Talking Heads: Little Creatures [Dual Disc]

Talking Heads | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 14, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 1985
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Dual Disc
• Label: Rhino
• ASIN: B000CCD0FS
• Also Available in: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #21,110 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. And She Was

2. Give Me Back My Name

3. Creatures of Love

4. The Lady Don't Mind

5. Perfect World

6. Stay Up Late

7. Walk It Down

8. Television Man

9. Road to Nowhere

10. Road to Nowhere [Early Version][#][*]

11. And She Was [Early Version][#][*]

12. Television Man [Extended Mix][*]

Editorial Reviews

Formed in the mid-'70s by art school friends David Byrne, Chris Franz, and Tina Weymouth-and ex-Modern Lover Jerry Harrison-Talking Heads transcended their humble roots in NYC's CBGB-centric punk scene to emerge as one of the most artistically adventurous and influential bands ever. Their visionary, polyrhthmic sound fused rock, funk and punk with world beasts, avant-garde minimalism, pure pop genius and more. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, the band's masterpieces are celebrated in Rhino's deluxe DualDisc upgrade of their catalogue, continuing now with their final four albums together.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent, but lacking an edge., February 22, 2006

By 

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

This review is from: Talking Heads: Little Creatures (Audio CD)

After their debut album, the Talking Heads began building music of excess-- extra musicians, layered instrumental arrangement, polyrhythms, and so on, driven on by David Byrne's sort of all-accepting view of music and in part fueled by Brian Eno's production wizardry. After an album that was more electronic then organic ("Speaking in Tongues"), the Talking Heads did a complete about face with "Little Creatures", presenting an album of essentially stripped down pop music.

Now granted, stripped down pop is not a bad thing-- it's just that the band appears to have surrendered their edge along with their heavy production. While the music manages to reclaim a bit of that timeless quality that made the first four Talking Heads albums so great, the music is lacking. From my perspective, I suspect it's because it's a lot more restrained-- the instrumental arrangements are a lot less edgy and Byrne's vocals fall in a comfortable middle range tenor rather than his usual higher, tense vocal.

Truthfully, none of it is BAD-- it's all pretty enough pop music ("Perfect World"), and the reflections on children on sweet and often quite clever-- albeit goofy ("Creatures of Love", "Stay Up Late"), and certainly there's no question that opener "And She Was" was destined to be a hit-- it's a great piece with a fantastic hook and a great vocal harmony on the chorus. It's just that most of the pieces are pretty much undistinguished ("Walk it Down"), and the Talking Heads were never about undistinguished songs.

The dualdisc reissue remasters the album in both stereo (CD side) and 5.1 (DVD), and it sounds great, the sonic upgrade is fantastic. Both sides also include bonus tracks-- two "early versions" and an extended remix b-side on the CD side and a pair of music videos on the DVD side.

Trutfully, had a band other than Talking Heads put this out, I'd probably rate this higher, but the bar was set pretty high by "Fear of Music" and "Remain in Light".

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Maybe you wonder where you are..., March 10, 2006

By 

Jason Stein (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Talking Heads: Little Creatures (Audio CD)

"Little Creature" is perhaps the Talking Heads most pop sounding album. The songs are shorter, the music is simpler and the hooks are in every song. But, there's something missing. I don't particularly care for "Give Me Back My Name" or "Creatures Of Love" and "Walk It Down" is questionable. The best tracks are "Road To Nowhere", "And She Was", "Stay Up Late" and "Television Man" with "The Lady Don't Mind" and "Perfect World" coming in second. The digital remastering is excellent and on the cd side the bonus tracks are actually interesting like the early version of "Road To Nowhere". The early version of "And She Was" is pretty much the same as the final product. The extended version of "Television Man" is just what it says and nothing special.

Unfortunately, this album doesn't lend itself to 5.1 surround. There's nothing instrumentally to fill in the void. It's much better in stereo on the cd side I think. The photos are okay and the videos for "And She Was" and "Road To Nowhere" are also okay. No lyrics are included and as with the other albums you get Jerry Harrison's take on remastering the album.

All in all, a good, but not great album.

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT RE-RELEASE, December 18, 2011

By 

S. Simon "simon" (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Talking Heads: Little Creatures (Audio CD)

These re-releases of the Talking Heads have been remixed beautifully - The surround sound is amazing and well worth listening to. They have taken the place of the originals for regular listening.