{"id":41511,"date":"2009-05-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/speaking-in-tongues-2\/"},"modified":"2009-05-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-05-15T00:00:00","slug":"speaking-in-tongues-2","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/speaking-in-tongues-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Speaking In Tongues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steady as she goes. Talking Heads take the safest route in producing their first record themselves, resulting in 1983\u2019s Speaking In Tongues<\/i>. The quirky, funky style is still intact and the artistic essence is still there, even if it is more \u201ccompact\u201d this time around. What makes this something of a transition album is due to the fact that there isn\u2019t as much variation in mood or tempo as on previous efforts. Only the single \u201cBurning Down The House\u201d stands on its own as something that is truly groundbreaking. For such a strange song to have done so well as a pop record must have been a complete surprise to the four band members, not to mention the critics, when it first was released to radio. Even more shocking was when the song\u2019s frightening video clip went into heavy rotation on MTV, bringing Talking Heads wider acclaim in the process.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Things get even more interesting at the halfway point of Speaking In Tongues<\/i> with the energetic double shot of \u201cSwamp\u201d and \u201cMoon Rocks.\u201d Lead vocalist David Byrne\u2019s maniacal chant of the word \u201chi\u201d helps to turn \u201cSwamp\u201d into an unexpected thrill ride that is sure to be a crowd-pleaser when performed live. Byrne reaches into a higher register for the positively swooning chorus on \u201cMoon Rocks,\u201d which propels the track to standout status. Unfortunately, things shift back into an all-too-familiar groove for \u201cPull Up The Roots\u201d and \u201cThis Must Be The Place,\u201d both of which sound identical to much of the album\u2019s first half.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong, this is consistently pleasing set of tunes in its own right. There aren\u2019t any glaring missteps, but when compared to their first four albums, this material is clearly inferior. David Byrne\u2019s vocal delivery is the most noticeable difference, however, with some tracks not even sounding like him. He is obviously intent on bringing more personality to the forefront with his voice, so in this regard he succeeds. The other members set the pace and tone for these \u201cmood pieces\u201d of theirs, though at times it feels like they are running in place with no clear direction.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

These nine tracks are shockingly normal for a band that prides themselves on being so artistic and edgy. Their experimental leanings are fewer and further between on Speaking In Tongues<\/i>, which is disappointing. It seems they were willing to trade in Brian Eno for something a tad more marketable and radio-worthy. Thankfully, \u201cBurning Down The House\u201d was the one that became a hit, since it maintains TH\u2019s artistic integrity while still having the hooks needed to attract more listeners. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

So despite containing many tracks that sound similar, Talking Heads were able to please old and new fans alike with Speaking In Tongues<\/i>. At least attempting to speak this new Top 40 language didn\u2019t get lost in translation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":29890,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7876],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-41511","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-talking-heads","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41511"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41511"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}