musicinsight's Full Review: True Stories by Original Soundtrack/Talking Heads
Talking Heads started as a quirky New York-based band whose angular, intelligent music rode the "New Wave" of the late 1970s to a position a the top of the charts for much of the 80s. The band constantly reinvented itself, evolving from an arty foursome to a mighty 10-piece ensemble including heavy hitters like guitarist Adrian Belew and keyboardist Bernie Worrell. The band's musical palette also expanded, and the band experimented with world music, gospel and several other genres. The Heads also got into the movie business, releasing the seminal concert film Stop Making Sense, directed by Jonathan Demme. Their second movie, True Stories featured a blockbuster soundtrack, with a diverse collection of ten new songs.
True Stories comes on CD in two formats: the soundtrack, which features the songs from the movie, sung by the actors and actresses, and another version featuring performances of the same songs by the Talking Heads. This is the last great Talking Heads release. It experiments with a variety of musical styles, but manages to remain consistently accessible and catchy throughout.
The first single released from this album was Wild Wild Life. It's a very straightforward uptemo pop song, with an uplifting melody and message: "Piece of mind?
It's a piece of cake"
Radio Head's loping rhythm and accordion flourishes give it a decidedly Cajun flavor. It explores the similarity between people and their radios: "Baby your mind is a radio
Got a receiver inside my head
Baby I'm tuned to your wavelength
...
Transmitter picking up something good"
The Heads go country in People Like Us, which is a country-pop hybrid melding a nonsensically catchy pop vocal with a pedal steel and fiddle melody. It doesn't really say too much, but it definitely says it beautifully.
Most of the songs are upbeat, with bright instrumentation and gee-whiz vocals. One exception is the mournful Dream Operator. This sedate country-waltz unfolds into a joyous celebration of dreams:
"Hard to forget
Hard to go on
When you fall asleep
You're out on your own
Let go of your life
Grab on to my hand
Here in the clouds
Where we'll understand"
The album also includes Love For Sale, Puzzlin' Evidence, the voodoo-tinged Papa Legba and yet another song about dreams, City Of Dreams.
While the Talking Heads have explored some musically far-out ideas on their other albums, this album maintains a strong pop flavor, while excelling at a variety of musical styles. This diverse collection would be great for fans of pop music who appreciate variety.
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