in praise of ... the talking heads, fear of music

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of all of the classic early talking heads rekkids, this one alone does not have its own thread. let's remedy that ... it's really quite good!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Saturday, 27 November 2004 00:41 (twenty-one years ago)

i like the song titles.

― cutty (mcutt), Saturday, 27 November 2004 00:43 (twenty-one years ago)

the obvious classics i will not discuss right now. though others may if they want.

destroy: "animals." hands down the worst thing they ever recorded. i never really came to appreciate fear of music b/c of this song, b/c when it came on (right after the great "heaven," i would always switch it off). which point leads me into ...

sleeper track: "drugs" (it's the last track, and two after aforementioned "animals"). eno and byrne anticipating felt (via "working in a coalmine")! not to mention that pulsing beat w/ demonically shimmering keyboards.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Saturday, 27 November 2004 00:44 (twenty-one years ago)

(add "drugs" to my list of "songs that MUST be sampled but probably never will.")

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Saturday, 27 November 2004 00:46 (twenty-one years ago)

my destroy track (if required) would be "Electric Guitar." It's my favorite T-heads album. "Mind" sounds like the Neptunes! David Byrne foresees Homer Simpson on "Drugs"!

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 27 November 2004 00:47 (twenty-one years ago)

What the... I was listening to this in my car today, right up until about 3 minutes ago as a matter of fact. Great album. Actually, I like "Animals" for some reason I can't put my finger on.

― sleep (sleep), Saturday, 27 November 2004 00:50 (twenty-one years ago)

ALL early talking heads lyrics anticipate homer simpson, miccio! that's why they're great!!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Saturday, 27 November 2004 00:50 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.niu.edu/pubaffairs/nnow/summer02/images/dan.jpg http://www.andyfreeberg.com/photos_mus/david_byrne.jpg

― cutty (mcutt), Saturday, 27 November 2004 01:00 (twenty-one years ago)

"Life During Wartime" is EASILY their finest hour. My fave album of theirs as well.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 27 November 2004 01:25 (twenty-one years ago)

"Animals" is so over-the-top and energetic I can't resist it. I used to feel the same way as you, but I listened to the album for the first time after what must have been almost a year, and that's the one track that stuck out at me "wtf where did that come from." The live version from the new reish of The Name of This Band... is incredible, I think everyone agrees. Great coda.

― Sonny, Ah!!1 (Sonny A.), Saturday, 27 November 2004 01:32 (twenty-one years ago)

This album spans the entire range of the human experience. It would be perfect if it weren't for one song: I Zimbra. Barf and a half. Luckily, you can just start the CD on track 2 and not worry about having to get up and skip it -- whereas "It ain't easy" is number 5 on Ziggy and totally breaks the mood.

― Klamm, Saturday, 27 November 2004 03:08 (twenty-one years ago)

. It would be perfect if it weren't for one song: I Zimbra. Barf and a half.

You're insane.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 27 November 2004 03:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I Zimbra is one of the most brilliant things they ever did! Though it doesn't quite fit the album. Maybe it should have been a single or something.

xpost

― Sonny, Ah!!1 (Sonny A.), Saturday, 27 November 2004 03:10 (twenty-one years ago)

(add "drugs" to my list of "songs that MUST be sampled but probably never will.")

It actually WAS sampled, by some long-lost mid-'90s techno group called Salt Tank. (I think it might be their track "Eugina", but Google isn't helping much.)

― MC Transmaniacon (natepatrin), Saturday, 27 November 2004 03:18 (twenty-one years ago)

"Animals" is brilliant. He's paranoid jealous of ANIMALS. He thinks they're laughing at him. COME ON. The track's good, too.

― Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Saturday, 27 November 2004 03:19 (twenty-one years ago)

OK, the Salt Tank track is called "Charged Up" and it uses a sample from "Drugs", sparsely but effectively.

― MC Transmaniacon (natepatrin), Saturday, 27 November 2004 08:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I was just thinking about listening to this. Easily my favourite TH LP.

Its all great, but surely this is where we start giving some love to "Air" and "Cities" too? Poptastic but still almost as paranoid as "Animals" (which is certainly brilliant, yep).

― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Saturday, 27 November 2004 09:54 (twenty-one years ago)

"Air" is brilliant, yes indeedy.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 27 November 2004 10:00 (twenty-one years ago)

"Memories Can't Wait" is the best track. The change in tempo and atmosphere when Byrne sings "Everything is very quiet" that carries thru to the close is totally epic.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Saturday, 27 November 2004 10:05 (twenty-one years ago)

if there's one to toss, i agree with miccio that it's "electric guitar". but i don't really mind it being there. i think i prefer RIL, but i feel FoM's still got mysteries to solve.

― m. (mitchlnw), Saturday, 27 November 2004 10:09 (twenty-one years ago)

in case my logic wasn't clear, re: homer and "Drugs," it was in reference to how all David sees...is little D'oh! (d'oh! d'oh! d'oh! do'h! d'oh!)

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 27 November 2004 10:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Great LP sleeve design; I think I actually prefer it to the limited-edition Rauschenberg 'Speaking in Tongues.' I believe it won a Grammy. They were on a doggone roll with album covers, no?

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Saturday, 27 November 2004 10:44 (twenty-one years ago)

'Cities' sounds awesome in a club to this day.

― Neil Kulkarni, Saturday, 27 November 2004 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I never liked "Drugs" until hearing the version on disc 2 of The Name of This Band reissue.

aside from maybe "Memories Can't Wait", my favorite is "Paper". that's a great song for starting mixtapes.

― Al (sitcom), Saturday, 27 November 2004 15:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Ranked:
1. Memories Can't Wait
2. Drugs
3. Heaven
4. Air
5. I Zimbra
6. Mind
7. Paper
8. Animals
9. Life During Wartime
10. Cities
11. Electric Guitar

― I Am Curious (George) (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 27 November 2004 18:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Mind
Heaven
Cities
Drugs
Life During Wartime
Air
Animals
Memories Can't Wait
I Zimbra
Paper
Electric Guitar

This is such a great album.

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 27 November 2004 20:27 (twenty-one years ago)

"Cities" is my fave. Nothing else even touches it, though "I Zimbra" and "Mind" are goddamn electric. The recorded version of "Air" is fine, but yeah, that version on the live record fucking destroys.

― Brevity, Sunday, 28 November 2004 20:57 (twenty-one years ago)

I never liked "Drugs" until hearing it on drugs

― Sonny, Ah!!1 (Sonny A.), Sunday, 28 November 2004 22:07 (twenty-one years ago)

What would Alanis say about that?

― %#, Sunday, 28 November 2004 22:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Weird coincidence: I randomly went to www.fearofmusic.com the other day before I saw this thread, for no conscious reason, and the only thing there was this Anne Coulter [sic] Anti-Dem quote on a black bg.

― bill neil (inabillity), Sunday, 28 November 2004 22:19 (twenty-one years ago)

That is most odd. And pathetic.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 28 November 2004 22:40 (twenty-one years ago)

...don't know if it's fact,but i always felt "I Zimbra" was a blueprint for 'my life in the bush of ghosts'.

― william (william), Sunday, 28 November 2004 23:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Total gateway album for me. It was the first really strange new wave album I ever bought. I was 13, and had already heard the Police, Elvis Costello and Squeeze (I think). I didn't know what to make of the LP - at 13, how could I have known about Eno's solo albums, Hugo Ball, or the other highbrow influences therein? - but there was something addictive there that made me keep listening. I'm certain that Fear of Music prepared me for Red Krayola, Essential Logic, Wire's 154, etc.

― mike a, Monday, 29 November 2004 14:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Has David Byrne even *been* to London?

― piscesboy, Monday, 29 November 2004 15:41 (twenty-one years ago)

A bit late, but re: I Zimbra = Barf+half: It would have been great on Remain in Light, but it just seems orphaned on FoM. To me, the songs of FoM have an emotional continuity, like they're all part of the same story. Starting FoM with I Zimbra is like starting Village Green Pres. Soc. with Apeman.

― Klamm, Monday, 29 November 2004 22:03 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

this album is the jam.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 19:51 (twenty years ago)

"I Zimbra is one of the most brilliant things they ever did! Though it doesn't quite fit the album. Maybe it should have been a single"

It was! When I got it home I was a bit shocked by what it sounded like, but then, I was just a lad. As an old git I still think it's th strangest choice for a single.

Great album too - probably my favourite Talking Heads record.

― everything, Wednesday, 29 March 2006 20:05 (twenty years ago)

Huh, I just bought this the other day -- haven't really delved into it yet, though I know "Cities" and (obv) "Life During Wartime," so I have a feeling it's gonna be good.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 20:09 (twenty years ago)

This record blew my mind in 9th grade. All those corny "this record changed my life" articles and columns...this would probably be mine.

The live version of Memories Can't Wait from The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads is actually superior to studio version.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 20:11 (twenty years ago)

Listen over and over to "Mind" and "Paper," jay.

The final mix of this and Bowie's Lodger is almost identical: cruncy, without a bottom. It works for FOM, not so sure about Lodger.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 20:13 (twenty years ago)

paper is so amazing...i love this album.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 20:15 (twenty years ago)

*crunchy

(xpost to myself)

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 20:18 (twenty years ago)

when i first heard this album i didn't like it! i was 16 and more used to the more rockbandish-sounding arrangements on stop making sense! fear of music sounded too... artificial or something.

what a fool was i

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 20:19 (twenty years ago)

memories can't wait gives me serious chills

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 30 March 2006 17:56 (twenty years ago)

THERE'S A PARTY IN S1OCKI'S MIND
AND I HOPE IT NEVER STOPS

― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 30 March 2006 18:05 (twenty years ago)

the last bit, you know what i mean? rocks my clock

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 30 March 2006 18:44 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, the end of that is my favorite TH moment!

― sleeve (sleeve), Thursday, 30 March 2006 19:50 (twenty years ago)

This record is almost as good as the Postal Service. Very close.

― Confounded (Confounded), Thursday, 30 March 2006 21:30 (twenty years ago)

that supposed to be funny or something?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 30 March 2006 21:32 (twenty years ago)

"I Zimbra" does belong there though. It tells you not to get distractored by the lyrics. It tells you that animals won't help. It rowche rumbles along like a motherfucker. It works like the theme of a fugue that's going to get pulled apart over the next 40 minutes but slowly, like.

― Robocock (noodle vague), Thursday, 30 March 2006 21:36 (twenty years ago)

Great stuff. Best Talking Heads album IMO, although "Songs About Buildings And Food" is also great.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 31 March 2006 15:38 (twenty years ago)

four months pass...

the remaster of this is staggering, makes it a very different listen. it's odd readjusting.

― a rapper singing about hos and bitches and money (Enrique), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 08:06 (nineteen years ago)

in what way?

― Baaderonixx: the lost ILX years (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 08:55 (nineteen years ago)

yeah i dunno, i'm entirely not an audiphile -- but it would seem to come down to some no doubt cliched properties like:

- punchiness
- clarity
- detail

the vox seem more prominent, which i'm a bit more dubious about.

― a rapper singing about hos and bitches and money (Enrique), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 08:59 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

I never get sick of this record, ever.
The extreme dance-worthiness of "Cities" keeps whacking me in the face, and the way you can almost hear him gritting his teeth through the last lines.

― Z S, Wednesday, 13 February 2008 00:58 (eighteen years ago)

My favorite Talking Heads record

― stephen, Wednesday, 13 February 2008 01:00 (eighteen years ago)

such a good record. i'm with enrique on that remastering job too (all those TH remasters sounded good).

the 5.1 mix of 'drugs' on the DVD is pretty bonkers.

i prefer the version of 'heaven' off the live album, it has a lurching drunk bar-band quality to it.

― haitch, Wednesday, 13 February 2008 01:18 (eighteen years ago)

I need that remaster.

― sleeve, Wednesday, 13 February 2008 03:10 (eighteen years ago)

two years pass...

finally hearing these expanded remasters .... damn, this record sounds great. and the outtakes are fab too. The noise skronk on the alt "life during wartime"! yow. i'd love it if there was like a miles davis-style "Sessions" box set for this record and remain in light, with all the jams.

― tylerw, Thursday, 18 November 2010 18:10 (fifteen years ago)

the outtakes from Remain in Light are really interesting

― you can sub out "bipartisan solutions" for "some of my dick" (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 18 November 2010 18:28 (fifteen years ago)

yeah i just heard the alt takes this week too

― my sex drew back into itself tight and dry (abanana), Thursday, 18 November 2010 18:38 (fifteen years ago)

one year passes...

LA Review of Books has some great content about Fear of Music (in relation to Lethem's new 33 1/3 book)
In-depth review: http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?id=587
Podcast w/ Lethem (interviewed by Andy Zax, who produced all the recent Talking Heads reishes): http://lareviewofbooks.org/media.php?media=183&r_article=597
I've ordered the book -- looking forward to it!

― tylerw, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 16:41 (fourteen years ago)

did they ever remaster the talking heads catalog?

cuz i have an original vinyl and the old-school crappy looking CD and maaaan it's a different beast on vinyl

― l0u1s j0rdan (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 16:46 (fourteen years ago)

The guitars on the chorus of 'Paper' are some of my all-time favorite guitars.

(Yes, they remastered these shits.)

― bit.ly sno cone maker (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 16:48 (fourteen years ago)

yeah, the big box set that came out a few years back had all the albums remastered + bonus tracks/videos (available separately too). the sound is positively amazing.

― tylerw, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 16:48 (fourteen years ago)

six months pass...

Hmmm... This is a weird one. I don't feel it's overall as strong as More Buildings, although the highs are very high. It contains some of my favourite TH songs: Air, Cities, Animals, Life During Wartime. And some of my least favourites: ~~It's A Kind Of Magic~~Heaven. Too many mumbly half-songs that kind of meander in a hookless, freeform way - I'm not keen on this style Memories Can Wait, Mind, Paper etc. The latter tunes, were it not for Eno's presence feel like a step back. So it's a real hotchpotch as far as I'm concerned and it doesn't really hang together as well as the other records in their catalogue.

― make like a steak and beef (dog latin), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 15:49 (thirteen years ago)

speaking of 'cities', this just came up on random and, er...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBALsBMxkzc

― kfb, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 16:12 (thirteen years ago)

I don't feel it's overall as strong as More Buildings

Crazy talk imo, but then I don't like More Songs much. Some of the funniest song lyrics ever are on this album.

― Named locally as Tom D (Tom D.), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 16:37 (thirteen years ago)

eight months pass...

Mmm green vinyl! http://www.newburycomics.com/rel/v2_home.php?storenr=103&deptnr=652

http://slyvinyl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/TalkingHeadsRecord1.jpg

― piscesx, Friday, 2 August 2013 04:46 (twelve years ago)

two years pass...

man what happens at the end of Life During Wartime that they had to fade it out like that, always wondered.

― Οὖτις, Monday, 11 July 2016 22:46 (nine years ago)

IIRC, Byrne said they did it to create the illusion the song could go on forever. Hence, the additional verse in the liners (which they did perform live).

― Now I Know How Joan of Arcadia Felt (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 11 July 2016 22:54 (nine years ago)

two years pass...

5.1 downmix turns a electric guitars from a song i didnt care much about into a fucking great piece to me. It then turns drugs into a song a couldnt identify/recall at first because byrne’s delivery is now extra compelling with just the fx levels, and the voiceovers and guitar adds... damn i love the 5.1s.

― Hunt3r, Sunday, 5 August 2018 04:43 (seven years ago)

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