Talking Heads - Little Creatures
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Free Music Notes for Little Creatures
Free Music Review: Pure pop perfection.
Hit: 5 Stars
A long-time favourite of mine, "Little Creatures" is, and probably will remain, for me the finest slice of pure pop ever made. Though many would criticise the Talking Heads for doing away with much of the experimentation evident on their previous three studio albums ("Fear Of Music", "Remain In Light" and "Speaking In Tongues"), this stripping back allowed David Byrne's unque lyrical wit and great intelligence to come to the fore. Never before or since has pure pop been delivered with such hyperintelligent lyrics and sheer directness.In addition, the sound quality was a big improvement on previous Talking Heads CDs - especially with "Speaking In Tongues", digital remastering of those is long overdue.
The opener "And She Was", a brilliantly-written tale of a woman who lost her way through drug problems, set the tone - reducing most of the instrumentation of "Stop Making Sense", Byrne was able to produce accessible music that always surprises the listener - like almost all great musicians. The gentle "Give Me Back My Name" and "Creatures Of Love" show David Byrne examining the paradoxes of life and human existence, and always questioning what most people find seemingly obvious ("Doctor, doctor, tell me what I am" being typical). "Lady Don't Mind" was a wonderful romantic tale in which Byrne always surprises the listener with his inability to describe a lover.
"Perfect World" and "Stay Up Late" moved a little toward the funky rhythms of previos albums, and Byrne was effortless once more in his tales of everyday family life, especially on the latter song, which was and remains the most wonderful description of a young child ever committed to disc. "Walk It Down" and "Television Man" took Byrne's lyrical genuis into much more serious terrain, and moved into even harder rhythms, with Chris Frantz rock-steady all though. "Road To Nowhere", the final song on the album, was less brittle but showed Byrne's wonderful sense of irony even more than the previous efforts, resulting in another worthy hit single.
"Little Creatures" has been scarcely ever rivalled as a slice of pure pop. A recording that one can listen to easily over and over without becoming tired, and a unique combination of accessibility and intelligence.
Free Music Review: Come along and take this road to nowhere
Hit: 5 Stars
Little Creatures is one of my all-time favorite CDs. I know a lot of Talking Heads fans consider this album a little too pop-oriented, but I love every song on here. This is particularly good music to sing along with, yet it still has plenty of quintessential David Byrne vocal sounds to distinguish it from non-Talking Heads music. I still hear And She Was on the radio from time to time, proving its longevity as a quirky, fun track, but for some unexplainable reason, nobody ever seems to play Road to Nowhere anymore. That was really the song that made me a TH fan, and I'll never forget the video with David Byrne running nonstop in the corner the whole time. Stay Up Late is another cool song that got some air play in its day; it's not a song you would want your babysitter to listen to while she is at your house, but it's just a typically fun, unique Talking Heads song. All of the remaining songs are almost as good as the single releases. Give Me Back My Name, The Lady Don't Mind, Perfect World, and Walk It Down aren't spectacular, but they are quite enjoyable. I especially love the chorus of The Lady Don't Mind, and the last verse of Perfect World features vintage David Byrne vocals. Television Man comes closest to the earlier, more traditionally untraditional Talking Heads sound, and it features a great stretch of David Byrne vocal gymnastics. As enjoyable as all of these songs are, though, none compare to the song Little Creatures. It has a great flow to it, with interesting lyrics, and it shows how talented a singer David Byrne really is. The entire album has a fullness and flow that most albums just do not have; I never skip any of the tracks when I play this CD. This group's forehead-slapping music is great, but sometimes it is nice just to relax to calmer music such as this disc offers. Clocking in at just under forty minutes in length, Little Creatures is not terribly long, especially by today's standards, but it is enjoyable from start to finish. Some TH fans might consider this album a musical road to nowhere by this eclectic band, but in my opinion Little Creatures proves that the journey is often times the best part of the trip.
Free Music Review: Little Creatures Staying Up Late
Hit: 5 Stars
I was always intrigued by Talking Heads, although I admit to listening to them only sporadically from their debut in '77 to their demise in '88 (or was it '91). Don't ask me why, except that maybe I'm almost exactly David Byrne's own age, and my favorite groups will always and inevitably the bands who were just a tad older than me and could be kinda-sorta role models. Or maybe I was just jealous, the Heads were doing the kind of Post-Pop-Art pop that I would have like to have invented meself had I the vision and the chops. Or if I had just started off with this album. This is the stripped down, lean and somewhat mean Talking Heads that some fans apparently prefer and others find musically listless (after all those polyrhythms and stuff on the albums immediately prior). But as a starting point, I can't think of better. The skewed lyrics with their willed and willful naivete just amuse me to no end. The band is pretty much JUST the band, no guest artists with their own histories, cultures and agendas (NOT meant in a bad way).
It seemed like every British band to emerge in the 60s and 70s were art school refugees, but the Talking Heads were the only US art school alums I can think of who formed a successful rock band. They probably had just enough of that training to be drawn to the new and the innovative, but not enough to get them all hung up on some weird theory of what r'n'r should be.
So they could create albums like this with not a bad or stultifyingly pretentious tune on it.
I just have this feeling that had I been 17 when they came out (not 25) and more or less the person I was and am, well, by gum, they'd probably have been my all time favorite group.
Free Music Review: The Talking Heads Between Pop and Punk
Hit: 5 Stars
"Little Creatures" is one of my favorite Talking Heads CD, not because it's so much better than the others, but because it is so different. Its catchy melodies and lyrics edge the group closer to a pop sound than the punk roots that gave us "Psycho Killer" and "The Book I Read." The hilarious inanity of earlier albums is downplayed here for a more mature, though hardly serious, take on life. It addresses the lives of their fans as they grew older with the Heads--having children, jobs, and lives that still did not make complete sense. "Creatures of Love" has a twang reminiscent of country western music, but with Byrne singing, it becomes mournful; the lyrics talk of having children: "Little creature of love/With two arms and two legs/From a moment of passion/Now they cover the bed." The catchy "Stay Up Late," a song about two kids who want desperately to wake up their baby sibling to "make him stay up all night," portrays exactly the opposite of what parents would want. "The Road to Nowhere" begins with the melodic strains of a chorus, then shifts into an electronic beat as the Heads reflect on lives that are not quite working out. This CD is a must-have for all Talking Heads fan, even those who prefer the New Wave and African-influenced albums. -- Debbie Lee WesselmannFree Music Review: Talking Heads go pop -- good!
Hit: 5 Stars
I adore Remain In Light, enjoy Speaking In Tongues, love Psycho Killer. But LITTLE CREATURES is my favourite Heads album. I know many Heads' fans don't, because LC doesn't sound like anything else they ever did. It's melodic, bouncy, bright and optimistic. Little Creatures is like the Velvets' LOADED, a pop record made by an avant-rock band.Reportedly, David Byrne was in love (with Adelle Lutz) when he composed these tunes. That's evident from the get-go. And She Was kicks off the album on a note of joy and energy, not dark brooding like Burning Down The House. From there, the record detours into kids & family (Creatures of Love, Stay Up Late) and more love (the wonderful The Lady Don't Mind).
The hooks are catchy and the harmonies are delicious. Further, every song moves. You can dance to this. There's no filler. The sequencing is smart -- the record is assembled like one unified piece.
LITTLE CREATURES isn't everyone's cup of tea, but who says a band has to sound the same on every album?