"Facts are useless in emergencies"
Talking Heads rule. That’s the fact and it’s absolutely clear
for everyone who likes good music. They are one of the best (if not THE best)
New Wave band ever, after all!.. Ah, wait, it’s not true that Talking Heads
were pure New Wave band, because they tried themselves in bunch of different
genres – funk, world music, pop, disco, you name it. But all of their music
have some strange, paranoid feeling in it, mainly because of the frontman and
the main songwriter – David Byrne, who sung his paranoid lyrics in paranoid
ways over the paranoid music background. But, in fact, I can’t name any of their
album that would sound paranoid or scary for me, except for Fear of Music and
Remain In Light. But, anyway, their paranoid atmosphere of the songs through
all of their career is somewhat intersting in their own way.
Now something about line-up. Apart from David Byrne, there is great keyboardist
and guitarist Jerry Harrison, funky drummer Chris Franz and bassist Tina Weymouth,
who is my personal favourite member of the band. Plus, I need to mention two
more people. Brian Eno was the band’s producer in between 1978 and 1980 and
was their musical director and (maybe) studio keyboardist. And Adrian Belew
was their guitarist on Remain In Light.
- 77
- MORE SONGS ABOUT BUILDINGS AND FOOD
- FEAR OF MUSIC, Federico's Review
- REMAIN IN LIGHT, Ayoze's Review
- LITTLE CREATURES, Ayoze's Review
- NAKED
Talking Heads’ debut is a strange mixing of the styles I know
almost nothing about – New Wave, punk and funk, and that’s maybe why I didn’t
really get the album after the first listening. However, it has grown on me,
so I now can say that it’s surely a good album with a lot of good songs and
almost no obvious bad songs, but with a one HUGE flaw – it’s boring. It’s mainly
because all of the songs sound the same. There are minor differences between
them. One song uses bass, the other has marimba, the other one is very English,
but they all sound the same anyway! I dunno why. Maybe it’s just because of
David Byrne’s paranoid tone on every of these songs. By the way, the similarity
of the songs is the usual problem for Talking Heads, and, I guess, it’s the
worst thing about them.
However, the songs are great! “Psycho Killer” is the obvious winner – big fans’
and critics’ favourite, the song is simply awesome! Great funky bass, excellent
rhythm and fantastic, infectious chorus. The lyrics are nonsense, with Byrne
telling us that he is “nervous and can’t relax” and hates people who are not
polite and brings some nonsense French lyrics anyway. A great song.
Unfortunately, “Psycho Killer” always seems to overshadow any other songs on
the album, and that’s awful, because there are loads of great pop songs on here.
For instance, the opener “Uh-Oh Love Comes To Town” is maybe as good as the
main highlight of the album. What a catchy and goofy tune with amazing marimba
passages and cool Byrne tune. “Tentative Decisions” has a great chorus with
marching band rhythm and “Happy Day” has even better one. Byrne sounds like
a complete dork on both of these songs, though. Especially on “Happy Day” when
he goes “Such a happy DAAAAY for mE”.
As for the rockers, they are kinda boring. I can’t remember anything about multi-part
“No Compassion” or extremely dumb short “Who Is It?”. “First Week/Last Week...
Carefree” has a great melody, though, with clever horn blasts. “The Book I Read”
and ‘Don’t Worry About The Government” are both fantastically stupid (go and
read the lyrics of “The Book I Read”), but very good too. Finally, there is
a closer – “Pulled Up”, a great song that has a re-written melody of “Uh-Oh
Love Comes To Town” and uses it in awesome way, with a lot of cool Byrne screaming.
The only song that I am disappointed with is deadly boring “New Feeling”. I
don’t really remember how it goes and don’t actually want to, because the song
simply lacks any kind of interesting melody. The only cool thing about it that
it’s just the only worthless song on the overall good album.
Any comments or reviews to grant us with?
OK, so that’s the album where they teamed up with Brian Eno;
it’s the album that brings up crazy funk style that would be improved on Remain
In Light; it’s the album that has a cool cover and a cool title; it’s the album
that showed their (read: Byrne’s) passion to experiments, but this album still
SUCKS!
Allright, allright, so the album doesn’t really suck, but out of all five classic
Talking Heads records, this one is surely their worst one. The main problem
is the same that on ’77: this album is so damn boring. Plus, this time you would
be really puzzled trying to tell where one song ends and the other one begins.
Oh, and most of the songs doesn’t have the actual melody – they have grooves
that go on and go on, and go on, and go on and on... Plus, most of them are
just simple funk-based jams that go nowhere, and they bore you really fast.
The only songs that do not sound like the majority of the others are their cover
of Al Green’s “Take Me To The River” (but it really bores as fast as any of
other songs) and “The Girls Want To Be With The Girls” (a fantastic pop number
that would be perfect if you could eliminate awful tone Byrne have chosen to
sing the song), but, surprisingly, they are not the best cuts from this baby.
What are the bests you may ask? Well, the opening “Thank You For Sending Me
An Angel” is excellent – short, effective and simply awesome, with the standard
guitars/bass/drums jam going on and with that groovy effects and noises dubbed
all over the track. “Warning Sign” is a great song too, probably my personal
favourite. Have you heard that echoey drums? I don’t really understand what
it is – a drum-machine or the real drums (well, I guess the later), but, whatever
it is, it’s still sounds great. And the vocal melody is cool too. Finally, there’s
“Found A Job” with a fucking good chorus thrown. It’s a bit overlong, of course,
but what can you expect for a funky song performed by a New Wave band that lasts
for 5 minutes? Oh, and I almost forgot about cheerful “The Great Thing” with
cool vocal harmonies in the chorus.
But, you know, apart from these songs, all others sound same. I mean, they REALLY
sound the same, and even me, who has listened to the album for five or so times,
can’t tell anything about them. Wait, there IS one song I can tell something
about – “The Big Country”, but even that one is BAD. It’s boring and it drags.
I can’t remember if the melody exists, and I can’t tell you why did they add
that terrible two minutes long coda. Why?
Anyway, the album isn’t really bad. It’s just very routine and boring. And it
hasn’t got any good melodies for around. That’s all, I think.
Any comments or reviews to grant us with?
Fear Of Music is their peak. Brian Eno and David Byrne finally
took control all over the band and created a collection of scary, paranoid songs.
In fact, it’s what the album’s concept (yeah, it has concept) is about – fear.
Fear of air, fear of cities, fear of animals etc., etc., etc. Replace the word
“Music” in the title of the album with the title of any of these songs (except
for “I Zimbra” and “Memories Can’t Wait”), and you’ll get what the songs are
about. And the actual melodies work well with the lyrics, too – almost all of
them are so weird and have atmosphere that perfectly describes any kind of fear.
And I don’t even need to tell you that the melodies and songs themselves are
genius – you already know it from the rating, after all. Even two closing songs,
“Electric Guitar” and “Drugs”, which many people seem to dislike, are very good,
in my opinion. “Electric Guitar” has an awesome atmosphere with that slow, haunting
drum machine and Byrne chanting “Never listen... to electric guitar!” And “Drugs”
may be boring, but it can put you in some kind of charm with that repeating
synth “riff” and, once again, perfect, absolutely perfect atmosphere. Actually,
it’s more Eno than Talking Heads, but isn’t Brian a genius?
The album opens with “I Zimbra” – a great and unusual mix of the modern age
funk and African ethnic music. Some people say that Talking Heads made the evolution
in so-called world music or even created the genre itself by this song, but
I can’t tell it, because I don’t interested in the world music and all that
stuff. But who cares that the song started world music if it’s so great? Robert
Fripp plays on guitar and Talking Heads sing nonsensical lyrics on some African
lyrics. An immortal song. “Mind” is even better with the unforgettable guitar
(or is it synth?) riff and fantastic “I’ve need something to change your mind”
refrain. “Paper” has got an awesome guitarwork too and a fantastic chorus. My
favoruite moment is the intro that repeats some more times in the song after
the chorus. What a fantastic guitar!
“Cities” is my personal favourite, with a chaotic bouncy electric piano lines
and a great overall melody. Oh, and it has a great chorus (“I will find myself
a city to live in” – have you noticed that most of the choruses on the record
consist only of one phrase?) too. And have you heard what the whole band does
at the background? Awesome! “Life During Wartime” was a hit single and it’s
a great synth-pop song with a fucking funny chorus (“THIS AIN’T NO PARTY! THIS
AIN’T NO DISCO! THIS AIN’T NO FOOOOOLING AROUND! NO TIME FOR DANCING! OR LOVEY
DOVEY! I AIN’T GOT TIME FOR THAT NOOOOOOOOOOW!”), but, lyrically, it’s damn
depressive. I prefer a live version of this song from Stop Making Sense, but
the album version is great too.
“Memories Can’t Wait” is full of guitar and vocal effects, and they make the
song. Don’t you just love the way Byrne’s voice jumps in between the speakers?
“Air” has Tina Weymouth doing the awesome background vocal. And, you might guess
it, the atmosphere is perfect. “Heaven” is just beautiful, with the gorgeous
melody that could fit something like Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds and inarguably the
best lyrics in the entire Byrne’s career. I don’t know what it is about (does
Byrne bash Heaven or does he use “Heaven” as a metaphor for some other place?),
but, man, they are great. And then there’s “Animals”, my second favorite from
the album. It has so many memorable things about it and that “THEY SAY THEY
DON’T NEED MONEY...” part is just so great, that I can’t even describe it.
Overall, the album leaves damn good impression. Very good. I dunno, what can
I say in my final word, so I say this: “BUY THIS ALBUM!”
Any comments or reviews to grant us with?
This is, without doubt, one of the finest pop releases ever
appeared in this world that shows that this genre can be artsy and intelligent
as the whole prog movement. Howewer don't let the name 'pop' deceive you: this
album is not accessible as it seems. Ok, I don't want to use the overabused
phrase: "You need to time to let it grow in you", but... uhm, it's better to
expose my personal experience with this, maybe it could be a sort of guideline
for you in the case you don't know the album. At first listens it doesn't strike
me so much: ok, it's quite obvious it's hook-filled, starting from the decadent
and croon voice of David and arriving to the weird and intriguing use of synths
(I think that Eno did something more than producing the album... I can't avoid
thinking of some of his early works when I listen to "I Zimbra": the ethnic
feel and the african percussions reminds to me some of the rhythms you can find
on his Another Green World), but it's so damn equal and uniform. Never
boring, this album is miles from being boring, either it's often very catchy,
probably for the presence of some danceable disco-rhythms and good melodies,
but it's extremely uniform: each song is built with repetitive chords or synths
loop, they don't go past the structure verse+chorus, there aren't solos, they
use for the most the same keys and the same rhythms; only the vocal manages
to be quite diverse and each song features a unique element that makes it different
from the others (sometimes the synths loops, the overdubbed tapes, the micro-variations
of the distorsions, the weird sound of traditional guitars transformed by using
a frequency-modulator, the eletronic gimmicks in the background, the exquisiteness
of the sound textures)... the album isn't so uniform as it seems at first listen:
each song catchs you for different reasons. It's incredible also the way in
which the different sound textures slip one into another and perfectly lock
together. Their sound is something new and very original and for me it's much
more mature and self assured (maybe due to the integration of Eno with the rest
of the band... ok, he wasn't a band member but he has a musical-spritual link
with the leader David Byrne) than in More Songs About..., their previous
album. Ok, maybe it's too stylistically narrow to be called the greatest pop
album ever, but it's very much innovative and interesting.
No, the music wasn't the problem with this album for me; the problem for me
came from the lyrics: when I heard them for the first time I was very disappointed,
mainly because I find them very inadequate to the music. The lyrics (very well
written and intelligent) are about the problems of modern life such law, government,
pollution, drugs, religion, paranoic behaviours, "the lunatic" who "is in your
head" (note the Pink Floyd quotation), death... but how all those themes fit
with that insane, hysteric, nervous, insanely happy ringing which represents
most of the band's sound? Ok, some parts of the album are really gloomy and
dark (and "Animals", starting with the lyrics "... I'm mad and that's a fact...
" is really adequate to the music), according to the themes, but how to conciliate
the lyrics of "Life During Wartime" with its music? It's schizofrenic madness:
happy and desperate in the same moment! Analizing this album, I received an
important help from my dear pen-friend Francesco (BTW thank you very much!!!):
he told me to think not only to the words' meaning but also to the words' sound.
Hey, it works!Try to listen to "I Zimbra", a sourt of manifesto: the lyrics
mean absolutely nothing but their sound fit perfectly into the more strictly
musical texture. And the same can be applied to the other songs. But the lyrics
are far from being meaningless, it's only that their meaning it's a thing of
its own, it's not linked to the music, the lyrics and the music are linked only
for the "sound-sense", not for the meaning the word have in the common language.
And, if you are an astute reader, you can imagine the important of such thing:
the language, the thing that allows us to relate with reality, is a thing isolated
from that reality we think it can explain. And that reality (I think it's represented
by the music) it's chaotic, dominated by machine (think to the predominance
of eletrical and sophisticated devices used to create this album), paranoic,
non-sense and out of the men's control. Reality's inner sense is something we
can't reach, we use the language but the language can't touch the reality, it's
just a void and artificial structure. Another important feature of the album
is surely the fact that they analize the reality breaking it into little pieces...
the same they do with the music (maybe this is why "Drugs" sound so sparse and
weak... it isn't the worst song in the album as some reviewers say, either,
it's an interesting New Wave synth-pop experiment) ; cool, aint'it? You can
agree or not with this thesys, but it's a rare thing to find in rock music such
intelligent and deep phylosophical messages so, even if I stop here with the
conceptual analysis, give a try to this album.
Just a brief look at the single songs; my favourite is the slow and majestic
"Heaven", a nihilistic song about time and eternity, with wise lyrics ("Heaven
is a place where nothing happens [... ] when this kiss is over it will start
again / and it will not be any different, it will be exactly the same / it's
hard to imagine that nothing at all could be so exciting, could be so much fun").
Another highlight is the histerical and angry "Life During Wartime", or the
eletric-piano driven "Cities" with a mad vocal part in which David sings about
his frenetic search for a city "to live in". And how can I put apart the heavenly
"Air", the more smooth song here, thanks to the passional vocal delivering (the
female choruses "aaair... aaiiir" can be qualified only as heavenly); the other
songs are all good and catchy, expecially the pompous and grand "Memories Can't
Wait" and the steady "Paper". And there's no filler or weak tracks, a fantastic
and catchy groove after another!!!
Why not a 15 after all this praising?Well, this album didn't exactly start New
Wave (whatever it is), it's just an improvement over their previous More
Songs... , which is much more groundbreaking in this sense, it's too stylistically
narrow to be a 15 and for what the concept could be intelligent, it isn't wisely
developed as it will happen with Remain In Light. Howewer if you want
a charming and original pop album, full of wit and musical exquisiteness, get
this, you won't be disappointed.
Any comments or reviews to grate us with?
People usually say it's their finest album. I disagree (Fear
Of Music is my personal favourite), but I can’t deny that Remain In Light is
very solid. The first time I heard it, it was absolutely awful for me, but it
grew on me eventually. The album is fully controlled by David Byrne and Brian
Eno, and although all of the songs on here are credited to Talking Heads, I'm
pretty sure that David wrote all of the songs and Brian was the mastermind behind
all production and arranges. In fact, Byrne And Eno recorded an album called
My Mind In The Bush Of Ghosts before this actual Talking Heads release (although
the duo released it only in 1981), and many say that this was the album that
was a step right to Remain In Light. I dunno, I haven’t heard it yet.
The first side of the album contains the best Talking Heads material ever. It
is even better than anything from Fear of Music, and you know how I worship
Fear Of Music, so... Anyway, back to the first side. It is a great mix of funk
and... and something else. I don’t know what it is, actually. Must be some New
Wave, I guess. I call it “modern age funk”. But, anyway, it’s great. The songs
are built on the great vocal melodies set to the drums/guitars/bass/synth grooves
at the background. And it works fantastically. The opener, “Born Under Punches”,
is just crazy jam that goes on and on and on. Eno shines on here, as well as
that guitar player (Belew? Harrison? Byrne himself?). After a great Casio keyboard
solo from Eno the whole band begins to sing that “As the heat goes on” line.
Something African in this all, isn’t it?
“Crosseyed And Painless” is a great song too. Groovy, with clever effects Brian
makes in the middle part and totally hilarious rapping from David at the end.
Choruses sound somewhat comatose and boring too me, though, and that fact makes
song the weakest number on the first side.
“The Great Curve” has the band’s best vocal harmonies, and that’s the undeniable
fact. In fact, great vocals is the thing I love the song for. There are, kinda,
five or six different vocal melodies and many of them appear at the same time!
Awesome. Plus, Adrian Belew plays one of his greatest solos along with Zappa’s
“Rat Tomago” or King Crimson’s “Elephant Talk”. And the background is just crazy
groove with the awesome guitar riff.
“Once In A Lifetime” was a big hit, and it’s a fantastic song. The melody is
a total pop perfection and the song has a great mix of paranoid verses sung
by Byrne and totally crazy cheerful vocal harmonies in choruses. The choruses
are, in fact, my favourite Talking Heads moment ever. A total triumph of Byrne’s
songwriting. And have you noticed that synthesizer effect Eno plays in the verses,
imitating water flowing? That one is simply awesome too! Overall, “Once In A
Lifetime” is my favourite studio Talking Heads song ever.
But then comes the second side. Crazy “modern age funk” grooves disappear, and
old good New Wave rules the scene once again. “Houses In Motion” is damn good
song, with a catchy chorus (with the unforgettable Byrne wailing “I’m visiting
HOUSES IN MOOOOTIOOOOON!”) and strange, awesome atmosphere. The song could easily
fit Fear Of Music. “Listening Wind” is strange, mysterious and even can put
you in trance with the repetitive Byrne vocal and the synth background. A great
song, and the best number on the second side.
But however “Houses In Motion” and “Listening Wind” great are, nothing can save
two other songs on the second side – “Seen And Not Seen” and “The Overload”.
“The Overload” is an attempt in creating second “Drugs”, but it is even more
boring than “Drugs” and simply lacks any kind of melody. “Seen And Not Seen”
is just Byrne’s poem set to an absolutely awful background consisting of irritating
hand claps and boring synth noises. And he doesn’t even sing on here! He talks!
How can someone name Remain In Light the greatest album of all time if there
is “Seen And Not Seen” on here is beyond me.
OK, but apart from “Seen And Not Seen” and “The Overload”, all of the songs
are just wonderful. I thought this album was overrated and all that stuff, but,
I’ve eventually seen the light. This album is still not one of the greatest
albums ever (like many people in WRC say), but it’s still too damn solid to
miss it.
Any comments or reviews to grate us with?
It's late at night and I've just put on Remain In Light. Don't feel like dancing right now, so I try to concentrate on something other than that driving, jerky beat that almost kicks me out my chair. You know, the endless layers of instruments, Byrne's abrasive monologue, the sound effects. But it's useless. That song, "Born Under Punches", simply defies rational analysis. So just let me groove along till it ends. There. Not that the next one, "Crosseyed And Painless" is any less angular, creepy or hysterical, of course. Funny how David picks up here the role of a person prosecuted by a totalitarian government, whereas just a moment before he was apologizing for the use of violence as a politician. And yes, I did say "role"; his singing is truly theatrical and he can play the part of a neutral narrator, preacher ("Once In A Lifetime") or stone-cold computer on the verge of collapsing ("The Overload") with equal credibility. Sometimes I get the impression that "The Great Curve" is about death, but then I forget all about that, taken aback by those pumping keyboards and the completely ahead of the curve solo by talented sideman Adrian Belew. He must also have been around during the recording of "Listening Wind", since it outlines King Crimson's new sound almost in its entirety. It's stuff like this they were thinking of when did "Matte Kudasai" and "The Sheltering Sky", I tell you. "Once In A Lifetime" was the single, and I was pleasantly surprised to heard it on the radio a few days ago but, somehow, I find that chorus a bit... grating. Dunno why. And that's strange, providing that I enjoy all the other tracks. Yup, even "Seen And Not Seen", which has little going for it but the lyrics. What lyrics, though! They're bizarre, yet brilliant. Now, if Byrne had only set them to a melody... Both the veiled social critique of "Houses In Motion" and the drowning mess known as "The Overload" have some entertaining value so, despite its inconsistency, Remain In Light still gets the job done, and that's the only thing that matters.
Any comments or reviews to grate us with?
After taking a long break, Talking Heads finally gathered
together and recorded an album. And a good one, I must say. The New Wave stuff
is gone forever and the band became a pop band with some disco influences (mainly
in rhythms and drumming). Brian Eno left and the whole album sounds happy, upbeat
and cheerful, so don’t expect any of the early stuff weirdness. David Byrne
writes mostly nonesensical lyrics about burning houses and rocks from the moon
and sings it all with his strange, new-found voice (he would gone back to his
ordinary voice already on the next album); Jerry Harrison introduces a jerky
synth tone; Tina Weymouth still plays her funky bas and Chris Frantz drums like
disco star – LOUD and SIMPLE. That’s what this album sound like. No song even
tries to be different or something – the album sounds the same. The old good
Talking Heads problem is back and that sucks, because by the end of the whole
thing you become bored and tired of listening to the exactly same stuff with
minor changes.
But though the album is samey and boring, it has some great songs and some good
songs. The opener, “Burning Down The House”, is a catchy, fantastic song with
Chris doing something like drum solo by the end. The song is the band’s biggest
hit (the only one song of theirs that reached #1 in charts) and you probably
heard it on your radio million and million times. “Girlfriend Is Better” is
a great song too with damn good melody (how can’t be any melody based on verses
of “Life During Wartime” be bad, eh?) and simply excellent bouncy chorus. I
also like “Swamp” - an 80’s attempt in making gangster boogie and funky “Slippery
People”. “Moon Rocks” is also good with great electric piano in verses and simple,
but infectious melody.
All other songs are, however, a little bit dull. Maybe even deadly dull. Stuff
like “I Get Wild/Wild Gravity” or “This Must Be The Place (Native Melody)” is
well done, professional and boring. “Pull Up The Roots” is danceable, pretty,
but sounds forced and too commercial for my tastes. These songs lack any memorable
hooks, they lack anything. Maybe they are perfect technically, but I don’t care
– give me at least something interesting, good, melodic. You’re a pop band after
all, you MUST have hooks and infectious melodies to make your songs interesting.
You’re not a project made specially for intellectuals – you have a #1 hit, for
fuck’s sake!
The album is good. The album has its’ charm hidden somewhere in cheesy synthesizers
and robotic drums. But when more than half songs haven’t got anything interesting
for me, I can’t give it anything but than a 7.5. The album works well as a background
music, but don’t hope for a good, perfectly enjoyable listening. It’s More Songs
About Buildings And Food, Vol. 2.
Any comments or reviews to grate us with?
Stop Making Sense is the title of the concert movie the band
released in 1984. People love it and many say that it’s arguably the best concert
movie ever. I haven’t seen it, so I can’t complain. But, judging from this soundtrack,
the movie kicks fat and really good ass. In fact, this album must be one of
my favourite live albums EVER! The songs are changed, re-written, re-arranged;
the playing is tight and good; vocal energy is beyond imagination and the atmosphere
is simply wonderful.
So why the album is so good? Well, first of all, they brought all good stuff
from Speaking In Tongues (“Burning Down The House”, “Swamp”, “Slippery People”
and “Girlfriend Is Better”) and perform it with maximum level of energy. I especially
like the fast version of “Girlfriend Is Better”. Second, there is a great version
of David Byrne’s solo track “What A Day That Was”. A cool synth-popper with
infectious rhythm. A great song.
But the best are the oldies! They are re-done and they rule even more than their
studio versions! “Take Me To The River” is no longer boring – the energy is
beyond all control and the playing is wonderful. “Once In A Lifetime” has a
great long ending with smooth sound of synthesizers, and the band re-produces
those harmonies in the chorus really well. “Psycho Killer” is just David Byrne
with his acoustic guitar and drum machine. Simply awesome version. Maybe not
as energetic as the studio one, but still damn good. But my personal fave is
“Life During Wartime”. A humble synth-popper became anon-stop disco-pop a-la
Speaking In Tongues with brilliant keyboard solo thrown in and brilliant vocal
harmonies in the most famous Talking Heads chorus of all time.
All in all, this is my favourite Talking Heads album. Don’t miss it – it is
one of the best live albums of all time! By the way, the band has released two
more live albums (The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads and the new version
of Stop Making Sense), but I have never heard them. But I REALLY want to get
it.
Any comments or reviews to grate us with?
People say the release of this album was the moment Talking
Heads sold out. But people are dumb. Like Maynard James Keenan said, they sold
out before you even heard their names. After all, isn’t ’77 a pop album? Isn’t
it? Anyway, even if you don’t agree with me about that one, you MUST agree with
me that Speaking In Tongues is a product. So, Talking Heads sold out long ago
and Little Creatures isn’t their first pure pop album. But it’s certainly their
finest pure pop album.
You know why this album rules so much? Because the songs are catchy, imaginative,
have good melodies and nice hooks – in fact, everything you need from a great
pop album. The songs are nice and built on the same formula (nice verse + catchy
chorus = good song), but the album never bores, because all of the songs has
something different in them. The melodies aren’t Beatles quality or something,
but they are well done and good. Lyrics are simple but good, Byrne’s singing
is gentle... Oh, this album sounds pretty.
“And She Was” was a hit and it’s a damn good song. Little charming melody and
fantastic chorus. The song is about suicide, but it sounds cheerful and gentle.
Same goes for “The Lady Don’t Mind” – yet another pretty pop song about suicide
sung in happy tone. Did David Byrne try to bring back some elements of weirdness
into the Talking Heads “sell out” album or something? Well, he succeed on “Creatures
Of Love” – a dark tune about sex with lines like “I’ve seen sex and I think
it’s allright”. By the way, it may be my east favourite song on the album, but
it is still good.
You know, I have just realized I can’t say a lot about this album, simply because
the songs sound nice as hell and they all (guess what?) sound the same. I’d
better mention my favourites and leave. Well, there’s a six-minute epic “Television
Man” with cool melody and awesome drums/vocals section in the middle. “Walk
It Down” is pretty and that chorus is just genius. G-e-n-i-u-s. If you don’t
like it, go fuck yourself. Oh, and now my absolute favourite – the closing “Road
To Nowhere”. A gorgeous anthem, with unforgettable drums and organ and fantastic
hidden charm in these vocal harmonies. One of my favourite Talking Heads songs
ever, in fact. Maybe that’s because I’m too sentimental. Or maybe because that
song really touches.
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Definitely a step further for the Heads in their way to become a mainstream pop group, this time they ditched long running times ("Television Man" goes on for six minutes, but that's an exception) and atmospheric experiments completely, making way for snappy three minutes songs and eighties production values. In retrospect, that's the album's main weakness: instrumentally is monotonous, with the keyboards no longer creating dense layers of sound so they're now superfluous and the drums accentuating every damn 4/4 beat. The songs themselves, though, are kinda hard to put down; Byrne retains an unerring sense for writing irresistible hooks, as in the insanely catchy "And She Was", a sequel of sorts to "The Great Curve", and the best songs here stand proudly among the band's other work. That's the case of the oriental-verse-meets-driving-horn-propelled-chorus "The Lady Don't Mind" and the thoroughly excellent "Television Man", that always makes me dance compulsively. Elsewhere, there's a noticeable slip into mediocrity, but not a huge one. The nondescript "Give Me Back My Name" and the countrified title track "Creatures Of Love" are pleasant enough, while the closer "Road To Nowhere" daringly fuses gospel with zydeco, even if never quite gels. However, the obvious to the point of getting grating choruses (the excruciating "Stay Up Late", packed with a dumb arrangement) and the dangerously close to the lowest common denominator category lyrics ("Perfect World", "Walk It Down") make clear that the band was soon to run out of steam. But hey, an album as enjoyable as this one is nothing less than a small triumph, given the fact it came out at a time when creativity and good taste had been long forgotten. Just listen to Rod Stewart's Camouflage and you'll know what I mean.
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In 1986 Byrne released his first (and last) movie called True
Stories. That movie is weird, but cool, with some interesting moments and really
good acting. The soundtrack of movie featured various songs sung by artists,
but David Byrne decided to re-record them all with Talking Heads and he sung
on every track himself. That’s the story of how this album have seen its’ release.
People usually hate this album. Even hardcore fans absolutely despise it. And
you know why? Because this album consists of dorky 80’s pop songs and full of
80’s generic production. Maybe this kind of pop stuff is even poppier and cheesier
than Little Creatures, but the songs themselves are good! Yes, this album is
way too simple for weirdass like David Byrne, but “simple” doesn’t mean “bad”,
right? I mean, it’s 80’s pop! It must have hooks to rule! And this album has
hooks and that’s why it rules! Anyway, the album gets only 7.5 because of the
first side that is arguably the worst side Talking Heads ever done. It opens
with “Love For Sale” – a pretty decent rocker with cool riff and weird lyrics,
but it bores quickly. The following “Puzzlin’ Evidence” is simply the worst
Talking Songs ever. Rhythm doesn’t change for all 5:22 of the song, the gospel
choir is irritating beyond words and Byrne sounds cold, robotic and just stupid.
“Hey Now” is kinda good, I must admit, but it is really stupid. REALLY. Finally,
“Papa Legba” is six minutes of pure tuneless horror. You may like the African
feel of the song, but I do not.
But the second side is great! “Wild Wild Life” was a hit, and it’s surprisingly
a good song. It’s filled of cool synthesizers and that “It’s the wild wild life”
refrain is amazingly catchy. “Radio Head” (I’m not going to make a Radiohead
reference here, sorry) is just crazy and weird (eat that, you, who told me all
Talking Heads weirdness is gone on this album!) and good, with a fantastic chorus.
And then goes one of my Talking Heads songs ever – “Dream Operator”. It’s the
most gorgeous ballad David Byrne has ever written and, for some reason, it always
moves me to tears. The melody is wonderful and the chorus is simply breathtaking.
It easily could fit Little Creatures, if you ask me. But it’s good enough even
on this one. Really good.
“People Like Us” is a sentimental ode for middle-class people and “City Of Heaven”
is just gorgeous. The keyboard melody and the atmosphere of the song give me
impression of driving away from some American town at night, leaving it forever.
A great song. In fact, the whole ending ballad section (“Dream Operator”/”People
Like Us”/”City Of Dreams”) must be the most gorgeous thing Talking Heads ever
done, surpassing even “Heaven” or “Road To Nowhere”. Anyway, I’m too sentimental,
I repeat, so don’t expect objectivity from me when David Byrne write a great
touching ballad.
Ok, if you ask me, this album is really underrated. I can name to you worse
albums in Talking Heads career, actually. And True Stories is really good. It
has “Dream Operator”. And the cover is great. Makes me want to go to 1986 to
some old Texan city in USA.
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Wow. If you expected a damn bad pop album as a Talking Heads
swan song (the band disbaned in 1991, and they didn’t make an album after Naked),
you may go and tell yourself you’re uncool. Talking Heads are back to their
weirdness! They brought back their New Wave roots, mixed it with clever pop
stuff, got it tight and cool with African beats and released a really good album.
Fans bash it and critics hate it, but I really like it anyway.
The whole thing opens with two similar songs – “Blind” and “Mr. Jones”. Fantastic
pop melodies, African and Latin beats, awesome brass section and cool singing
from Byrne with strange lyrics that bring back the days of Remain In Light or
something. “Blind” is my personal favourite Talking Heads opener, by the way.
Yeah, even better than “Born Under Punches” or “Burning Down The House”. The
song just kicks everyone’s asses. “Totally Nude” is a perfect pop song – great
atmosphere, totally beautiful chorus and interesting lyrics about going back
to civilization’s roots. “Ruby Dear” isn’t very unmemorable, but the next song!
“(Nothing But) Flowers” is often proclaimed as one of the best Talking Heads
songs ever. I may agree. Cool African drums (one of the best Chris Frantz moments
ever) and nice vocal melody. Lyrics are some kind of counter point to “Totally
Nude” (“If this a paradise – I wish I had a lawnmower”). And that “You got it,
you go it” backing vocals are damn good thing!
The second side is kinda disappointment, though. Apart from funky and bouncy
“Mommy, Daddy You And I” and a terrific closer “Cool Water”, there’s nothing
to search. “Bill” is boring, “The Facts Of Life” is tuneless and “The Democratic
Circus” has too much weirdness in that guitar tone. But “Cool Water”... Man,
this must be my favourite Talking Heads song at the moment! Dark, slow and scary,
with the best David Byrne lyrics ever (ok, the best ones are in “Life During
Wartime”, but these are good too) and that African rhythm. And when Byrne goes
that “But the skin is the same as yours!” chorus, I’m in some musical nirvana.
The song really reminds me of Peter Gabriel, most notably of “The Family And
The Fishing Net”. Guess that was the song that gave Byrne some inspiration to
write “Cool Water”. But I might be wrong. It rules anyway, so fuck it all. And
fuck all critics who bash this album – it is made by six perfect pop songs.
Others don’t really give me some emotions, but these six are awesome! A really
cool swan song.
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