Fear of Music

Talking Heads - Fear of Music

Fear of Music
List Price: $11.98
Our Price: $6.97
You Save: $5.01 (42%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $4.16 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases
Listen soundtracks from this album



(Click here)
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store

Music CD Cover

Artist: Talking Heads
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1990-10-25
Music Label: Warner Bros / Wea
Soundtracks:
  1. I Zimbra
  2. Mind
  3. Paper
  4. Cities
  5. Life During Wartime
  6. Memories Can't Wait
  7. Air
  8. Heaven
  9. Animals
  10. Electric Guitar
  11. Drugs

Free Music Notes for Fear of Music

Free Music Review: Something from nothing at all
Hit: 5 Stars

A brief survey of the musical landscape from about 1963 until the present yields the following results:

1. There are a lot of people who write and perform songs that are about nothing;
2. There are some people who write and perform songs that are about something;
3. There are precious few people who can write songs that are essentially about nothing and in constructing and performing them, turn them into songs that are about something.

David Byrne's unique genius, as far as I can tell, is his ability to slot himself (with band in tow) into the third category. Now perhaps this isn't quite a fair, accurate assessment of his body of work, because in a sense the songs he wrote during this period are indeed about something, in fact they are about a lot of things. But the jumble of ideas is essentially nonlinear, and the stories these songs tell are more in the performance and arrangement of ideas than via a standard narrative. This was something almost unprecedented for the "pop" music world, and I think this album was where it reached its apex for Byrne and co.

On songs like "Air," "Animals," and "Drugs," for example, it's hard to determine what the message is. But the way these songs are performed is gripping and provides them a weight you'd never suspect from a cursory read through the lyrics. Take for example the absurdist lyrics to "Air":

Air...Air
Hit me in the face
I run faster
Faster into the air
(I say to myself)
What is happening to my skin?
Where is that protection that I needed?
Air can hurt you too
Air can hurt you too
Some people say not to worry about the air
Some people never had experience with...

Air...Air
It can break your heart
So remember when the weather gets rough
(You'll say to yourself)
What is happening to my skin?
Where is that protection that I needed?
Air can hurt you too
Air can hurt you too
Some people say not to worry about the air
Some people don't know s*** about the...
Air...

Ok what the - ? But give this a listen, Byrne's lyrics channeled through his one-of-a-kind high-pitched vocal performance and set against a tight, edgy guitar-driven white-boy funk workout. The paranoia and claustrophobia are virtually palpable. It's as if the air is pursuing, attacking the narrator. Or perhaps the narrator is only perceiving this to be the case? Is the danger all in the paranoid's head? Or is it real? The song offers no resolution.

This album is varied as well, some lyrics almost telling something of a semi-linear story ("Life During Wartime") or making a point about everyday existence ("Heaven"). The common theme is the examination of small things, details in our lives that we might miss if we weren't careful to pay attention to them. "I got some groceries, some peanut butter, to last a couple of days," intones Byrne about halfway into "Life During Wartime," and it's easy to believe that this mundanity would be of significant concern to a man hiding out in a building during a war. On "Animals," Byrne scolds non-human creatures for "living on nuts and berries," setting a "bad example" for the rest of us. I like to think of this as a statement of supreme irony (after all, the animals are surviving quite well but look at humanity!), however the lyric leaves a lot to the listener's imagination. It takes a mind like Byrne's to think of concepts like that, and enjoy it or not it does provoke a reaction from most people. That's art. The very definition.

The album is also a relentlessly edgy, herky-jerky tight funk workout which remains one-of-a-kind no matter how many other bands try to emulate it. If it weren't so overtly weird, it might even play well as a party record. I was born two years after its release so I have no idea how it was received by the public at the time. Honestly, compared to a lot of new wave stuff from that era, it's really not that extreme in some ways. A matter of context I suppose.

In sum, this is a brilliant work and holds up just as well now as it ever did. I love all of the music that this band created, through their final few (poppier) albums, but this one remains the most striking to me. A rare moment in history where depth of performance and attention to compositional detail transformed abstraction into something concrete and tanglible.

Fear of Music Poster

This disc represents the bridge between Talking Heads' first two herky-jerkier albums and the next two funky ones. Fear of Music is more than just a bridge, though. It's the water under the bridge, the air, the animals, the cities the river flows through, and the heaven on top of it all: "...a place where nothing ever happens." Plenty happens here, however. The CD starts out with its feet off the ground and both arms in the air: "I Zimbra" is all-out celebration. The rest of the songs are pretty much exercises in simplicity: one-word titles with music to match. (Witness the lightness of "Air," the trippiness of "Drugs," the "ooga"-ness of "Animals.") David Byrne's artful naivet? ("Hold the paper up to the light/Some rays pass right through"), coupled with the whole band's musical playfulness (for example, the tuba on "Electric Guitar"), makes for fun fun fun. --Dan Leone
This disc represents the bridge between Talking Heads' first two herky-jerkier albums and the next two funky ones. Includes the song's 'I Zimbra', 'Memories Can't Wait' and comes with a bonus DVD (PAL Region 0). *Please note the you will need an ALL Code DVD player to view. Rhino. 2005.

Alternative Rock Music CDs

Music Genres
Top music charts in Your Taste in Music isnt good Unless it Includes These Bands!!
Push the Button ImageThe Chemical Brothers - Push the Button
Release date: 2005-01-25; Music CD
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops: $18.98
Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon ImageDevendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon
Release date: 2007-09-25; Music CD
Best price: $10.07
Price in other shops: $14.98
La For?t ImageXiu Xiu - La For?t
Release date: 2005-07-12; Music CD
Best price: $5.75
Price in other shops: $15.98
MACHINA/The Machines of God ImageThe Smashing Pumpkins - MACHINA/ The Machines of God
Release date: 2000-02-29; Music CD
Best price: $7.41
Price in other shops: $17.98
Reframe ImageRabbit Junk - Reframe
Release date: 2008-06-24; Published: 2006; Music CD
Best price: $9.86
Price in other shops: $14.98
Frances the Mute ImageThe Mars Volta - Frances the Mute
Release date: 2005-03-01; Music CD
Best price: $5.79
Price in other shops: $13.98
Acrobatic Tenement ImageAt the Drive In - Acrobatic Tenement
Release date: 2004-11-09; Music CD
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops: $11.98
Relationship of Command ImageAt the Drive In - Relationship of Command
Release date: 2004-11-09; Music CD
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops: $11.98
Danse Macabre ImageThe Faint - Danse Macabre
Release date: 2001-08-21; Music CD
Best price: $7.75
Price in other shops: $11.98
Era Vulgaris ImageQueens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
Release date: 2007-06-12; Music CD
Best price: $6.11
Price in other shops: $13.98
Top Rated Albums
Stop Making Sense: Special New Edition (1984 Film) ImageTalking Heads - Stop Making Sense: Special New Edition (1984 Film)
Release date: 1999-09-07; Music CD
Best price: $11.29
Price in other shops: $18.98
Stop Making Sense ImageStop Making Sense
Release date: 1999-10-26; DVD
Best price: $18.52
Price in other shops: $29.98
Naked ImageTalking Heads - Naked
Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $4.54
Price in other shops: $11.98
True Stories ImageTalking Heads - True Stories
Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $5.86
Price in other shops: $11.98
The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads ImageTalking Heads - The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads
Release date: 2004-08-17; Music CD
Best price: $9.02
Price in other shops: $24.98
Little Creatures ImageTalking Heads - Little Creatures
Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops: $11.98
Speaking in Tongues ImageTalking Heads - Speaking in Tongues
Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $7.13
Price in other shops: $11.98
Talking Heads: 77 ImageTalking Heads - Talking Heads: 77
Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $7.61
Price in other shops: $11.98
More Songs About Buildings and Food ImageTalking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food
Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $7.64
Price in other shops: $11.98
Remain in Light ImageTalking Heads - Remain in Light
Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $6.95
Price in other shops: $11.98
Compare prices and find music notes for more than one million Music CD titles