Feb 16 2021
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5
Similarly to what I've said about other artists, I feel that David Byrne is being very true to himself in his music. I don't know if he could do any differently. And that is a great benefit to us all because he is such a unique thinker and performer. We're so lucky that Talking Heads came into existence alongside/inside the punk scene in NYC where there was a great shift happening in music. Almost like a new opening being torn that they were able slide through among the chaos. They don't fit the stereotypes of a punk band but they were defiantly themselves and I think that's the bravest and most difficult thing you can do as an artist and you have to respect that. To me Talking Heads is one of the finest examples of a band that is able to walk a line between pop music and experimentation with grace and style. I identify with the music of Talking Heads/David Byrne more deeply than I do with most music. He chooses subject matter and emotions and ways of expressing them that are staring us in the face all the time but somehow we don't recognize them as something that would be able to constitute a song. One of his many incredible gifts. He had the perfect band to support him and the perfect producer at the controls in Eno here.
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Oct 19 2021
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4
A spooked ostrich in a house of mirrors.
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Jan 15 2021
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1
Difficult to listen to sober.
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Apr 06 2021
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5
Fabulous album. My brother had this on vinyl back in the day. When I bought my first car I figured its CD Player needed a friend so I bought F of M on CD. In retrospect it’s quite amazing how creative this is. How could a group led by a pasty white boy make Zimbra? There must have been something in the water at Mud Club?
Life During Wartime is a classic. I recently thought Taking Heads (or perhaps Weird Al) should remake it as Life During COVID. “Have sanitizer, some toilet paper to last a couple of days. But I got no face mask, ain’t got no haircut, ain’t got CERB from CRA.” This trips off the tongue quite easily.
Unlike Side 1, there are a couple of mediocre songs on side 2 but not so much to move it off a 5
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Jan 14 2021
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5
Sexy, weird, nerdy, wobbly but stunningly beautiful. This album is timeless but also a beautiful representation of the fusion intelligent music can bring.
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Feb 10 2021
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2
Never really felt the need to listen to some Talking Heads deep tracks. I feel justified in that now.
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Apr 25 2021
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5
"This white boy can freak it!" - Brian Eno
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Jan 26 2021
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2
Seems like this is the Talking Heads album you’d pick if you didn’t want to like or recognise any of the songs.
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Nov 29 2021
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5
Album to become unhinged to
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May 03 2021
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5
Every Heads record back in this period sounds like a complete different band, and it's amazing they caught mainstream success. Wish I could have seen them live once. Basically you'll have equal numbers of people saying this, "Remain in Light," and "Little Creatures" is their best album, but 2/3rds of them are wrong. This is the one, just because coming out in 1979 it doesn't really fit with punk, disco, new wave or rock, but yet it does.
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Dec 25 2020
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5
Best talking heads album!
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Mar 12 2024
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3
When the Talking Heads formula works, it's funky, weird and uplifting. The latter half of this album fails to capture that for me. A lot of the melodies seem to be all over the place. It screams for more structure to reign in the fun and crazy rhythms. The tones on this are fantastic though. You can feel TH's searching for their sound and getting a little lost. I would recommend heading straight to their next album.
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Jan 13 2023
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4
David Byrne is one of those artists who people are going to lose their collective shit over when he dies. Obviously he's adored and lauded (not many other pop stars could pull off what he did on Broadway with American Utopia), but the outpouring of hosannas thrown at him when he goes to his great reward will rival those bestowed on Bowie and Prince when they passed. It's like that old Bill Murray joke from Stripes about Tito Puente: "Tito Puente's gonna be dead, and you're gonna say, 'Oh, I've been listening to him for years, and I think he's fabulous.'" And part of that reassessment will include over-praising this album, which isn't as complete as their follow up, the brilliant "Remain In Light". The key issue I have with this album is that the songs here that are included in "Stop Making Sense" sound MUCH better during that concert. But you could pretty much say the same thing about all of the songs performed during "Stop Making Sense", which will go down as perhaps the greatest concert film of all-time. And maybe that's Byrne's true legacy. "Stop Making Sense" is, as Pauline Kael stated at the time, close to perfection. Byrne knew how to perform his songs live better than anyone could produce on record. And Kael got it somewhat wrong in regards to "Stop Making Sense". The versions of Heaven and Life During Wartime in that concert film aren't just close to perfection. They're downright perfect.
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Nov 19 2022
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4
Another classic Brian Eno record, this time featuring Talking Heads.
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Oct 03 2021
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5
10/10
why didn’t I start listening to these guys sooner?!
this album is FUCKING AWESOME!
definitely gonna check out this bands other stuff.
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Mar 12 2024
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3
Strange experience: I kept waiting for "Life During Wartime" to turn into "Psycho Killer" haha. Classic Talking Heads album. Fully of catchy bops, and I don't even particularly like this band.
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Feb 25 2025
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5
I'm looking forward to reading the reviews of people who gave this fewer than five stars, because I wonder what it was like discovering this record from some source other than growing up with an older sibling who owned it and played it a lot? Surely able to listen to it more objectively than I can.
I can't help but think about the tween who fantasized about one day being old enough to to find my own city to live in, and who was shocked by the idea of heaven being a place where nothing ever happens, and who was truly terrified by the sound effects on "Drugs" (confession: when I was home alone, I would usually pick up the needle after "Electric Guitar" because like The Beatles' "For The Benefit of Mr Kite" and Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" and Jimi Hendrix's "Are You Experienced?" this tune scared the shit out of me and even though if you asked me I would tell you that I didn't believe in the devil, deep down I was pretty sure that playing one of these songs at the wrong time could open the gates of hell and summon a demon right into our living room. In any event, certainly not worth the risk.).
If you asked me which Talking Heads studio album was my favorite, I would likely say either '77 or Remain in Light. However, upon reflection, this one somehow pulls off a wild balancing act of sounds that are experimental and yet catchy, paired with lyrics that are somehow weird and also relatable.
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Aug 15 2024
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5
How does one conjure up a fear of music? Is it the air that we breathe? The drugs we take? The animals we walk amongst and consume each day? The paper that informs us of the daily happenings in our lives? Is it something that could change our mind? A way to justify finding a city to live in? Whatever it is, Talking Heads seemed to have a good grasp on the feeling. On their third album, and first in a fabled and contentious collaboration with Brian Eno, Talking Heads increasingly eek themselves out of their latent punk roots and roam across a little more global soundscape whilst keeping their toes in firmly experimental waters. As the 70s drew to a close and the 80s began to burst, it was proper time for the band to come to light and remain there for us to see and examine their influence and their fear of music was a means to get there.
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May 19 2022
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5
This ain't no party
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Mar 26 2022
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5
This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no foolin' around. This is just another awesome Talking Heads record.
It might be my third or fourth favorite Talking Heads record depending on the day but it's still a great time.
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Feb 07 2022
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5
I think it's their best album.
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Feb 03 2022
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5
Great! I didn't know this album from Talking Heads, but I loved it!!
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Nov 09 2021
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5
It's Talking Heads. It's one of 3 consecutive masterpieces. (Though, here's a fun little tidbit about me, it's my least favorite of the 3 consecutive masterpieces!)
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May 12 2021
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5
Each track is able to invoke a certain kind of strangeness in my imagination that is controlled just as equally between the lyrics, the vocals, and the melody. The latter of which due to Eno's excellent production work that compliments Byrne's style.
"I Zimbra" is a great opener that gives us a taste into the type of experimentalism we're dealing with. But it is "Mind" that establishes this constant anxiety and desperation in the protagonist. Someone who is helpless to change his lover's mind. Someone frantically looking a place in the city. Someone obsesses with some urban unrest. Someone stuck living in the highlights of his past. Someone at the mercy of air itself.
Each song's lyrics and music builds up to an increasing level of disorder. And then we reach "Heaven" to calm us down in self-reflection. But not for long as we jump into what I find to be the strangest track, "Animals." Not sure if there's something deeper going on due to how much the lyrics seem to only be applicable to literal animals, but it reflects a severe level of psychosis bringing about the kind of absurd level of anxiety we saw in "Air". The next track "Electric Guitar" is probably my least favorite but I really enjoy that scifi atmosphere. I found the last track interesting as the instrumental opening puts us into this trip sequence. The protagonist tries explaining what he sees, but he's so far out of it he can only make out few details.
My personal favorite is "Mind", but I found all the first side to be most imaginative. It makes me excited to give a deeper look at their other albums.
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Feb 21 2021
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5
Great album for chilling
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Jul 09 2021
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5
David Byrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrn
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Jan 17 2021
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5
I had heard some talking heads tracks before but never sat and properly listened to them till now. I love the lead singers atonal wails, and each track on the album paints a landscape of a dreary industrial area with an unusual element to keep me interested. Favourite track is either air or the dancing for money outtake. I’m not sure why they never finished dancing for money with proper lyrics because it felt almost finished but it made me smile to see the creative process raw like that
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Jan 13 2021
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5
Are ass to this
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Mar 15 2021
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4
Groundbreaking album by Talking Heads. Fear Of Music is spectacular art, giving foreshadow to the diverse creativity that David Byrne expanded into the 80z and beyond.
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Sep 17 2024
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3
No songs on here that I recognised but they’re always an interesting band to listen to. Didn’t find this as memorable as some of their other stuff though
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Nov 09 2024
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2
He somehow has an English punk voice but the music is not punk? And simultaneously kind of boring.
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Apr 02 2024
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2
I like the majority of the background music, the chord progressions, and the musicianship. The voice and the melodies don’t do much for me. Pretty cool music….but also, not. Not a real fan. Not sure they deserve all of the accolades they get. More like a weirdo leading a band without a ton to offer. Not for me.
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Sep 02 2022
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2
It's funny to listen back and realize what was considered 'good' music back then. Repetitive, off-key, monotonous vocals; Clangy but cheesy guitar riffs. To be fair, it's still better than the over-produced, auto-tuned garbage that we are forced to listen to today.
Stand out tracks: Drugs, Life During Wartime.
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Oct 09 2024
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1
Two reviews ago, during my 532nd review, I wrote a little statement about it finally "clicking" for me and how I only just now understood the reason for all of these albums having been included on the list, even the ones I did not personally like and I was able to understand the cultural impact that some albums have had on musical culture as a whole.
I rescind my statement. Since that far gone time (yesterday evening) I have listened to yet two more albums on this list of 1001 albums you MUST hear before you die. Those albums were *Bringing It All Back Home' by Bob Dylan and this album that I am reviewing right now. I no longer understand why any of these two horrendous albums are on any list of albums someone ought to have heard according to the music critics and authors of the book(s). I only now realize that it was specifically Elvis Presley that I could understand the cultural importance of; almost all of the other worthless albums on this long list of sonic torture carry no importance and are only there because the author heard these albums once upon a time at a friend's brother's girlfriend's nephew's party that he had attended at the time and the memory of ingesting his first shot of alcohol (4,2% ABV Coors Lite) and getting "totally wicked!!" during the 80s imprinted the names of these groups and their songs into his mind.
For my review of this album in particular, the only song I kind of "liked" (very loosely stated) was the one where they weren't trying to sing properly, which somehow made it the most well-sung
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Dec 10 2023
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1
Definitely not for me – one of my least favorites I’ve listened to and really lacked any charm. The songs all carried an awful weird energy, and even when I switched to the remastered version and it was mixed way better and less empty-feeling, it still felt like it would be bland regardless of what mood I could be in or drug I could be on. All I could picture was the frontman trying to bring this real kooky energy to a standstill crowd while some geezers play some boring ass music in the back. I’d find it really hard to believe people think they pulled off something interesting or worthwhile; there’s so little in terms of redeeming qualities, besides giving me so many ways to describe how much I didn’t like it and don’t want to hear it again.
0.5/10
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Nov 29 2023
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1
when talking heads works it works really well. when talking heads doesn't work it is the most annoying music on the planet. this is an entire album where it doesn't work.
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Mar 10 2025
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5
Better than Remain in Light!
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Mar 04 2025
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5
My head also speaks. 5
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Mar 03 2025
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5
STR8 FYRE!! I loved this!! Specifically I love the band. They sound so good together.
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Mar 03 2025
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5
I really really enjoyed this. The mixing and the bass on this are insane. Great songs great album flow. This was amazing.
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Mar 03 2025
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5
Another excellent album by Talking Heads. Though, if they have a bad one, I've never heard it.
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Feb 27 2025
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5
Exceptional
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Feb 26 2025
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5
Absolute gem of an album! Love this one front to back.
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Feb 25 2025
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5
Great album--love Heaven, I Zimbra (how many times have I danced to that?), Life During Wartime, Electric Guitar, well, basically, it's all terrific. I still prefer Remain in Light as the best Talking Heads album, but this might have the best songs.... so good.
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Feb 24 2025
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5
Love this album. It’s funky and groovy and way ahead of its time, as the Talking Heads were. I never delved this deep into their stuff before but I’m glad I did.
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Feb 24 2025
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5
Enjoyed more on average than Songs about Buildings and Food, also includes one of my favourite songs from the group. Really not sure what to say. I feel that the band is just going to be a love it/hate it deal for most people that mostly comes down to your feelings on David Byrne's vocal style & delivery
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Feb 24 2025
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5
The type of album where you listen through once and it's not all that impressive but hey it was only 20 minutes. So I may as well give it another spin.
Finish it again, hey may as well give it another spin.
Then you've realised you've been listening to it all day and the album is over 40 minutes
10/10
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Feb 24 2025
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5
I found it difficult to rate this album since it contains two of my top five favourite Talking Heads songs, it also contains some deep cuts that are enjoyable enough but aren't particularly memorable. Except Mind, that one is memorable but not in a particularly good way. Another issue with this album is that the songs I do like on here are better performed on Stop Making Sense.
Having said all of that, the songs on here that I consider to be GREAT are lumped in with songs that I would call GOOD. It is better to interpret Talking Heads as the musical output of an art collective rather than a band. And unlike CERTAIN art collectives who make 'albums' (Throbbing Gristle), this shit actually rocks.
I was umming and ahhing over whether to score this a 4 or a 5, but then Drugs came on and I remembered my favourite video of my cat Charlie (the queen of my world) has her thousand yard staring the camera to this song. So for personal reasons I am giving this a 5.
Special shoutout to Animals for sounding exactly what I think it must sound like in the head of the guy who yells at me on the bus sometimes.
Also the guy who played congas on I Zimbra is named Gene Wilder. Not the same person as the actor.
Highlights: I Zimbra, Cities, Life During Wartime, Heaven, Drugs
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Feb 22 2025
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5
Hot Dang!!
I forgot how good this was- it just drills into your psyche and sits there shivering and twitching.
A restless eclectic Post-Modernist masterpiece before such things existed.
So many ideas, so fast, mind.....can't....cope........
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Feb 20 2025
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5
it took me a while and multiple tries, but i finally get this album and love it as much as i love other talking heads projects. it proves that the best way to convey the doom of modern living is not through drudgy gloomy sounds, but through perky synths and syncopated groovy beats. it makes the case that one wouldn't want to trade the hellish present for the promise of a better afterlife, because nothing happens there.
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Feb 17 2025
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5
Thoughts before listening: One of the best bands of all time...with one of their best albums.
Review: I like that this era of the Talking Heads has a punk vibe but is incorporating so many different sounds. There's a lot of funkiness going on here that makes this very unique. This album probably isn't as good as Remain in Light, but man there are some killer songs on here: "I Zimbra", "Cities", "Heaven", and of course "Life During Wartime" rank amongst the band's best. 5-stars
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Feb 17 2025
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5
Talking Heads never made a single bad album
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Feb 17 2025
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5
Talking Heads get 5 stars cause they're amazing.
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Feb 16 2025
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5
Great album
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Feb 14 2025
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5
Some great songs, some that I didn't enjoy as much. Good overall.
Talking Heads always sounds like something 10-20 years later than it is.
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Feb 12 2025
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5
Psycho Killer was the first song I had listened to by the Talking Heads. A stone cold classic introduction.
Fear of Music was the first album I had listened to and was/is the album I compare all other Talking Heads records to (and David Byrne’s solo albums).
This was my favourite album of theirs for years and I listened to it all the time! It’s playful, experimental and I can hear its influence on just about every post-post-post punk album.
What’s immediately striking and tantalizing is David Byrne’s lyrics and vocals and quirkiness. And the whole band is in good form - they were one of the most funky, fun, unique of all the punk/post punk/new wave bands. And to top it off, Brian Eno produces! (I’m a huge fan of 70’s era Eno and love hearing his audio prowess all over this!)
Revisiting this album, I still love it - I enjoy its quirkiness and simplicity; I relish in it’s surprisingly dark and ominous sounds. It’s an album of its time but it gloriously captures that time to perfection and makes me wish I was there, at CBGB’s, watching, dancing to and singing songs by a band called Talking Heads!!
Every track is a little gem. My Favourite Songs? (I pretty much love them all!):
Cities
Life During Wartimes
Heaven
Animals
Drugs
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Feb 11 2025
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5
This was great, as have been all of the Talking Heads music I've ever heard. David Byrne is really just an amazing songwriting and musical talent, and his voice is just so unmistakably him, but his backing band is also great and this album really shows off how versatile they really all are as musicians. I listened to this twice -- five stars.
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Feb 11 2025
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5
A band that only gets better with each passing year with an album that I have come to appreciate all the more. The next album is full on existential crisis. This one acknowledges things are changing. Still a bounty of raw energy but much more controlled and focused than past albums. Great lyrics and rhythms abound. Classic.
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Feb 05 2025
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5
The ravings of a madman
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Jan 31 2025
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5
This has always been my favorite Talking Heads album.
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Jan 25 2025
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5
shortest 40 minutes ever tbh.................the kind of balance of jarring chaos and sharp hyper-rigidity that can be made by many people but only perfected by The Autistics. ive not heard remain in light in a long while, and its a record im v attached to as one of my single most important gateways into music, but ive grown increasingly attached to this record's jaggedy, splattery vignettes, all of which feel so vivid and distinct and mesmerizing. the potency of this record is as such that it has at least once song i can barely listen to without crying (heaven) and at least one song i can barely listen to without cackling (animals), and theyre right next to eachother! it would take a full talking heads dive to completely confidentially solidify this as my fave record of theirs, but its certainly the one id be most excited to listen to at any random time
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Jan 20 2025
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5
One of the best by one of the best. I like most of Talking Heads, but this is absolutely at the top of a phenomenal catalogue.
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Jan 18 2025
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5
Love talking heads, great songs all around
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Jan 17 2025
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5
This is great; Talking Heads have really hit their stride by this point. Side B not quite as strong as side A, but still an overall 5. (Also; another Eno win; I think my average score for albums he's been involved with is close to 5)
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Jan 13 2025
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5
Don't need to be reminded to listen to Fear of Music.
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Jan 11 2025
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5
i dont know how they do it, i dont know what their diet is, i dont know who the people in this band are, ive never met them, but talking heads is just consistently bewildering
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Jan 07 2025
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5
Epic 1980's big-brain new wave music. Very quirky and nerdy in the best way possible.
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Jan 07 2025
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5
This one has grown on me so much recently. For some reason it always used to be one of my least favourite Talking Heads albums, but now I would say that it's almost as good as Remain In Light.
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Jan 05 2025
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5
Amazing
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Jan 05 2025
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5
Great
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Jan 03 2025
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5
Sigma
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Jan 03 2025
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5
Um pretty good. I really like the talking heads though
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Dec 30 2024
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5
It's always an interesting listen with the Talking Heads. While Life During Wartime is the most well known song from this album, I especially like Cities, Air and Heaven.
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Dec 21 2024
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5
The Talking Heads have never made a less than 5 star album. If the highest rating was 3 stars then you borrow the next 2 stars from the following album. Unless that album is Pet Sounds.
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Dec 20 2024
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5
My favorite Heads album! Really love the jittery, nervous energy all over this album. It's crazy to think this feels like a band firing on all cylinders, only to make another huge creative jump just the next year with Remain in Light. Maybe it's knowing they were on that precipice is what makes me enjoy this album so much.
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Dec 20 2024
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5
5/5 -
Have I heard of this album before? No
Do I like post-punk? Heck yes
Fear of music is a somewhat older album (released 1979) yet still sounds so modern. The vocals and lyrics sound so raw and powerful. The rhythm section is a sound foundation in this band upon which great songs are written.
"I need something to change your mind"
Well this album changed me, will definitely return to it.
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Dec 16 2024
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5
Talking Heads and Brian Eno <3
Favorite tracks are Mind, Cities, and Memories Can't Wait
Don't have anything bad to say about this
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Dec 16 2024
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5
Unique music. Very well written very well performed. I forgot how early the Talking Heads came out. I always think of them as an 80s bands, but they came out in the 70s.
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Dec 09 2024
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5
Almost perfect except Animals
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Dec 07 2024
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5
Forgot how many bangers are on this one! Not the number 1 TH album for me..but not number last as well
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Dec 06 2024
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5
Two talking heads albums in one week? On track for my favorite week on the generator yet. Another great one from the Talking Heads. Especially love Life During Wartime. One of the records I listened to the bonus material from the deluxe edition.
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Dec 03 2024
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5
9/10
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Dec 03 2024
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5
I vividly remember when this came out I initially thought it was weird, since it was so different from their first 2 more pop albums. It was ant first off-putting, but it steadily grew on me and is now perhaps my favorite album of theirs. Great guitar work throughout, and while I’m not exactly sure what Brian Eno’s “treatments” contributions are, I bet the album would sound different without them.
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Nov 29 2024
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5
❤️❤️
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Nov 27 2024
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5
Awesome
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Nov 22 2024
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5
Eno rules
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Nov 12 2024
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5
nice one
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Nov 11 2024
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5
No notes. A brilliant album and work of art. Mind and Air are 2 of my favorite songs of all time.
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Nov 04 2024
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5
Exceptional album! Talking Heads never disappoints.
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Nov 04 2024
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5
I Zimbra is such a fantastic groove, veering into a joyous Crimsonesque jam that always ALWAYS makes me happier than when I put it on.
Mind - clever, astute, amusing, paradoxically minimal and complex. Building on the annoyance of confusion, the guitar breakdown at the end solves nothing but is somehow incredibly helpful.
Paper is the epitome of Talking Heads funkiness. The verse part, with the little spoken stream of consciousness double meaning anxiety invoking lyrics - "hold on to that paper, there just might be a chance that it MIGHT work out!"
Cities is embedded in my skull (almost typed 'school' just now). What does it say that I often wake up in the middle of the night with this running in my head. Look aver there, dry ice factory, good place to get some thinking done. A guitar solo like no other. This song speaks to me so hard for reasons I just can't explain. "Forgot to mention Memphis, home of Elvis and the Ancient Greeks. Do I smell, do I smell home cooking? It's only the river, it's only the river."
We start seeing the source of the anxiety, which the scratchy funk is an expression of. Find myself a city to live in. I got three passports, a couple of visas, don't even know my real name.
Being in the Talking Heads is alienating. Life During Wartime is a metaphor for touring, which Cities is a kind of preface. You can almost take it literally. Also SO DANCEABLE I'M LOSING MY MIND.
Flip it over to side two. Don't get too far into your own head.
Ahh, too late, Memories Can't Wait. Listen to the Living Colour version of this, it will change your life. Whatever this party is, I just want to go home. "Other people can go home. Other people can split. I can never quit." So heavy, dude. But it's a solid idea that I'm not hearing from anyone else, I wish I could love this end part more but that wouldn't be possible.
The chorus of Air haunts me daily as well. "Some people never had experience with (Air)" sung with the airiest of vocals... so perfect. It's perfect. I don't know how but it is. And another ripping solo at the end, heavy Talking Heads is just so satisfying. A little anger, feels good to get it off your chest possibly.
Heaven is not my favorite thing, but still so clever and the band hits it so perfectly. Nothing ever happens, this feels like a little joke, and it's pretty funny. In heaven, everyone leaves your party at exactly the same time. This is something David Byrne fantasizes about, a place where something isn't happening, where he is in the moment, kissing someone again. Contrast! Nothing is exciting. It's hard to imagine that nothing at all could be so exciting, could be this much fun.
Animals. My favorite song.
Animals think
They understand
Trusting them
a big mistake
Animals want
to change my life
I will ignore
Animals advice...
absolute genius, the best of the earlier Talking Heads. Don't even know what a JOKE is.
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Oct 29 2024
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5
Arty, experimental, funky, punky, neurotic and amazing.
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Oct 28 2024
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5
I was always scared of listening to Talking Heads albums cause I thought they'd be too weird but I keep being proven wrong. This is another great, fun album and the core of Cities - Life During Wartime is incredible
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Oct 25 2024
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5
One of the greatest albums of all time, for a long time!
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Oct 24 2024
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5
Talking Heads & Eno, de meesters van de 'weird grooves'. Want anders kun je het niet omschrijven. Elke song heeft z'n eigen onorthodoxe schwung, die eerst ongemakkelijk is, maar je al snel hypnotiseert op het ritme van Byrne's heupen. En waar die groove echt gigantisch in your face is op - wellicht hun beste album - 'Remain in Light' - plant 'Fear Of Music' eerst een zaadje in je oor die pas later na meerdere luisterbeurten opbloeit tot een aanstekelijke, funky en vooral eigenzinnige bloem. Waar z'n opvolger sterk voortborduurt op Afrobeat en High Life genres, is dit veel meer geworteld in de spooky en curieuze ritmes uit de Krautrock scene. 'I Zimbra' vindt een tussenweg, en slaat dus de brug tussen de twee. Maar bijvoorbeeld 'Animals', 'Air' en het geweldige 'Mind' zijn zo vreemd, en tekent de band als artistiek buitenbeentje in een tijd waar op muziekvlak zoveel gebeurde dat het moeilijk was om echt een buitenbeentje te zijn. Maar TH lukt het toch, door die unieke positie als hoogstvreemde, grensverleggende kunstgroep met de aantrekkingskracht van een mainstream pop band. En ik denk dat dit album die tweestrijd het best laat zien.
Het dualisme gaat verder dan dat. Op deze plaat is er telkens een strijd gaande tussen 'donker' en 'licht'. Veel songs hebben de gloomy energie van een doorgewinterde post-punk/goth band, maar zelfs een paranoïde meesterwerk als 'Memories Can't Wait' laat altijd even de zon achter de wolken vandaan komen. Dat lichtvoetige, tegen een achtergrond van angst, paranoïa en isolatie, is zo waanzinnig knap gedaan. 'Life During Wartime' swingt als een uiterst catchy new wave band, maar heeft een deprimerende ondertoon. Ik denk dat die 'weird groove' is waar ik het over had. Je lichaam wil bewegen maar je hoofd zegt telkens dat dat bij deze muziek niet de bedoeling is. En als je dan toch die tegenstelling van donker en licht wil maken, dan is 'Heaven' natuurlijk obvious, alsof de hemel openbreekt.
Een album waar ik naarmate ik meer van hun discografie leerde kennen steeds meer van ben gaan houden, omdat het de essentie van David Byrne's werk het beste vangt, denk ik. Die spanning tussen de mentale geesten van een uiterst intelligente man, en zijn waanzinnige dance moves. Die unieke positie waar het zich in nestelde door dit in 1979 uit te brengen heeft er voor gezorgd dat ze voor eeuwig én bij subculturen én in de mainstream in het gedachtegoed zijn beland. 'Fear Of Music' is daarnaast ook een titel die de lading perfect dekt. Het schrikt eerst af, maar het omarmt je als je het de tijd gunt.
9,5/10
Highlights:
Mind
Cities
Life During Wartime
Memories Can't Wait
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Oct 24 2024
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5
Wat een fantastisch album is dit. Hele plaat heeft een fantastische post-punk groove. Maar de funk/dancerock van Remain in Light piept al door de kieren. Fear of Music bouwt voort op disco ritmes en catchy melodieen van de vorige twee albums, maar deze keer een stuk dystopischer, vuiger en vunziger. Post-punk op z'n best!
Talking Heads zet je deze misschien niet aan om een slinger aan je feestje te geven. Het wordt een minder gezellig plaatje door het dystopische urban karakter, maar daardoor niet minder sterk. Afhankelijk wanneer je het me vraagt vind ik Fear Of Music misschien wel hun beste werk. Ik twijfel door de laatste paar tracks op het album, die toch iets minder speciaal zijn dan de A-kant, tot aan Heaven.
9/10
Highlights
I Zimbra
Cities
Life During Wartime
Heaven
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Oct 18 2024
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5
From the dada inspired I Zimbra, to the classic Talking Heads Cities, and Life During Wartime, through the mellow vibes of Heaven. This album is a classic.
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Oct 15 2024
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5
The Talking Heads continue to be fantastic. David Byrne's enigmatic, almost awkward, everyman lyrics and vocals are such a breath of fresh air amongst the music of the 70's and 80's, and are a large part of the band's timelessness (although the influence of the other band members is not to be understated!)
Favorite track: today, I'll say "Life During Wartime," although "Memories Can't Wait" also stuck out to me on this listen.
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Oct 12 2024
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5
Fantastic album. Always delivers on this album. David Byrne can’t do any wrong in my opinion. This music is infectious.
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Oct 11 2024
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5
I need to disclose that after watching Stop Making Sense at the cinema, right now I'm experiencing a "Talking Heads Renaissance".
I remember listening to this album a couple of years ago, the only songs that struck out to me at that moment were "I Zimbra" and "Life During Wartime".
During this last listen, I found all of the songs to be amazing, energetic, and just perfect. Quite a pleasant surprise.
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Oct 08 2024
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5
my favourite talking heads album <3 mind is a masterpiece
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