And you may ask yourself, is it time for the fourth Talking Heads album already? This is an album I enjoyed at the time, had on vinyl and bought the CD as soon as I saw it at a bargain price. But, true to form, I haven't listened to it for years.
Once again, I've been inspired by Albums In 200 Words, who reviewed this last week.
Recorded shortly after the Byrne / Eno collaboration My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, but released before it, many ideas, particularly around rhythms, resurface here, as well as there being hints of where Weymouth and Frantz were to later go with Tom Tom Club. Opening song Burn Under Punches fuses the electronica and basic rhythms with an extra musical dimension from the addition of guitarist Adrian Belew to the recording and touring line up, and it's a bold start. Crosseyed And Painless sounds much more like earlier Talking Heads, and while it's a great sound, it's not actually a great song, being somewhat monotone in melody, and The Great Curve feels similar, although as it progresses, it grows and by the guitar runout after six minutes, I defy anyone to prevent their feet from tapping. The hit single Once In A Lifetime, with its tinkling undercurrent, follows, still fantastic forty years on, as is Houses In Motion, a little more downbeat, but oh, that catchy chorus! And it's down a further notch for the spoken Seen And Not Seen, relying on the rhythms to carry the song, while Listening Mood has a soft, and well delivered melody to complement Belew's ethereal guitar, over a simple accompaniment. It's a fantastic song, possibly one of Talking Heads' finest overlooked tracks. The album closes with the extended, brooding epic, The Overload, possibly a little out of place as a slow, mournful end to an album with so much joy, but still worth a listen.
I'm not sure whether this is my favourite Talking Heads album, but it's certainly a contender. For all the band might have been pulling in different directions at this point, they produced a great album here.
4* - a great album, where the Eno influence comes to fruition
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