Talking Heads -Fear Of Music (Sire 6079 - 1979)

FEAR OF MUSIC marks the transition between the angular Art School sound and a more funk inspired path.While this album is not as seminal as REMAIN IN LIGHT in a commercial sense, it charts a new course for the band. Stark and insistent, the tunes mix minimalism and future-shock with an unbelievably tight rhythm section over which Byrne (almost drone like) delivers biting and passionate lyrics. "Life During Wartime" through to the urban desperation of "Cities" and the agnostic “Heaven”. A common stylized thread marks the album apart as one which often needs to be enjoyed in its entirety to appreciate its full majesty.

 

This is post-modern, danceable pop with an edge. A post-punk masterpiece which still sounds fresh 3 decades later. It's a much plagiarized sound (Razorlight - yuk found success by ripping off most of the latter day Talking Heads output from this album onwards)

Although Byrne is the true wizard, the unconventional rhythm section of Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz cannot be underestimated.

Fear of music reached number 29 in the US album chart and number 33 in the UK.
It was released on vinyl in 1979 and re-released on CD in 1984. The expanded and remastered version was released in 2006.

 

Ken Foster

 

{mosmodule module=tweet}