asente@Cascade.ARPA (07/06/85)
One thing Talking Heads isn't is predictable. The newest album,
"Little Creatures", is a departure from "Speaking in Tongues" in almost
every way.
A little history, first, to put this in perspective.
The first two albums were musically very lean. Outside contributions
were kept to a minimum. Along with the influence of Brian Eno came
more elaborate arrangements, more musicians, and more obscure lyrics.
African rhythms and unusual percussion became staples of the music.
When Eno was (I understand) dumped, the result was "Speaking in
Tongues", which cut back a lot on the outside contributions while
keeping the African influences. "Speaking in Tongues" also ended with
the song "Naive Melody", a fairly simple love song that presented love
as an alternative to the usual themes of oppressive society and
alienation.
The musical style of "Little Creatures" is a lot closer to "Talking
Heads 77" and "More Songs about Buildings and Food" than it is to
anything that came after them. The arrangements are simple with almost
no extra musicians and nary an African rhythm in sight (sound?). Even
the lyrics make more sense while still being far from simplistic. And
the promise of "Naive Melody" is realized throughout the entire album.
One might even suspect that David Byrne is in love.
While themes of oppression and alienation are still present, especially
in "Television Man", but the feeling is much more optimistic and
cheerful. "Creatures of Love" is a country-western song complete with
steel guitar about conceiving babies. In "Perfect World" the singer
concedes that his girlfriend's rosy view of the world may be more true
than his own. The road to nowhere described in the song by the same
title is viewed more as a place to get lost with someone you love than
as the dead-end I originally thought the song referred to.
Final rating: *** (out of ****) if you prefer early Talking Heads to
recent, **1/2 if you don't.
-paul asente
asente@Cascade.ARPA decwrl!Glacier!Cascade!asente
"From the sleep of reason
A life is born.
We are creatures of love,
we are creatures of love."jeff@dciem.UUCP (Jeff Richardson) (07/12/85)
> One thing Talking Heads isn't is predictable. The newest album, > "Little Creatures", is a departure from "Speaking in Tongues" in almost > every way. > .... > The musical style of "Little Creatures" is a lot closer to "Talking > Heads 77" and "More Songs about Buildings and Food" than it is to > anything that came after them. > .... > Final rating: *** (out of ****) if you prefer early Talking Heads to > recent, **1/2 if you don't. While I agree mostly with the review quoted above, it could be a little misleading. It's true that it is probably more like "77" and "Buildings And Food" than anything that came after them, but: 1. It's still very different from "77" and "Buildings And Food", and 2. You don't have to like "77" and "Buildings And Food" to like "Little Creatures". Let me explain: "Speaking In Tongues" started a trend back toward the leaner sound of their earlier work, and "Little Creatures" goes much further in that direction, but instead of being just a regression to their earlier style, it's also a PROgression because traces of their "Remain In Light" to "Speaking In Tongues" period remain, and new influences (like country) are added. So although the basic framework of the music is close to their early work, it's definitely not an album that could have been done right after "More Songs About Buildings And Food" or "Fear Of Music". It might not make much sense to call it regressive and progressive at the same time, but that's exactly my impression of it. And now for a little history about what kind of Talking Heads fan I am: "Remain In Light" is by far my favourite Talking Heads album, and my second favourite is Jerry Harrison's solo album "The Red And The Black", which is more Remain In Light-like than any other Talking Heads album is. I think their first two albums are not bad, but I don't think they're all that great either (although I recognise their great historical importance and how original and revolutionary they were at the time). I doubt that I would replace them if they got stolen or something. I was disappointed with "Speaking In Tongues" because I saw it as a departure from something I liked toward something that I didn't really like, and it didn't seem to be breaking any new ground. After listening to "Little Creatures" a couple of times, I felt pretty much the same way, and that it was an even further slide into mediocrity. I even thought to myself that Talking Heads may have been a one album band, and that I'll never buy another one of their albums. HOWEVER, after giving "Little Creatures" a few more plays, I'm more able to judge it independently rather than by comparing it with their earlier work, and I find that the more I play it, the more I like it. Now I think it's great, and I'm glad they went the direction they did. After all, if I want to listen to music in the style of "Remain In Light", I can listen to "Remain In Light" or "The Red And The Black". "Little Creatures" is something new and different, and it's great too. -- Jeff Richardson, DCIEM, Toronto (416) 635-2073 {linus,ihnp4,uw-beaver,floyd}!utcsri!dciem!jeff {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!dciem!jeff