, understated, subversive album, and on repeated listens it grabs hold of your brain and just won't let go.
HIGH POINTS: Psycho Killer, No Compassion, Don't Worry About The Government. LOW POINTS: None.
Right from the getgo, it was pretty obvious The Talking Heads weren't destined to be normal. Of course, that's a big understatement, but you basically have to accept the really weird quirks in these songs if you're gonna get into their debut at all. See, when you're actually listening to all 11 of them, they seem kinda boring and incredibly formulaic on first listen. Then on second listen, they seem really catchy and entertaining, but you're only able to remember the melodies of like, three of them afterwards. Well, at least that's how it was for me, and I have no idea how anything could be hook-filled and yet unmemorable all at once. It also doesn't help that, in my head, a verse to one song would always be melting into the chorus of another or a bridge to a third. But the neat sound these guys (and girl) have, and the eventual emerging hooks, overshadows any potential weaknesses to make the album excellent in the end. That's no small feat for someone who used to really dislike the band a few years ago (sorry!)
For such an out there album, however, it certainly starts out pretty normal (well, given that it's driven by one of the most paranoid frontmen who ever lived). Nice Caribbean-styled pop tune called "Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town" that actually shows how well this band works a groove (though that hook, like a lot of this stuff, takes a few listens to become memorable). But the rest of this is not run of the mill stuff - even the short burst "Who Is It?" has this really kickass jerking guitar line (maybe Jerry Harrison's finest 'riff' on the album) and Byrne repeating 'whoooo, who is it' and 'what is it' over the rhythm driving it, while "Tentative Decisions" boasts weird guitar and fragmented verse interplay as well a great march-style chorus ('and the boys, want to talk...'), and "Happy Day" is a quiet sort of lullaby (but as nice as the verses are, no normal being would ever chant the chorus in such an awkward way as Byrne does here - 'such a happy... DAAAAAaaaaaaaY for me...')
As for the rest of the songs, all of them turn out to be really good, often excellent. The only ones I have to stretch myself to remember the hooks for are "New Feeling" and "First Week/Last Week... Carefree", but I just remind myself of a gritty guitar burst and bouncy rhythmic style for the former and the addition of horns for the latter and I remember how they go musically. Elsewhere, the really groovy addition of a piano-based rhythm in the middle of the otherwise kind of forgettable "The Book I Read" helps move the song along nicely as well. But what's it's really hard to forget is the 'I'm pulling up up up up UP UP UP UP' refrain in the glorious anthemic closer "Pulled Up" (another tightly performed, though slightly normal, rocker). Or the fantastic multiple hooks of "Don't Worry About The Government", which builds up from quiet guitar picking to more nervous, rhythmic energy and pure anthemic bliss (the most memorable lines in this government agent-inspired observatory tale being 'my building has every convenience' and that fantastic 'loved ones, loved ones' chant).
Yeah, I think we've established that the Heads don't go for a conventional approach here, and that approach totally pays off in the two biggest classics. On "No Compassion", they go for this slow, brilliantly moody interplay between the odd noises and slide bursts from the guitar, the fantastic bassline, a fine rhythm, and of course those unsettling vocals that talk about 'a world where people have problems...', and they perfectly mix it with a faster, epic-styled, quirky fast portion later on. And on the celebrated "Psycho Killer", well, I don't know what they're going for here, but that oft-quoted 'run run run run away....' chorus chant is surely one of the most phenomenal meaningless hooks ever captured on tape, period. With that amazing feature, it's entirely possible to not even notice the verses first time through, but get those in your head, too - Tina Weymouth's bass playing kicks here! It's songs like these that really put this on the edge of getting a 9, but the lack of variety, initially memorable hooks and classic tracks keep it just out of that range. Still a great album, though, something I never thought I'd say.
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COMMENTS
[email protected] (Ben Pickard)
This album while get completely under your skin if you let it. Repeated listenings have got me walking around saying, "Send a happy daaaayy, to me", to no one in particular. I love The Book I Read and Pulled Up. And Don't Worry About The Government is great also. Ahh, forget it, the whole thing is really so catchy. The popular sentiments about this album seem to be that it's nothing special at first, but then it grows on you, and attaches itself to your psyche. OK, that's too dramatic, but it's still an excellent debut. 9/10
Oh yeah, this is one weird album. And it's one of the better debuts by a major band I think I've ever heard! I actually loved it upon first listen, although I agree that several of the songs (especially on side one) just kind of blend together, and that they're not all that memorable after they're over. What saves this album from being bogged down by its monotony is that all the songs are at least enjoyable when you hear them. Personally, the overall weirdly groovy effect of this album really gets under my skin, in a good way. Upon multiple listens, I've come to realize that "Tentative Decisions" and "Happy Day" have slightly annoying choruses. But they still fit the mood of the record perfectly, and I pretty much love all the other songs. "Uh Oh, Love Comes to Town" and "The Book I Read" are waaaaayyy-catchy. "No Compassion" simply kicks butt, and it's highlighted all the more by those awesome changes. I also love the way the miniature "Who Is It?" flows right into that track like a suite. As for side two, I might enjoy it even more than the first, because the song-for-song consistency seems just a little stronger to me, and the diversity between songs is also better here. That "First Week/Last Week" tune is saved from over-silliness by that funky horn part, and everything else on side two is a highlight. After "The Book I Read," there's "Don's Worry About the Government," which is so oddly infectious -- not the kind of song I would play for friends at a party, but I'm always singing along to that chorus. "Psycho Killer" rocks of course, and "Pulled Up" -- WOW!! I'll be damned if that isn't a great hook! Definitely worth checking out, if you don't actually HATE the Talking Heads. I agree with Nick's 8.5.
(Rich Bunnell's review)
The key fact to remember regarding the band's sophomore set is that instead of self-producing, the Heads hooked up with Brian Eno. Eno at the time was smack-dab in the middle of producing some of David Bowie's best and most adventurous material, and he had already proven his extensive talent for writing and producting with albums such as Another Green World and Roxy Music's For Your Pleasure, so he seemed like a logical choice. The team-up worked wonders, resulting in an album that, stylistically, sounds an awful lot like the debut, but more animated, vibrant and colorful. Even the album cover is rich with color as opposed to the boring orange background/green letters layout of the debut's cover. The bad news is that the material is somewhat weaker, as much of it consisted of holdovers from the debut, but the production actually manages to hide this shortcoming.
The album charges off with the two-minute "Thank You For Sending Me An Angel," a glorious, rumbling stomper textured by wiry power chords and repetitive lyrics ("You can walk, you can talk just like me!")--a much more interesting and fun opener than "Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town." The uneasy, pounding migrane of "With Our Love" follows, a typical Heads track but a successful one, followed by the catchy, melodic, slightly off-kilter pop song "The Good Thing" (which features a memorable, airy chorus). Meanwhile, the Heads' first chart hit, their druggy, minimalistic cover of Al Green's soul groove "Take Me To The River," is out of place, but ye gods, I'm glad they threw it on.
The album is a consistent listen, but this leads to some minor problems. The most noticeable one is that the six songs in the middle of the album are all very similar in style (even more so than the songs on the debut) -- "Artists Only," "Warning Sign" and "I'm Not In Love" are all fine songs, granted, but stylistically they're all pretty much the same song. The only song that stands out in the midst of the dirge is the chugging "Found A Job," which pounds its repetitive, clunking groove right into your skull--the rest are GOOD, but it's kind of hard to remember their individual melodies (because they don't really have any). Additionally, the closer "The Big Country," while famous lyrically for showing what a pretentious prick David Byrne could be if he wanted to (the song is literally about a guy in a plane who looks down on the small towns below and thinks about how much he'd hate to live with the people who live there), is musically nothing but a country-twanged dirge, and it's really friggin' boring.
That said, if you're a Talking Heads fan at all, you need to own this album. It's the absolute epitome of the Eno-produced, art-house sound that everyone associates with the band, and they never produced an album quite like it since. Even if very few of the songs really have the potential to bowl anyone over, it still remains an interesting listen and an essential document of the postpunk/new wave era (oh man, I love cliches!! Takes one to know one! Better late than never!).
HIGH POINTS: The Good Thing, Found A Job, Take Me To The River. LOW POINTS: None.
The Heads' sophomore effort is overrated within the professional critics' world, but it seems to be one of the many classics that the web reviewing community has brought down to Earth a bit. In terms of style, it's not too much different from '77, but there are a few differences here. First and most important, the band hooked up with producer/musical genius/creator of hardcore ambient albums Brian Eno, and this guy definitely helps them push them forward creatively, as well as contributing some guitar parts (the guitars are really a huge focus on the sound) that at times create a similar atmosphere to his own solo work. Maybe he also had something to do with the arrangement of the album - as many have pointed out, damn near every track flows perfectly into one another, almost creating the impression that this is one big song suite. Not only that, but the quality of these songs (or 'parts') is incredibly even, and as a bonus, the likeable Heads sound seems even more energetic and exciting than before.
Of course, like '77, I found this album to be very boring at first, especially since the middle of the album is filled with songs that are in a very similar style and sound really unmemorable the first couple times you hear them. But just as before, this stuff really grew on me - for one, the guitar style here rules (there are a lot of complex overdubs, subtleties and neat tricks you notice in the mix after awhile), most of the rhythms are really infectious, and the paranoid David Byrne vocal/lyrical style is even more in place and weirdly appealing. All of these things come to the forefront in the first three songs - "Thank You For Sending Me An Angel" is certainly an interesting opener, a weird 'frantic guitar, paranoid vocals' trademark version of an arena rocker (with the terrific repeated lines 'you can walk, you can talk just like me!'), "With Our Love" is essentially in the "New Feeling"-esque vein of quirky songs, except neatly embellished by atmospheric synths, and "The Good Thing", by a small margin, is my favorite song here, mostly it melds a typical groove-oriented Heads verse with an awesome harmonized singalong chorus, a chorus which has the catchiest vocal melody on an album not really overflowing with them.
Now, I say that about vocal melodies for a reason, because the next six songs or so are a harder experience to get into, mostly because of that string of similarly styled and unmemorable hooks problem. While I still have trouble with recalling a lot of the confusingly arranged "Stay Hungry" (apart from the one neat keyboard chorus and some of the coolest guitar arrangements on the album) and the slower "Warning Sign", the others actually have their subtle charms. There's really neat chaotic guitar-led instrumental breaks and hilarious Byrne outbursts in "Artists Only", and I really like how "I'm Not In Love" combines hard rocking verses (well, for Heads' standards anyway) with a clumsy, grinding to a halt chorus. Also appealing are the bounciness and cool keyboard parts of "The Girls Want To Be With The Girls" and the really kickass "Found A Job". What a fantastic repetitive groove (and bassline) on that one! Some of Byrne's coolest vocal deliveries are here, too, especially come chorus time. Great song.
The last two songs are probably the most controversial of the lot, the first because it doesn't have much to do with the Heads and can be called the only slightly 'out of place' song on here, and the other because of the lyrics that uh... reflect Byrne's personality. I still like them both somewhat, though - their cover of Al Green's "Take Me To The River" may not be typical of the album's style (so, of course, it became the big hit), but the production here rules, with the simple pounding drums and clear organ sound coming through wonderfully, and that atmosphere sounds really inspiring, though I can't put my finger on why. And the closer "The Big Country", lyrically dealing with Byrne looking down on towns below from an airplane and thinking how much those people suck? It is a pretty simplistic countryish acoustic song musically, and maybe overlong, but like the chorus of "The Good Thing", it's one of the few genuinely melodic moments on here, with a couple nice hooks enhancing the mood nicely. I planned on giving this album a 7.5 originally, since there really aren't many great tracks here and it can run together a bit too much, but my continuing respect for the interesting sound and overall consistency here causes me to up the rating a bit.
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(Rich Bunnell's review)
I have an exercise for you, so try to play along. The first step is to find a flashlight, preferably a smaller one as opposed to those big canister ones that wusses take on hiking trips. The second step is to close any shades and doors, and turn off every single light in the room, including your nightlight if you have one. If you've actually performed the preceding directions correctly, you should be sitting in complete darkness. Now, turn on your flashlight and focus it on ordinary objects in the room, say, a desk, a pen, a coffee mug, a telephone, or a trash can. Don't the once-ordinary objects now seem creepy and even possibly foreboding? Surrounded by complete darkness, who's to say that that phone won't strangle you with its cord at the second your back is turned? All of your common sense says "Pish-posh!", but something inside of you says that it still could happen....somehow. Congrats, you're now in the mindset to listen to Talking Heads' third album.
At this point in the band's history, Eno said "Screw you, nerds! I'm Brian Eno! I'm bald! I can do whatever I want!" and essentially took complete control of the studio. The result is a nearly complete change in mood from that of the previous record. Beforehand, the songs coasted along on a jerky art-nerd groove; here they sort of sludge along, with the usual Heads sound put into a completely new, more depressing and Eno-ish, context. Compounding the newfound change in direction is Byrne, who goes completely off the wall lyrically. Most of the songs on the album have an artsy one-word title, and the lyrics generally consist of Byrne ranting about the song's subject. In "Animals," for example, Byrne exclaims "The animals...they're laughing at us! They don't even know...what a JOKE is!" This lyrical style is pretty much typical of most of the album.
Musically, the album is topnotch, with highs all over the place. The single and hit was "Life During Wartime," a repetitive, murky synth-popper with the infamous chorus "This ain't no party! This ain't no disco! This ain't no foolin' around!" "Heaven" is the most popular track among fans, a ballad where Byrne manages to find fault in Paradise by stating that it's a place where "nothing ever happens." "Memories Can't Wait" is a feedback-laden, stomping monolith of a song which manages to have a melody in spite of itself. The closer "Drugs" is a minimalist, new-wavey piece which I'd say brings to mind the subject matter, except I'm not a pothead so I wouldn't know.
Finally, the opener "I Zimbra" is probably the record's most important track, as it features the legendary Robert Fripp on shattering lead guitar and musically lays out a "world beat" style which Byrne would pursue on later Heads albums and especially his own solo career. Only one song can truly be considered a failure, and that's "Electric Guitar," a tuneless, abrasive stomper which for once doesn't have interesting enough lyrics to make up for a lack of melody. It's an exception, though, on a generally phenomenal album. The album as a whole takes more time to get into, and even longer to understand, than nearly every other Heads album. If the idea of a full-grown man complaining about how much he's scared of air frightens you, stay away. Otherwise, soak yourself in the waters of Byrne's psyche and try not to drown.
HIGH POINTS: Life During Wartime, Heaven, Memories Can't Wait, Animals, Mind, Cities. LOW POINTS: Electric Guitar.
The first two Heads albums might have been interesting and crazy enough, if a bit monotonous in sound, but nothing really compared to this. Sure, the 'quirky guitar-driven New Wave with paranoid frontman' formula hasn't completely changed or anything (in fact, David Byrne has only gotten crazier than before), but it's been taken to the next level. As a few people have remarked, Fear Of Music is sort of a loose concept album about, well, fear of various aspects of life, where Byrne lyrically goes 'in depth' about these things under the guise of (usually) a one word title in many of the songs (animals, cities, drugs, etc.) This certainly isn't the only interesting part of the album, though - Brian Eno embellishes the sound to an even greater degree than before, with interesting textures and darker moods on almost every song, the melodies are quirkier and extremely catchy, the grooves are stronger and tighter, the atmospheres that are aimed for often work, and all those other features that make a classic album such are prominent.
The material? Almost all of it is extremely high quality, coming together as possibly their best collection of songs. It may open with a track I consider to be almost out of place (the weird, rhythmic worldbeat chant "I Zimbra"), but why complain when it has such fantastic guitar work by none other than Robert Fripp, who no doubt took this song as a model for when he reformed King Crimson two years later on Discipline. There's even more addictive stuff where that came from, however, beginning with the extremely trippy "Mind". What an inventive groove we have here - a weird treated (vibrating piano(?)) effect merges with quirky guitar, a bouncy bassline, and defining lines like 'everything seems to be up in the air at this point' (as well as those friggin' cool 'I haven't got the faintest ideAAAAAAAAAAAA' echoes where the vocals become indistinguishable from the feedback and such).
Likewise, "Paper" and "Cities" both get incredibly funky rhythms going, captivating even despite the robotic bass and drum parts being so monotonous in how they play exactly the same patterns throughout the entire song, with no change. The latter track is especially noteworthy for the repeating, almost music hall-styled piano part and Byrne's absolutely frantic delivery during the 'good points... bad points... find myself a city to live in' chorus (to say nothing of how crazy the lyrics actually are), but the former is cool as well, with more of Jerry Harrison's best fast and quirky guitar parts and odd yet infectious melody. Speaking of melody, though, "Life During Wartime" is almost undeniably the catchiest Heads song to date - crossed together with its' counterpart keyboard line that drives the song, it's really hard not to get carried away by his anti-war lyrics, or that famous 'this ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no fooling around' line as it seems to build in an epic fashion. Brilliant, and my current pick for best on the album, as hard as it is to choose here.
Especially when there's even more fine material in its' wake. I'd say it's very tough to match the frightening mood of "Memories Can't Wait" as well, ranking pretty high up there on the tension scale, particularly where the singing is concerned (the vocal effects used particularly enhance things here). The simplistic yet mind-numbing riff perfectly fits the lyrically chaotic mood here, and that middle part (where the melody switches to a different key over a scary wall of sound) is positively monolithic in its' atmosphere, and the way the music quiets down on the 'everything is very quiet...' line is a brilliant change of pace. And that's perfectly followed by "Air", another convincingly atmospheric workout - I don't know what the coolest feature of this song is, the eerie harmony vocals singing 'aaaaaaaaaaair', the really odd keyboard part, or the quieter 'what is happening...' shift, but all I know is that it works.
But as much as this material captivates, there aren't that much in the way of truly moving emotional highs to be found. However, there is one exception to this rule in "Heaven", a brilliant piano ballad with a simple but utterly captivating melody over such beautifully written lyrics (I particularly get something out of the 'it's hard to imagine that nothing at all, could be so exciting...' lines, and the way it culminates in the hopeless chorus 'heaven is a place, a place where nothing, nothing ever happens' is something). Then on the odder end of the emotional spectrum, there's "Animals", which is seriously one of the most hilarious songs I have ever heard. Musically, the main vocal melody attempts to be dissonant but still remains oddly infectious, and there are some neat pounding guitar bursts, but the main appeal is the lyrics and how they're delivered. How can you not have a laugh at such lines as 'the animals, they're laughing at us, they don't even know, what a JOKE is?!', 'they make a mistake in the parking lot', and 'they like to laugh at people, they're setting a bad example'? Seriously, the way this song is pulled off has to be heard to be belived.
Unfortunately, the album's only slight letdowns come in the last two tracks. In general, I don't really hear the 'avant-garde' and 'ugly' excuses some people use to complain about this album, but "Electric Guitar" is the one exception. I guess the warbling bass tone and anti-censorship lyrics are interesting, but the melody and plodding musical backing is not, and so I consider it the one kinda 'ehh' song on here. And as for the closing "Drugs", it's not bad at all, as the repeating slow guitar parts and effective atmospheric synth in the intro are cool, and the lyrics are off the wall as usual (I like the 'all I see... are little DOTSDOTSDOTS...' part), but the effect is hardly as lasting or intriguing as the other songs, and I'm not sure it deserves to be the one track on here that goes over 5 minutes. However, these are just minor complaints that keep an otherwise stellar effort just out of 10 range. And hey, I personally like it more than its' even more widely acclaimed followup, though that might just be me.
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(Rich Bunnell's review)
The Heads' fourth album takes a complete left turn stylistically away from anything that came before, even when the idiosyncrasies of the prior album are taken into consideration. This is the point where Eno went all-out with the band's sound, taking even -further- control of the studio and entangling the band in his own twisted, complicated web of layered production. In addition, the band enlisted a temporary lead guitarist in future King Crimson bandmember Adrian Belew (who would go on to imitate David Byrne blatantly as the vocalist on Crimson's Discipline album). The result is a collection of songs that rely largely on repetitive, rhythmic song structures rather than the jerky, cold new wave which typified any of the previous three releases, and possibly the most lasting and intriguing album the Heads ever produced.
The album is split into two distinct halves, the first half consisting primarily of appealing, repetitive dance-based tunes. "Born Under Punches" kicks off the album, featuring a single clunky, mechanical riff that the band somehow manages to structure a melody around. "Crosseyed And Painless" has held up as a classic due to its manic, electric rhythm, it's dreamy, flowing chorus, and a stupendous David Byrne nerd-rap at the end. Following is the six-minute "The Great Curve," a world-beat anthem with a frantic, out-of-control Adrian Belew lead guitar part and catchy, constantly developing vocal rhythms that by the end of the song weave into an intricate pattern.
Finally, capping off the first side is the band's signature song, "Once In A Lifetime." I'm nearly at a loss to describe it. The song sounds simplistic on paper -- David Byrne chanting sermon-esque lyrics (the infamous "And you may tell yourself, 'This is not my beautiful house!'") over a bubbly synth rhythm inbetween outbursts of a catchy, endlessly-repeated chorus -- but it all manages to fit together into an absolutely perfect, life-affirming anthem, and without question the best song the band ever wrote.
Thereafter, the album regresses into several slowly-paced, murky tracks, which build on the world-beat affliction that Byrne and Eno had previously displayed on the previous album's "I Zimbra." At first, the slow pace and slight, seemingly non-existent melodies of these songs make them seem like disappointing letdowns compared to the prior, catchier tunes, but in truth the songs on the second side are easily the equals of those that came before. It starts off with the relatively upbeat "Houses In Motion," with more bizarre Adrian Belew lead guitar work and a strange, off-key horn arrangement by Jon Hassell. From there, the songs just get slower and slower, with the near-spoken-word "Seen And Not Seen" and the barren wasteland of "The Listening Wind," before finally culminating in the all-out wall-of-death "The Overload."
The album's slow, depressing ending might leave some listeners exhausted and sapped of energy, but let there be no doubt: this is the Heads' peak, and the album where everything that was ever good about the band comes to the forefront. It's probably not a very good first purchase for someone first getting into the Heads, but it's definitely an album that everyone interested in the band needs to own at some point.
HIGH POINTS: Crosseyed And Painless, Once In A Lifetime, Listening Wind, The Great Curve, Houses In Motion. LOW POINTS: The Overload.
Well, this album certainly doesn't recall the style of before very much at all, but maybe that's part of its' appeal. Simply put - if you thought Brian Eno had quite a big influence on the earlier stuff, you haven't heard the worst of it. While Fear Of Music did rely on groove and atmosphere at points during its' running time, it's here where those two elements are taken to almost ridiculous proportions at times. Part of the last album's charm lied in the catchy melodies and Byrne's crazy lyrics/vocal deliveries, whereas on here, those things don't seem to play anywhere near as much a dominant part as they did before. But that doesn't mean this direction isn't a huge success - in fact, apart from a severe misstep near the end of the album (which I will get to later), Remain In Light is just as great and maybe even better than its' predecessor, and there are several reasons for this.
Reason number one is that this is probably one of the best groove albums I've ever heard, and that should be respected, considering musical dynamics don't really apply here. Most of the songs, uptempo or slow, work the same rhythmic base, which often gets stretched out to 5 or 6 mniutes, probably to ensure the 'hooks' here eventually grab hold of the listener, yet with enough embellishments or textures that enhance the atmosphere of a particular song contained within so that you'll discover something cool each time, a sound effect here, a guitar part there, etc. Take the opening "Born Under Punches" - on first listen, this seemed to me like an extremely unmelodic, overly mechanical and rambling 'song' with an annoyingly thin sound to it, but give it time... it'll eventually grab you. The way it all combines, with that addictive repeating riff, the vocal alternation between speaking ('take a look at these hands') and singing ('all I want is to breathe'), the really cool backing noises (especially the dissonant video game vibe in the middle) results in an extremely creative and yet danceable song.
On this album, I'm not even sure which is my favorite, but today it's probably "Crosseyed And Painless", regarded by many as one of the ultimate New Wave songs, an honor which I'd have to be insane to deny. It has yet another top-notch groove, created by the interplay of the rhythm section, guitar line and some weirdass beeping Eno effect of some sort, and the melody and lyrics are at their most paranoid ('lost my shape... TRYING TO ACT CASUAL'). Equally essential, though, are the extremely catchy atmospheric pop refrain where Eno sings ('there was a liiiiiiiine... there was a formula'), the hypnotizing 'still waiting...' chants, and Byrne's lightning fast rap about facts at the end. This song is an experience not to be missed, that's for sure.
Just as interesting of a song is the more worldbeat-influenced "The Great Curve", which has yet more fantastic interplay between the musicians (especially the really fast guitar, the horns - or synth horns, whatever they are - and the massive percussion action going on). It's also worth noting that this might be the one track that's mostly sung all the way through rather than spoken, which enhances the effect once the addictive chants come through ('so say so', etc.) not to mention the cleverness of the lyrics ('the world moves on a woman's hips, the world moves as it swivels and bops'). Additionally, Adrian Belew's frantic guitar solos are at their most prominent during the instrumental breaks (he was a temporary lead guitarist at the sessions), and that also helps a song that, at almost 6-1/2 minutes on the same groove, you'd think would get dreadfully overlong and repetitive, but yet it doesn't.
I think you see from this opening stretch, despite the lack of dynamics and changes within, that it's possible to write absolutely thorough essays on everything involving these songs. But of course, a Remain In Light discussion would be very incomplete without talking about the last uptempo song "Once In A Lifetime", obviously the most well-known of all. Though everyone knows it already as a major taste of Byrne's personality in terms of lyrics and spoken delivery ('you may find yourself, etc.'), there's also a totally cool synth background and repeating two note bassline, another really poppy Eno-sung chorus, and a great repeated 'same as it ever was' chant that brings it to a full closure. Wow, what a great pop anthem this one is, and it's because of my initial dislike for songs like these that I kick myself for my musical tastes several years ago. But then again, I don't think I had any use for nerds speaking lyrics or, really, New Wave stuff back then, so make of that what you will.
It may also take awhile to notice, but eventually, you'll see that there is, in fact, a second half to this. And inevitably, the material is on the whole not as strong or thoroughly addictive. But it's definitely interesting - as an interesting psychological change of pace, the songs gradually get more atmospheric and slower as they go along. In particular, I'm really intrigued by "Houses In Motion", which actually has some sort of 'walking' groove that actually brings images of houses casually walking down the street to my mind (seriously!), again alternating between spoken and sung vocals, with a seriously bizarre horn part and intriguing sound effects in between. "Seen And Not Seen" is slightly less impressive (and even more techno-ish), but the atmosphere is, again, interesting, with the entire song being almost a creepy spoken-word essay over a dance rhythm and haunting soundscapes. Man, it's weird.
Now, at this point, the material has gotten really lethargic, and while this works to the benefit of "Listening Wind" (it's a Native American's lament set to a very creepy, shifting melody and slow, percussive arrangement that truly captivates the entire time), I really can't say the same about its' followup. Sorry, Remain In Light worshippers, but I really dislike "The Overload" that closes the album. I totally respect what Eno and the band were trying to go for in creating a deathly slow, final-sounding atmosphere, but this is a song I like more on paper than actually executed on record. It just seems to go on and on at a snail's pace for 6 minutes, with an extremely monotonous rhythmic backing and a total lack of good vocal melody for an unpleasant experience. Simply put, this is a song where atmosphere and lack of dynamics are taken too far, if you ask me, not to mention proof that not everything Eno does is God-like. It also forces me to drop the rating a point (again, sorry), but the rest of the album? Fantastic! Extremely original! Hypnotizing! Intriguing! Go get it!
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COMMENTS
There's no denying it, this is indisputably the Talking Heads' most ambitious and accomplished album, and it's arguably their best. It's not the most accessible record in the world, and it's not for everyone. But MAAAAANNN do those grooves on side one get under you skin after awhile, kind of like the debut grows on non-suspecting anti-nerds. Actually, I fail to get as "caught up" into this album as a lot of Heads fans do, but I could never bring myself to call it "overrated," because the more you listen to it, the more you begin to unravel the overwhelmingly painstaking details that went into most of these songs. Do I think it's perfect? No, I'm sorry, 'fraid not. If anything, side one is TOO good (if that makes sense), so much that it completely puts to shame side two, which otherwise stands alone as a somewhat interesting set of atmospheric pieces (perhaps unfinished) that create an overall dark and depressing mood. In fact, to be honest, I sometimes lose interest in the album after the subtle stomp of "Houses in Motion," and change albums -- again, my apologies. But, at the last minute, I've decided not to penalize the album too heavily for a personal qualm (my short attention span, I s'pose). After all, this is one of the most impressive, and genre-defying, LPs a rock band ever put out, in league with Sgt. Pepper's. By the Beatles comparison, I mean Remain in Light doesn't really sound like rock music at all, and it warrants respect for the entire genre of rock by people who don't normally like rock n' roll. There just aren't many albums like this, especially by major acts. Ah, but my favorite songs? "Once in a Lifetime" and "Crosseyed and Painless," natch. I guess this makes me a "poser" fan, but I don't care. I agree with Rich about "Lifetime" -- based on what I've heard, it's the single best song the band ever did, and it's surely one of my ten favorite songs of all time. I get so into Byrne's preaching over that tumbling groove on here, backed by those hypnotic synths; and then, THEN, there's one of the catchiest choruses EVER!! I'm pretty disinterested in side two -- in fact, I prefer '77 and Fear of Music a little more, at least right now. But even those "songs" are certainly listenable, and I think I understand the mood the Heads are shooting for. So a 9 it is.
(Rich Bunnell's review)
After Remain In Light, the Heads took a three-year hiatus, during which Byrne composed the soundtrack to a ballet called "The Catherine Wheel," Chris and Tina, under the band name "The Tom Tom Club" had a Top 40 hit with "Genius Of Love" (which would later be sampled for Mariah Carey's repetitive 1995 #1 hit "Fantasy"), a space-filling double live album called The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads was released, and Byrne ruined the career of the B-52's forever by producing a pointlessly-artsy EP for them called Mesopotamia and introducing them to the realm of synth-pop. Man, that was a long sentence. Anyway, the years 1980 to 1983 definitely had their ups and downs for members of the Heads, and when they finally reconvened for another album they lacked one thing: Eno.
Without Eno at the helm, the Heads regress to performing music best described as somewhat radio-friendly synthy pop-rock, though at this point it still carries some of the disembodied Heads charm of yore. They managed to net their first and only Top 10 hit in the opener "Burning Down The House," a funky, stomping chant with lyrics made out of cliches ("No visible means of support and you have not seen nothing yet, everything's stuck together") and a memorable slow-building opener. It's their most popular song, so popular that in years since it has been covered both by Bonnie Raitt(?!???!) and a duo of Tom Jones and the Cardigans (?!?!?!?!??!?!?!???!??!?!?!?!!???????). Other tunes on the album, such as "Making Flippy Floppy" and "Pull Up The Roots" follow in the same vein, being very similar in sound to one another (both bearing a jerky, funky pop vibe and lots of synths) but are very catchy and infectious nonetheless.
Even though most of the songs are generally catchy, however, the album bears one extreme vice: its production. Eno's departure didn't merely reduce the experimentality of the music, it also left the Heads to their own devices, forcing them to produce the album on their own. The result is a very thin sound, with unnecessarily-slow tempos on some songs, and instruments like Chris Frantz's murky drums being more prominent in the mix than they should be. The production makes many promising songs, such as the synth-popper "Girlfriend Is Better" and the would-be gospel chant "Slippery People," seem weak and plodding (luckily, these songs were improved upon on the band's live concert film Stop Making Sense). Then, of course, there are the songs which are simply weak on their own, like "I Get Wild," which is almost unbearably plodding, and "Moon Rocks," which spends its entire run just clunking around like "Found A Job" without a decent melody.
Thankfully, some of the other more original material is unhindered by this shortcoming. "Swamp" is an infectious synth-blues number with a memorable "Hi, hi hi hi hi hi" chorus - the song has stood the test of time as one of the true sleepers in the Heads' catalogue. Finally, the closer "This Must Be The Place" bears an interesting novelty: each bandmember is playing the incorrect instrument. The funny thing is that the song is so pretty and exquisite that it doesn't make a difference. As a whole, however, the album is a worthwhile effort which is unfortunately hindered by overwhelmingly flat production. Thankfully, the Heads gained greater proficiency in the studio for the next album.
HIGH POINTS: Swamp, Burning Down The House, Girlfriend Is Better. LOW POINTS: Moon Rocks.
After creating one of the finest groove albums ever (and heck, one of the best albums of the 80's) in Remain In Light, the band understandably wasn't really in the mood to be really prolific, as the work behind that album left them rather drained. But more importantly, a huge influence in the explorations on those last few albums, Brian Eno, unfortunately parted ways with them - why exactly, I don't really know (maybe he was more interested in making really hardcore ambient stuff like Thursday Afternoon?). But the fact is, the loss of Eno here hurts the resulting album somewhat - as compared to the somewhat full, textured and really atmospheric sound of before, this album sounds sparse and thinly produced. They do try to color the sound a bit with synths and dancey rhythms (some of Chris Frantz's most creative, actually), but the album simply ends up sounding like a less impressive take on its' predecessor - a bunch of 4 or 5 minute grooves that this time aren't always strong enough to hold up the entire time, sometimes becoming too repetitive, dull and empty.
At least the actual songs are mostly very good, though, regardless of the obvious surface weaknesses, and on repeated listenings, several of them reveal themselves to be quite melodic. In particular, the first three track stretch is rather impressive, beginning with the smash hit "Burning Down The House", which yes, I used to hate for some random Heads-bashing reason. But I've come to discover that everything about it rules, from the eerie acoustic/synth introduction, the insanely catchy funk backdrop, the unforgettable chorus chant, and those humorous lyrics of David Byrne's. "Making Flippy Floppy", meanwhile, is just as odd as its' title in those bizarre guitar and synth patterns (not to mention the melody), and "Girlfriend Is Better", though probably better in its' Stop Making Sense live version, still stands out for me because the hook and keyboard textures throughout are at their most inventive. Catchy as hell!
However, after the slow, funky bassline and gospel-ish melody entertains me on "Slippery People" (another minor gem), Speaking In Tongues becomes somewhat inconsistent, hitting a bit of a sag on "I Get Wild: Wild Gravity", which does have an effective tense mood in its' synth part and melody, but it also falls victim to that dull groove problem I hinted at earlier, repeating the same thing over and over again for 5 minutes, and not really impressing me too much. At least the main melodic base to that song is good though, unlike "Moon Rocks", which reminds me of a weak cross between "Life During Wartime" and "Found A Job", and a totally unmemorable one at that. I guess the closing "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)" suffers from this to a lesser extent, because I can't remember how the vocal melody goes at all (therefore it's a naive, underdeveloped melody! ha!), though it does have some really neat and funky synth textures, and that makes up for it a bit.
My absolute favorite here, though, still remains the relatively obscure "Swamp", a sorta bluesy tune done in a way only the Heads could pull off. That groove, along with Byrne's low-register vocals especially, is sinister! And the repeated 'hi, hi, hi, hi, hi' is just as emphatically catchy as "Burning Down The House", in my view, and it probably just edges out that song for the top spot. Oh, and one other thing - don't a lot of the songs here sound somewhat disco-ish? At least to me they do, and if it's a prime example you want, look at "Pull Up The Roots" - tell me you can't imagine a disco ball hanging over that one as its' bassline and clinking synths are playing. It's very worthwhile disco, though, especially when concerning the lyrics. [Psst... don't tell anyone, but stuff like this leads me to believe they're going for more conventional styles here, too. And it would lead to a SELLOUT!] The weakest Heads album to date, maybe, but still very good, if uneven, and again, too much lacking in decent production and consistency for it to be truly great.
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(Rich Bunnell's review)
Speaking In Tongues abruptly turned the Heads into American megastars, and their stature only increased upon the release of the critically-acclaimed concert film Stop Making Sense (which I very highly recommend). This was not the time to return to the head-scratching musical bizarrities of yore - it was either tackle and strangle the pop jugular, or become remembered as a flavor-of-the-month MTV band to be included on compilation albums purchased by soccer moms the world round. They chose the former -- this album is Shiny Popville, USA, with upbeat melodies, catchy choruses, and clean, streamlined production. This is pop! Yeah yeah! (DISCLAIMER: The previous statement looks really stupid unless you're an XTC fan, and even then it still seems forced and incongruous.)
All of this taken in consideration, for most bands this would probably be the album that would be the "guilty pleasure" for snooty, mainstream-hating diehard fans. That's why I'm so glad to say that this album easily ranks up there with almost anything the Heads ever did. The songs are wonderful - despite the aforementioned shiny production, the melodies are still somewhat rooted in the band's signature style, yet nearly every single one is....well, y'know, CATCHY. None of the singles rose into the Top 40, but the album was a platinum success and two of the singles became indisputable hits. Those songs, the opener "And She Was" and the closer "Road To Nowhere," are absolutely fabulous (TV show reference not intended), the former being a gorgeous, sunny pop song with one of the band's best choruses, and the latter a marching anthem which manages to sound profound despite the prominent presence of an accordian in its backing music.
The rest of the album follows suite, particularly the slinky, bouncy "The Lady Don't Mind," the sadistic babysitter theme song "Stay Up Late," and "Television Man," a wonderful, dark six-minute mini-epic which is probably the song closest in spirit to the Heads' original sound (and the best song on the album at that). Even the most offbeat songs on the album, the sex-themed country ballad "Creatures Of Love" and the odd, genre-less "Give Me Back My Name," shimmer with hooks, as mixed of a metaphor as that is. Just great stuff.
Little Creatures seems like a bit of a thin stylistic letdown at first due to the apparent simplicity of the music, but take it from me: the more you listen, the more you love. This album should have signaled the beginning of a new musical era for the band, but alas, it wasn't to be. Do me a favor: pretend that this album is their swan song, so it would seem like they actually ended their musical career on a high note.
HIGH POINTS: Road To Nowhere, Television Man, The Lady Don't Mind, Walk It Down, And She Was. LOW POINTS: None.
Here's that 'sellout' I mentioned in my Speaking In Tongues review, the Heads' attempt at something resembling a normal pop album. Compared to previous work, the songs on Little Creatures are incredibly simple, but that's only in terms of sound textures and extremely unique ideas - while Remain In Light often experimented with building grooves around extremely minimal chord changes, this is in a way more complex than any Heads album in terms of really, really catchy melodies and chord sequences. Who cares if the production is very commercialized in a mid 80's way or that many more bands could pull this kind of stuff off than Fear Of Music? David Byrne's attempts at writing uplifting vocal hooks are just as emotionally appealing to me, if not more so, than the band's sheer jerky guitar paranoia or Eno craziness they were attempting before, especially since a lot of this album has such a friendly vibe to it. No, it isn't the most melodic album ever or anything like that, but it still should be considered one of the high points of pop music in the 80's as far as I'm concerned.
Another thing that's interesting about this album is that the music and melodies are often bright and cheery and all that stuff, but often the actual lyrics are the exact opposite. This is particularly true of "And She Was" and "The Lady Don't Mind", but of course, the bright moods of these songs win out. The former opening track is about the poppiest hit single in the Heads' catalog, with entertaining 'hey hey hey hey's and a well-flowing pop melody that seems to have more catchiness than previous work (love that bridge, too) and the latter does have a tinge of darkness to its' mood in the verses (witness the opening line 'last time she jumped out of the window, well, she only turned and smiled') but the central feature here is the indescribably fantastic bass groove it hits upon, and when horns join in later on in the song as it gets to the chorus, the experience doesn't exactly turn all downbeat. A great song to dance to.
These appealing characteristics apply to just about every song on here for me, with not one of them being even remotely unenjoyable. Maybe "Stay Up Late" is a bit stupid with its' simplistic piano pop chord progression and overly childish lyrics about a new baby, but it manages to be incredibly likeable, entertaining and catchy nonetheless. "Creatures Of Love" even veers into country-ish territory with twangy-sounding guitars and all, and lyrics like 'I've seen sex and I think it's alright' mark Byrne's transformation from a paranoid maniac to someone resembling a normal songwriter, even if still not quite getting there, and "Give Me Back My Name" has an odd, eerie 'hovering' quality to the guitar line and atmosphere, and the chorus sounds like it could fit on '77, but quite unlike '77, the guitar work and vocals are very subdued, reminding the listener just how much the band has changed since then. Neat.
Likewise, the weird artsy and funky synth/guitar groove that shows up in the verses of "Walk It Down" is reminiscent of the past, more specifically their cover of "Take Me To The River", but you'll never find a singalong chorus sung in full harmony on More Songs quite as wonderfully inviting as the one on here ('walk it down, talk it down, sympathy, luxury...'), no matter how hard you look. But to heck with the past - "Perfect World", while maybe too simple on the surface in the repetitive guitar work and probably the vocal melody as well, resolves itself at the chorus gorgeously (particularly right at the end) and thus demonstrating how well this simple pop direction of theirs can work. Plus the lyrics are among the most thoughtful and well-written on the album, so that's something else as well.
But as fine as these first seven songs are, it's the last two on here that ultimately allow me to bump the rating up a half-point (though it's a lower 9 compared to the somewhat high ones of Fear Of Music and Remain In Light). First off, there's "Television Man", the album's only attempt at a multi-part epic, and what a great one it is. It moves through several different sections seamlessly as Byrne sings interesting lyrics about how 'television made me what I am...', the best ones of those being the dreamy 'we are still good friends, and I'm a television man...' chorus and this really, really fantastic lengthy percussion segment that's not at all complicated musically, but it just sounds awesome hearing those incredibly catchy 'na na na na na na...' chants interplaying with the drums and the horn section. The whole song definitely has a simultaneously dramatic and entertaining feel to it, quite unlike anything the Heads have done.
The closing single "Road To Nowhere" edges it out as my favorite, though. Heck, it might be my favorite song in the whole Heads catalog (and that's saying something)! The gospel-sounding harmonies from both the band and several other backing singers in the beginning and the chorus are an absolutely fantastic touch (there seem to be a lot of backing vocals on this album from Tina Weymouth in particular, actually), and the marching rhythm cleverly embellished by an accordian of all instruments is one of the most insanely addictive grooves they'd ever come up with. Not to mention it's an amazingly upbeat song for such a not-so-upbeat topic as the end of the world. What a melody! Great album, too, even if it does tread enough toward the ordinary and simplistic that I can't quite call it their best, but it's certainly their most melodic and possibly their most resonant and mature as well. Highly recommended!
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(Rich Bunnell's review)
In 1986, David Byrne wrote, directed and starred in a film called True Stories, which I personally haven't seen. It's supposed to be really good -- I've heard it hailed as a cult classic. Being a musical, the film contained a large number of songs, and this album contains the band's take on nine of them. Thus, this is a bonafide Talking Heads album through and through, though I really wish that it wasn't. I'm sure that most of these songs sounded great in the film, but played straight-faced by the Heads, most of them are just dull. Musically, the album is very similar to Little Creatures, but as many have pointed out in the past, whereas Little Creatures was simple, True Stories is downright simplistic, as if David Byrne realized the monetary potential of making pop music and widely underestimated the intelligence of the masses for the followup.
The style, strangely, is the most diverse of any Heads album, but that's not a good thing. The only result is lameness: dopey attempts at world beat ("Papa Legba"), gospel ("Puzzlin' Evidence"), and zydeco ("Radio Head," a song on the exact opposite of the musical spectrum from the brilliant band of the same name), all of them as cheesy and thinly-played as possible. Some songs stand out, such as the jangly country tune "People Like Us" and the self-consciously introspective ballad "City Of Dreams," but the only real successes on the album are the opener "Love For Sale," a bizarre, wiry stomper with lyrics taken from commercials, and the bubbly hit "Wild Wild Life." To tell you the truth, that one isn't really that great either. It's bouncy and catchy,but compared to the band's better singles it sounds a bit limp and forced. Like the single off of a B-sides album. So, in conclusion, this album is lame. And boring. Don't buy it. I traded in two late-period Sting albums to buy this, and I still felt ripped off. It's not horrible, but who would actually sit around and listen to this stuff?
HIGH POINTS: City Of Dreams, Wild Wild Life, Love For Sale. LOW POINTS: Hey Now, Papa Legba.
Another sellout simple pop album for the Heads, but unfortunately, lightning didn't exactly strike twice here after the brilliance of Little Creatures. Everyone knows the details of how this is actually a 'soundtrack' of sorts to David Byrne's film of the same name, with the Heads' versions of the songs here instead of the actors' versions like in the film, though having not seen it I don't know whether these songs worked better that way. What I do know, though, is that the aspects I liked so much about the last album seem to be negatives here in a lot of cases - the simple pop element is taken to the extreme to the point where there's barely anything to the songs at all musically or melodically, some of the lyrics have degenerated into stupidity, and the friendliness of Byrne's vocals just doesn't seem to be there, instead replaced by some almost cartoonish oversinging at times, while the band as a whole is slowly moving ever so slightly toward facelessness. Take all these factors together, and it's no wonder many view True Stories as the weakest album the band ever released.
Still, I don't consider it to be as bad as some say (like the above review, for instance). True, there's some very weak songs in the first half that fall victim to all the above faults - the Caribbean-styled "Hey Now" is a totally dumb and empty novelty singalong that holds no interest at all except to draw attention to how dopey the repetitive chorus is, the slow worldbeat of "Papa Legba" is simply laughable and half-assed creatively (this is the same band that did "Listening Wind" and "The Great Curve"??), and although the groove itself is okay, there's no point at all in the gospel excursion "Puzzlin' Evidence" after the 3 minute mark, which is a problem considering it goes on for almost 5-1/2 with the same tiresome melodies. But even though the remainder of the album is hardly spectacular or anything, I really can't say I have any big problems outside those three weak points.
The single "Wild Wild Life", for instance, might be a slight step below the average great Little Creatures track in quality, but in the best tradition of that album it's still very likeable, uplifting and fun to sing along with the harmonies at the chorus, and although there's kind of a lamebrained stadium rock quality to the opener "Love For Sale" with the simplistic riffage and Byrne's most obnoxious-sounding vocals of the album, that track definitely has another strong melody and a hard rocking punch you normally don't hear from the Heads, so it's a very good way to start. It's also interesting to point out, as many have, that the song Radiohead named themselves after is on here (although as two words instead of one), and it's another pleasantly snappy little ditty, and things are closed out with three very nice ballads in a row (the dreamy lightweight waltz "Dream Operator", the very country-influenced and lyrically personal "People Like Us", and my favorite here by a small margin in "City Of Dreams", whose vibe definitely brings to mind the classic "Heaven" in the slow-building melody and philosophical, pretentious lyrics, even approching gorgeousness in points, particularly the chorus).
There's not a whole lot to write about this album, just because of the simplistic nature of the material here that rarely goes beyond just 'cute', 'nice', 'pleasant', 'charming' or whatever adjectives you might use to describe it - there's just nowhere near enough musical or melodical depth and emotional resonance here for me when compared to any of their other albums, Creatures included, even if a fair amount of it is good and perfectly listenable (i.e. the second half, which would actually be enough to bring this up to a 7 if "Hey Now" and "Papa Legba" didn't suck so much), so it's worth a listen or two if you see it very cheap, though not that much more. If you actually pay full price for it, you'd be no better than the average idiot pop consumer this album's aimed at!
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(reviewed by Rich Bunnell)
The Heads had experimented a bit with world beat textures on Remain In Light in 1980, but it wasn't until this album that Byrne had the band attempt a complete album in that genre. This album is the closest in the Heads' catalogue to a solo David Byrne release, as it is rich with the world texturing which dominates most of his solo material. Unlike True Stories, the album was clearly meant to be ambitious -- the band even recorded in Paris and hooked up with Steve Lillywhite, a.k.a. Most Awesome Producer Ever. The change in pace comes as somewhat of a breath of fresh air after the formulaic, thin crap on the preceding album, but sadly, the music for the most part just doesn't hold up to Byrne's lofty ambitions.
I personally have nothing against world beat as a genre, and the band indeed sounds incredibly convincing, backed up with tons of extra session musicians to achieve as full of a sound as possible. The problem is that Byrne simply isn't a talented enough composer of world beat-style music, and too many of the songs come off as mannered. The album doesn't seem to signal this at first, kicking off with two incredible Latin-flavored ethno-funk tunes ("Blind" and "Mr. Jones"), both repetitive but also incredibly infectious. The album basically takes a stylistic nosedive following those songs -- "Totally Nude," "Bill" and "The Democratic Circus" are basically the same song as far as I'm concerned, dissimilar chord changes and lyrical subjects nonwithstanding. The only song which detracts from the formula is "The Facts Of Life," and it's not a good thing -- the song is completely out-of-place, an industrial dirge with almost no melody or appealing qualities whatsoever. It's nothing but the same clanking, slow-paced rhythm for an ungodly six-and-a-half minutes, and it's extremely dull and lifeless.
Regardless of these flaws, this isn't a bad album, and there's some high-quality music to be found within these highly-produced layers of ethnic beats. "(Nothing But) Flowers" was the single, a nice little song with the most accessible lyrics on the album (about a city dweller completely perplexed when his city suddenly becomes overrun with flora and fauna), though it's a bit overrated -- most fans rate it on the same level as "Once In A Lifetime," which I find rather bizarre. "Big Daddy" is another straightforward, catchy pop song, and the slow-burning buildup of "Cool Water" brings the album to a satisfying conclusion.
High points aside, however, the album is little more than okay, an incredibly-accomplished album that just doesn't live up to the band's past glories. The Heads went on a hiatus following this album, during which Byrne released his first official solo album in the boring-beyond-words Rei Momo. Shortly after that album's release, a statement was issued by the band that they had officially broken up. I doubt that anyone noticed -- by this point, the band was little more than a cultural afterthought.
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