Talking Heads - Talking Heads Fear of Music (15 tracks) +Album Reviews

Classic TH album remastered but with poor authoring-doesn't

Wayne Klein | My Little Blue Window, USA | 08/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Fear of Music" is one of Talking Heads' best albums. This deluxe edition on the surface is a great way to hear the album. If you'll be listening to only the 5.1 side of the disc it will play just fine in computers and on DVD-Audio players. Conventional CD players may have a hard time recognizing the disc though. On the packaging it doesn't carry the compact disc logo. What that means is that the disc isn't blue book compatible and won't play in all players.

For example the CD portion wouldn't play on my computer. This made it impossible to listen to on my ipod (which is the primary way I listen to stuff on the road now). The 5.1 side plays just fine but you can't upload it to your iPod either. Why Warner didn't release this like this did overseas (1 remastered CD disc and the other a 5.1 remastered DVD-Audio disc) is beyond me. Certainly Dualdisc offers a lot of potential but many of these won't play on a lot of higher end CD players.

It's just something to be aware of when purchasing this. Rhino is not replacing the discs with remastered versions as they consider the problem to be minor. If you contact Dr. Rhino at Rhino's website they'll insist that you pay for shipping and handling when sending in the disc or you can try and return it to your local store or amazon.com. Until they work out all of the kinks with Dualdisc just be cautious.

"

The Talking Heads' dark masterpiece.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 02/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Conceivably the best album the Talking Heads ever recorded, "Fear of Music" is the band's second album in collaboration with producer Brian Eno, and it strikes a perfect balance between the strengths of the band and that of the producer. The album ended up being significantly darker than anything the band had done previously, the manic and somewhat paranoid content of the music on the previous albums takes on a claustrophobic feel, and yet amidst all of this, the structures are at times brighter and looser than anything the band had previously done.

In a way, it's opener "I Zimbra" that probably best illustrates this-- featuring a polyrhythmic stew, a circular (pre-80s Crimson) and incredibly complex interweaving guitar lick from guest Robert Fripp and a chanted in harmony vocal-- it's quite unlike anything the Talking Heads have ever done. It's also a work of complete musical genius.

What the piece does is add a sense of density to the music-- a sense that turns claustrophobic pretty much throughout, whether its the bizarre "Another Green World"-esque "Mind", the bubbling, chaotic and psychotic "Cities" or "Animals" (both of which feature rant-like vocals that end up providing extraordinary character to the pieces), or the murky and paranoid "Memories Can't Wait" (one of the real standouts on the album and maybe the darkest cut in the band's catalog) and fractured, black closer "Drugs", its the same band but its all different. Along the way, there's a couple interludes to this-- "Life During Wartime" has a dance rhythm but lyrically matches the rest of the record, "Heaven" offers a pool of serenity and calm admist the insanity-- the chorus tells us "Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens", and somehow this proves true for the piece-- it comes and goes and feels like it barely happened but leaves an impression.

This reissue is presented as a dualdisc-- both the CD side and 5.1 DVD audio side are remastered providing a much needed sonic upgrade. Additionally, the piece is augmented by bonus tracks on either side of the disc-- the CD side adds an incomplete demo from the sessions ("Dancing for Money") and three alternate takes-- the most exciting of which is an alternate of "Life During Wartime" with Fripp performing a frantic guitar line in the mix. The DVD side adds a pair of live video clips from a television broadcast.

"Fear of Music", in the end, is one of those endlessly powerful albums that bears rewards upon repeated listens. While it may not be representative of the Talking Heads as a whole, it is probably their best effort. Essential."

The 5.1 mix is great - almost like hearing it for the first

Bob Joseph | The Bronx | 07/20/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I bought 'Fear of Music' back in 1979 on LP when it was brand-new. It was like nothing I was into at the time (the Beatles, Queen, ELO, Yes, AM radio hits) -- you can say it was one of those albums that changed the direction of music for me (I had no such 'fear'!). At the time I was 12 years old, and only heard "Take Me to the River" from their previous album, and took a chance on FOM (after all it was only $4.99 at the time, the good old days of vinyl!) and was glad I did. From the opening of "I Zimbra" I knew I was in for something totally different from the standard rock I was into at the time - the funky rhythyms, the words in whatever language I didn't know (which reminded me of how at the time Queen's last album 'Jazz' opened up with "Mustapha" which was not sung in English - seems the Talking Heads decided to surprise and throw people off by doing the same, it worked) ... and from there the rest of the album was a winner with every track. Tracks like "Paper" and "Electric Guitar" with that great nervous, paranoid voice of David Byrne and unusual arrangements the likes of which I never heard in rock before (this is years before Radiohead -- hmmm....a track from the 'True Stories' album...that will come later!) ... the hit "Life During Wartime" which made me think and dance at the same time. Remember, 1979 was in the midst of disco, punk, and new wave all attempting to push aside the old guard of classic rock -- and somehow LDW managed to be all of that in one song (sort of the way the Cars' first album blended all of that, the other great 'new wave' band of the time). Overall 'Fear of Music' became my favorite Talking Heads album, although 'Remain in Light' stands at a close second. Having now heard the 5.1 surround sound mix of the album, it is like hearing it for the first time -- it is that good and that worth investing in the DualDisc. Just for the mix of "Drugs" it's worth getting, "Memories Can't Wait" also. You will hear the album as you never could before (the regular CD side is good too, a sonic improvement over the long-availabe Sire release which was in need of an upgrade). About the only downer about the DualDisc is that I was not able to play the CD side in the my Mac Mini - seems that slot-loading players would have problems playing the disc, and in my case, only the DVD side played (just as well, that's the side I most want to play anyway)."

What is happening to my skin?

Scott Bresinger | New York, USA | 06/28/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Talking Heads were, at the time of this album's original release, the hippest band in New York. The types of people who today champion bands like Animal Collective (groan...) and Gang Gang Dance (yay!) were wetting themselves over the Heads in '79-'80. I myself was too young to experience this first hand, but thanks to the magic of record stores I discovered that yes, David Byrne & co. were worth all the fuss after all. Now, thanks to the newfangled magic of dualdisc, a whole new generation can hear for themselves where today's hip bands were inspired by.

"Fear of Music" is arguably not the Heads' greatest album, but it's still my personal favorite (not coincidentally, it's also the first one I heard). While it's decidedly darker than their previous albums, it's still full of the quirky humor and quirkier rhythms that brought them earlier acclaim. FOM goes further and deeper, though. Thanks in part to producer Brian Eno* and a simple desire to experiment, the album introduces non-western music into the mix. The African rhythms inspired by Fela Kuti are all over opener "I Zimbra" like herpes on Paris Hilton's nether regions. The lyrics to that song, mistakenly thought by many to be in some sort of African dialect (pig Swahili, maybe?) are actually an old Dadaist nonsense poem. Though the African music would definitely become an integral part of the Heads' sound, it wasn't until "Remain In Light" when they really took over. As for FOM, the album marked a much greater use of synths and other weird noises. The lyrics, though for the most part no different in tone than previous efforts, definitely were a bit darker. Paranoia abounds: In Byrne's satirical world view, we should be wary of everything from "Animals" ("to trust in them/a big mistake") to "Air" ("what is happening to my skin?/Where is that protection that I needed?/Air can hurt you too"). The apex of all this is the classic, CBGB-referencing "Life During Wartime," in which the speaker seems to be trapped in the death throes of civilization itself ("The sound of gunfire, off in the distance/I'm getting used to it now"). This song was also the closest the band had come at that time to actual funk, though like everything they did, it was a funk of their own devising.

The dualdisc edition, in my opinion, is absolute aces. Some grouches may complain about the 5.1 surround mix, but I think it stays true to Eno and the band's vision for the album. Heck, it's even more claustrophobic now! Also, you have the option to listen to the album in it's original mix, albeit remastered, on the audio side as well as the DVD side. The DVD also offers a pair of cool video clips: "I Zimbra" and "Cities" performed live on a German Television show from the early eighties (the appearance was to promote "Remain In Light," and more songs from the show can be found on the dualdisc version of that album). Check out Jerry Harrison rocking a yellow shirt/red pants combination--truly, the 80's were a different time!

I will complain, although only a little bit, about the packaging. While I have no problem with Digipaks, in fact I sort of prefer them, in this case it's a step down from the vinyl edition I bought all those years ago. the cross-stitch pattern on that was raised and textured, and on the CD it's just flat, which in my opinion defeats the point. The digipak could have just as easily preserved this, so they kind of dropped the ball here. The vinyl version also included a lyric sheet; the CD booklet, though it has pictures of David Byrne's notebook from the time, omits them. Of course, that's what the internet is for, other than porn. Again, these are just little nit-picks. Taken as a whole, "Fear Of Music" is not only as good as ever, but now it may be even a little better.

*also be sure to check out the Byrne/Eno collaborative side project, "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts." It's more experimental and plays with all sorts of African and Arabic music, not to mention heavy use of tape loops that probably influenced what others would soon start doing with samplers. Not coincidentally, this has also been recently reissued, though not on dualdisc."

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