Album: “Little Creatures”

Description

Talking Heads: David Byrne (guitar, vocals); Jerry Harrison (keyboards, guitar, background vocals); Tina Weymouth (bass, background vocals); Chris Frantz (drums). Additional personnel: Eric Weissberg (steel guitar); Jimmy Macdonell (accordion); Lenny Pickett (saxophone); Andrew "El Pantalones" Cader (washboard); Steve Scales, Nana Vasconcelos (percussion); Ellen Bernfeld, Erin Dickens, Diva Gray, Gordon Grody, Lani Groves, Kurt Yahijian (background vocals). Recorded at Sigma Sound, New York, New York. This is a DualDisc, which contains a CD on one side of the disc and a DVD on the other. Talking Heads: David Byrne (vocals, guitar); Jerry Harrison (guitar, keyboards, background vocals); Tina Weymouth (bass instrument, background vocals); Chris Frantz (drums). Additional personnel: Eric Weissberg (pedal steel guitar); Jimmy Macdonell (accordion); Lenny Pickett (saxophone); Nana Vasconcelos (drum); Steve Scales (congas, bongos, tambourine); Andrew "El Pantalones" Cader (washboard); Ellen Bernfeld, Erin Dickens, Gordon Grody, Kurt Yahijian, Diva Gray, Lani Groves (background vocals). After the abstract funk experimentation of REMAIN IN LIGHT and SPEAKING IN TONGUES, the Heads decided to return to their roots with LITTLE CREATURES. They abandoned the modal, polyrhythmic approach in favor of the two-guitars/4/4 pop structures of yore. While LITTLE CREATURES is the band's most accessible, radio-friendly album, it's not a step backwards by any means, because as they return to the quirky "new wave" style that made them famous, they bring a well-earned sophistication (both harmonic and lyrical) to the table. These advances allow the band to knock out a crop of winners, like the anti-anthem "Road To Nowhere," the semi-mystical (but still damn catchy) "And She Was" and the we've-got-a-baby-now, let's-party-with-him rocker "Stay Up Late." Nothing here is as groundbreaking as BUILDINGS AND FOOD, but it's still the Talking Heads, full of idiosyncratic charm and smart-but-infectious tunes.