Customer Reviews

Talking Heads: Fear of Music

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

"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.

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.

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.

The Talking Heads were one of the more revolutionary groups of the late 70's and early 80's. They created a music that is beyond description. David Byrne's anxiety ridden vocals are set against polyrhythmic world-music like beats - Brian Eno's influence is felt in the production adding his signature atmospheric wall of sounds - it all somehow combines into an amazing statement of the times.. Songs like 'cities' and 'life during wartime' comment on the state of our modern world - in a way that is still relevant and poignant today in 2006.. It is very difficult to describe or classify this music - all you can say is it works..and it has a lasting relevance.

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).

The Talking Heads' third album (the first with producer Brain Eno acting as a surrogate member)is an amazing auditory experience in the newly remixed 5.1 version. I haven't done the 5.1 side yet, but the "regular" cd remixes and alternate versions are amazing to anyone willing to wade through the negative technical reviews here. I've plugged these discs through both my car audio system and my pc. I'm hoping it will continue this well. Okay, with that said, this album was the one that helped me through high school. The paranoia that surrounds Animal and Mind were very familiar to any kid who was "different" during that period of time. While I never experimented with drugs, the build-up that accompanies that song is now familiar to me from any severe insulin reaction I've ever experienced. The album flows through with an urgency. I think the beauty of Mind is very underrated, especially after the line "Everything is very quiet" when the cacophony of the previous seconds calms down to a quiet dissonance no one else was doing at the time.

The "bonus" tracks are amazing. Don't skip them, thinking they are just fluff. "Cities" is indeed the long version with the verse about San Antonio which was lost in the original album/cd version (but was included in the Once in a Lifetime box-set). It was thrilling to hear that verse reinstated in "Stop Making Sense". It's even better in the studio version here. "Life During Wartime" and "Mind" are versions that feature the guitar madness of Adrian Belew. These versions are more dissonant and guitar oriented. Again, not to be missed.

Excellent reissue. Rather than purchasing the DualDisc, I went to Amazon/UK and purchased the CD/DVDAudio set with the CD and DVDAudio on separate discs. Onkyo along with several other manufacturers do not recommend playing DualDiscs on their players. The DVDAudio is 96/24 5.1 and sounds great even though as Jerry Harrison notes in the liner notes, the original sound quality made making the 5.1 mix a bit difficult.

Nice job with the mastering. The fat disk has a hard time fitting into my iMac slot. The first few songs don't play well. On my CD player I can't play the first song at all.

I had exactly the same experence with "Speaking in Tongues". It must be a problem with the DualDisc format.

Talking Heads reached further into the multi-layered, polyphonic sounds with "Fear Of Music", and album truly ahead of its time. I dismiss the other reviews here complaining about this or that. The music is much better digitally remastered. The old cd copy is hollow, and this new remaster really brings the cd side to life, but again, if you really want to be transported to another place you must listen to the amazing 5.1 surround sound mix on the dvd side. "Fear Of Music" sounds fantastic in 5.1, and it reminds you that this is what 5.1 is all about.

It helps that the music is perfect for this format. Such classics as "I Zimbra", "Mind", "Cities", "Life During Wartime", "Memories Can't Wait", "Air", "Heaven", "Animals" and "Drugs" come to life and breath anew. The dvd side has two live videos which are fine for those of us who haven't seen the Heads in concert. On the cd side there are four bonus tracks, three previously unreleased. "Dancing For Money" is interesting as an unfinished outtake. The alternate version of "Life During Wartime" doesn't improve the original. The alternate take of "Cities" is about the same as the original, just longer, same goes for the alternate take of "Mind".

The booklet comes with comments by various popular musicians reminiscing about the Heads contributions to popular music. Jerry Harrison comments about the process of remixing the album into 5.1 surround sound which is interesting. There are no lyrics like the old cd copy had, which is an oversight in my opinion.

All in all, ignore the old crones who are dismissing these remasters and the people who can't seem to get them to play. It's worth rebuying all of the remasters if you have proper equipment. The price is a bit steep, but the sound quality improvement is significant.