Fear of Music, the third album by Talking Heads, was recorded and released in 1979. It is, like each of their first four albums, a masterpiece. Edgy, paranoid, funky, addictive, rhythmic, repetitive, spooky, and fun - with Brian Eno's production, it's a record that bursts out of the downtown scene that birthed the band, and hints at the directions (positive and negative) they'd take in the near future. Here, Jonathan Lethem takes us back to the late 1970s in New York City and situates Talking Heads as one of the most remarkable and enigmatic American bands. Incorporating theory, fiction, and memoir, and placing Fear of Music alongside Fritz Lang, Edgar Allen Poe, Patti Smith, and David Foster Wallace. Lethem's book is a virtuoso performance by a writer at the peak of his powers, tackling one of his great obsessions.
Talking Heads' Fear of Music (33 1/3)
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Jonathan Lethem is one of the most acclaimed American novelists of his generation. His books include Motherless Brooklyn, The Fortress of Solitude, and Chronic City. His essays about James Brown and Bob Dylan have appeared in Rolling Stone. He is Roy Edward Disney Professor in Creative Writing at Pomona College, US.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By Syriat
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Many years ago I was sat in my room watching TV one Christmas break. I happened to turn over to BBC2 and saw the most riveting concert ever. There was a big suited front-man, icy cool female bassist and an ensemble that made funky alternative music. I had never heard anything like it before. Stop Making Sense started my love affair with Talking Heads. I was too young to ever see them live so it was an absolute thrill.
Ok, did I bore you there? I hope not but entirely understand if I did because that's what this book is like. Well actually its far more densely written than that. Taking twenty words to say what five could. This book is not a story of the making of the rather superb Fear of Music album. Rather it is the authors love affair with that album and relating his boy in the bedroom experiences (as I did above) throughout. Each song is de-constructed chapter at a time. Interspersed with the odd chapter examining the piece as a whole (samples are 'Is Fear of Music a David Byrne Album?', 'Is Fear of Music an Asperger's record?' or 'Is Fear of Music a New York Album?'). There is no research into the making of the record really. No illuminating insights into the process. Just a 140 page essay on the albums effect and impact on the listener. Written in such a way that I found incredibly difficult to keep reading at times (I put the book down regularly as the writing was to dense). An example would be the opening to the Paper chapter (that obviously concerns itself with the song of the same name). It goes thus... 'Confronting the first of the tangible nouns, the band renews their commitment to guitars, which abruptly in command, seem delighted to have rehabilitated themselves from the daffy slackness of "mind".'
Did you follow that?... Read more ›
Ok, did I bore you there? I hope not but entirely understand if I did because that's what this book is like. Well actually its far more densely written than that. Taking twenty words to say what five could. This book is not a story of the making of the rather superb Fear of Music album. Rather it is the authors love affair with that album and relating his boy in the bedroom experiences (as I did above) throughout. Each song is de-constructed chapter at a time. Interspersed with the odd chapter examining the piece as a whole (samples are 'Is Fear of Music a David Byrne Album?', 'Is Fear of Music an Asperger's record?' or 'Is Fear of Music a New York Album?'). There is no research into the making of the record really. No illuminating insights into the process. Just a 140 page essay on the albums effect and impact on the listener. Written in such a way that I found incredibly difficult to keep reading at times (I put the book down regularly as the writing was to dense). An example would be the opening to the Paper chapter (that obviously concerns itself with the song of the same name). It goes thus... 'Confronting the first of the tangible nouns, the band renews their commitment to guitars, which abruptly in command, seem delighted to have rehabilitated themselves from the daffy slackness of "mind".'
Did you follow that?... Read more ›
By malmac
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
a great book for anyone who has ever liked or enjoyed David Byrne's music with or without the Talking Heads
By S. A. Wilson
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Takes us on a trip to the school-boys fans past - interweaving with unexpected fact. Niucely written. Posing questions.. is it a NY album, an Eno album etc
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