Naked

by

Talking Heads

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With "Naked," Talking Heads sought to combine the complex rhythmic layering style of an earlier album like "Remain in Light" with the ironic upbeat accessibility of their more recent commercial work such as "Little Creatures." The result is an intriguing hybrid, with a spark all its own. Some Heads fans may prefer the harder edge of their earlier years, but one should not dismiss "Naked's" polished maturity so quickly. The album bubbles and swirls with diverse and rich rhythms, a variety of instruments (such as french piano, brass, and oboe), and wonderful interweavings of twangy guitar sounds. The first half of the album is pure fun, beginning with David Byrne's superb vocal performance on "Blind" and continuing through a series of tongue-in-cheek 80s vignettes like "Mr. Jones" (an updating of the Bob Dylan everyman from the 60s, now grown fat and even more consumerist but having a great time), the catchy "Totally Naked," the atmospheric "Ruby Dear," and the dazzling "Nothing But Flowers." Each of these tunes is a masterful mix of fluid sounds that make you glad to be alive. The album then takes on a gradual but progressively darker tone, beginning cynically with "The Democratic Circus" (you must remember that at the time this album came out, presidential candidates like Gary Hart were dropping like flies in ridiculous public scandals) and proceeding on to the chilling denoument, "Cool Water." The contrast is amazing - while Mr. Jones parties and naturists frolic around nude, real people are suffering and working themselves to death. Personally, I think this was one of the best albums of the eighties.

If you read the other reviews, you'll see a good bit of "wow, I love TH, but I hated this" mixed in with bits like "brilliant, their best work." Well, I'm here to say that this is neither their best nor their worst piece of work. If you expect the kind of overall sound and tone of the early TH albums, then this won't be what you're expecting, and I can see how people might dislike it. But, in fact, there are are some decent tracks on here, particularly on the first "side." It is most certainly NOT their worst effort, which *has* to go to _True Stories_ (I might even make a case here for _Little Creatures_, too, but that's another issue). But this album is most certainly not superlative, definitely not in the league of _Remain in Light_ or _Stop Making Sense_ or _Fear of Music_. It has some inventive moments, but it's overproduced and inconsistent and lacks the raw brilliance of TH's best work. And the downbeat, monotonous, second side is completely puntable. But it has more decent moments than the train wreck which preceded it.