Talking Heads: Fear of Music [Dual Disc, Original recording remastered]

Talking Heads | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 10, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Dual Disc, Original recording remastered
• Label: Rhino
• ASIN: B000C3H4M2
• Also Available in: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #204,402 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

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

12. Dancing for Money [Unfinished Outtake][#][*]

13. Life During Wartime [Alternate Version][#][*]

14. Cities [Alternate Version][#][*]

15. Mind [Alternate Version][#][*]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great album, lousy disc. Buy the UK edition instead., January 31, 2008

By 

a music fan (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Talking Heads: Fear of Music (Audio CD)

This is one of the best albums of the 1970's, an absolutely brilliant combination of new wave and psychedelia that still sounds startlingly original today. Most critically-acclaimed indie bands of the past 20 years sound drab and ordinary compared to what Talking Heads were doing in their prime.

Also, the remastering is excellent. I've heard few CD's that sound as good as this.

So why'd I give it only three stars?

The trouble is the dual-layered discs that Rhino decided to use. I've tried to play the CD side on three different CD players, including a brand new Onkyo and a brand new Sony. Both had trouble reading the disc and skipped on the last track. All the other Talking Head dual-discs had the same problem.

There is good news: in the UK, Rhino released all the Talking Heads records as two disc CD and DVD sets. I'd strongly recommend going to amazon.co.uk and getting those versions instead.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic TH album remastered but with poor authoring-doesn't play on all CD players/computers/can't upload to iPods 1 star format, August 8, 2006

By 

WTDK "If at first the idea is not absurd, the... (My Little Blue Window, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Talking Heads: Fear of Music (Audio CD)

"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.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Talking Heads' dark masterpiece., February 21, 2006

By 

Michael Stack (North Chelmsford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Talking Heads: Fear of Music (Audio CD)

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.