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Talking Heads' "Naked" – Classic or Dud?

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Nothing on this album, as far as I can see.

I used to own this on cassette, lost it without mourning, and just downloaded the remastered copy a friend sent.

I haven't read a single review which attempts to make sense of this album. The consensus: True Stories sucked, Naked a "return to form," if you still cared about the TH. Despite my love for "(Nothing But) Flowers," Naked struck me then as the Heads' one expendable album; now it sounds like a trial run for Byrne's Rei Momo.

Yer thoughts?

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 12:10 (twenty years ago)

We've already gone here, but I'll say it again: I think it's a much better album than you think it is, Alfred; it's easy to get distracted by the idea of "How dare David Byrne go all Afro-Parisian WorldBeat whatever," but the songs are really good and funny, and it contains three of his best singing performances, and I'm not sure what else you expect from Talking Heads. But it's not the kind of record that sounds good if you only play it once a decade, or once a day. Every two months is about right.

I haven't listened to True Stories since 1988.

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 12:30 (twenty years ago)

I really like True Stories - a way better album than Little Creatures! It has a great raw sound and some great songs. Naked is more like a Byrne solo record, it's true. I should listen to it again (for the first time in 14 years or so) - it features Johnny Marr quite heavily doesn't it? And it's available in every 2nd hand shop ever.

(some crazy xposting here)

― myopic_void (myopic_void), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 12:36 (twenty years ago)

I dismissed Naked after hearing it a few times on release. Thought it was too slick/session-musiciany and truth be told I'm not much on "world music" (please kill me now). But I vaguely remember liking Rei Momo so maybe reinvestigation is in order?

True Stories I actually reviewed in R0))ing $t0ne, lukewarm-to-positive but the piece was a rushjob, not one of my best efforts so I've avoided ever playing the album again. After an ILM thread on Little Creatures, which I loved in 1985, I went back to it and was sorely disappointed and frankly the Talking Heads boxset was a big letdown. But their 70s stuff still sounds boss, so...?????

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 12:45 (twenty years ago)

The second half of Naked is killer-good and so is "(Nothing But) Flowers" - but yeah - i does smell of solo world-man schtick.

Not quite classic.

― christoff (christoff), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 12:50 (twenty years ago)

Byrne's working this rasp on that record that I like

― Washable School Paste (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 13:46 (twenty years ago)

flowers is good, so is ruby dear. the rest, not so much; I used to like cool water but can't take it now. I think rei momo is a much stronger album.

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 14:07 (twenty years ago)

Blind was a much better video than song, as far as I can remember.

― peepee (peepee), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 15:35 (twenty years ago)

Ehhhhhhh... It's OK, but always feels like one of those albums that doesn't need to exist. Nothing But Flowers is good. The rest is totally inessential.

― js (honestengine), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 16:05 (twenty years ago)

i agree with the consensus on "flowers," i don't actually remember what the rest of the record sounds like. but i do really like true stories -- it's the pop album little creatures was supposed to be.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 16:40 (twenty years ago)

"Naked" totally rules "True Stories." I'm listening to the latter right now and it still sounds flat as cardboard to me.

― Dave Depper (Dave Depper), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 17:06 (twenty years ago)

I haven't listened to it in years. Moderately classic because it was the name inspiration for shoegazers Blind Mr. Jones (who apparently saw the track listing)

― The Equator Lounge (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 17:12 (twenty years ago)

When I got the box-set-as-weapon in the mail, I was really unimpressed with Naked. I remembered liking "Nothing But Flowers," but even that didn't hold up for me. For me, these guys start with The Name Of This Band and Remain In Light, and end after Stop Making Sense.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 17:14 (twenty years ago)

Wasn't "Naked" the world's first "enhanced" CD, or close to the first? That would make it historically important, anyways. MUSICALLY, tho, I think the Heads peaked with "The Name of This Band..." and except for the odd excellent track ("Swamp"), produced very little that I loved after that. (Only my opinion, no animosity, just an evolutionary path that I didn't care for. Plus their LP covers kept getting uglier.)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 17:17 (twenty years ago)

Plus their LP covers kept getting uglier

I never considered this very relevant fact before now.

I'm still listening to True Stories right now and the drum sound is KILLING me. Naked kills it on that criteria alone!

― Dave Depper (Dave Depper), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 17:23 (twenty years ago)

Plus their LP covers kept getting uglier

That's unfair, they have one of the best track records out there in regards to cover art. You can't fault them for not living up to some of their earlier genius covers.

― Wrinklepaws (Wrinklepaws), Thursday, 6 April 2006 00:15 (twenty years ago)

Sax and Violins and Lifetime Piling Up, which I guess were recorded after it, are much much better than anything on that album. too bad.

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 6 April 2006 00:29 (twenty years ago)

i guess sax and violins was actually recorded the same time as naked. whatever. I'm looking at the Sand in the Vaseline collection; I don't even remember Gangster of Love, made out of unused tapes from Remain in Light and stuff from Naked. And Popsicle? I should listen to these. Are these songs lost now with the reissues?

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 6 April 2006 00:31 (twenty years ago)

"Lifetime Piling Up" is GODLY. When I heard it on my college radio station in '92, in anticpation of Sand in the Vaseline, it sounded great next to Belly, Sugar, Daniel Ash, and Sonic Youth.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 6 April 2006 00:45 (twenty years ago)

The video for "Blind" is truly amazing. I can't say that it 100% redeems its parent album, but they certainly had their moving pictures sorted. I'd pitch Naked somewhere between classic and dud - a solid listen unto itself, but probably unfair to hold it against their visionary, legend-defining work.

On a side note, "Sax and Violins" is probably the Talking Heads song I listen to and love the most - admittedly due to huge nostalgia moments from Until the End of the World's function as a 3am suburban driving album.

― Myke. (Myke Weiskopf), Thursday, 6 April 2006 01:09 (twenty years ago)

haha that soundtrack provokes some huge nostalgia for me too


haikunym otm. truth be told i'd probably be more inclined to listen to this over any other non-live post-remain in light talking heads album.

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 6 April 2006 01:35 (twenty years ago)

"Sax and Violins" is probably the Talking Heads song I listen to and love the most - admittedly due to huge nostalgia moments from Until the End of the World's function as a 3am suburban driving album.

Truly a great soundtrack. It probably deserves its own thread, if it doesn't have one already.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 6 April 2006 01:49 (twenty years ago)

wow, even speaking in tongues? hmm.

― literalisp (literalisp), Thursday, 6 April 2006 01:57 (twenty years ago)

(x-post)

― literalisp (literalisp), Thursday, 6 April 2006 01:58 (twenty years ago)

When I got into the Talking Heads back in '88-89, the only Heads albums that they carried at my local record store (I was living in Asia at the time) were Stop Making Sense, Little Creatures, True Stories and Naked. I eventually bought them all. My favorite was Little Creatures. Naked may have been my least favorite, though I still listened to it a lot. I haven't listened to it in years. My favorite tracks were "Mr. Jones", "Mommy Daddy You and I", "Totally Nude", "The Democratic Circus", and the one strange Depeche Mode sounding tune that didn't fit in with the whole world music vibe, "The Facts of Life". I often skipped the last three songs.

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 6 April 2006 13:03 (twenty years ago)

Obviously, this is the least essensial Talking Heads album. Doesn't neccessarily make it a dud, just so much less classic than the rest.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 6 April 2006 13:36 (twenty years ago)

Wasn't "Naked" the world's first "enhanced" CD, or close to the first?

I thought that Lou Reed's New York was.

― The Equator Lounge (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 6 April 2006 15:37 (twenty years ago)

it was enhanced in some weird way that only people with certain types of cd players that were only made for like four months could use. you had to hook it up to your tv. I think it just had some graphics or something. I've certainly never seen them.

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 6 April 2006 15:59 (twenty years ago)

My cassette copy was an oft-putting forest green color.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 6 April 2006 16:10 (twenty years ago)

Plus their LP covers kept getting uglier
That's unfair, they have one of the best track records out there in regards to cover art. You can't fault them for not living up to some of their earlier genius covers.

-- Wrinklepaws

Y'know, actually now that I think of it, it IS unfair. Their dozen-or-so covers present quite an impressively diverse array. They never really repeated themselves. (Fear Of Music's plain-text-on-differently-coloured-solid-background differed from that of the debut by virtue of the cool manhole-cover embossing on the original vinyl.) I guess you gotta expect some butt-ugly covers (alongside some striking ones) when you pursue such diversity.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Thursday, 6 April 2006 17:32 (twenty years ago)

it was enhanced in some weird way that only people with certain types of cd players that were only made for like four months could use. you had to hook it up to your tv. I think it just had some graphics or something. I've certainly never seen them.

Any idea if said content is included in the DVD section of the current remaster (it should)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 6 April 2006 18:44 (twenty years ago)

it was a CD+G:

more info here

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 6 April 2006 18:55 (twenty years ago)

Myonga - specifically, it's called diamondplate; your right, though their artwork has its merits (and i'm sure the fly on Naked has more than once been swated at).

― christoff (christoff), Thursday, 6 April 2006 21:20 (twenty years ago)

The Facts of Life is a bomb!

― Criff (Criff), Thursday, 6 April 2006 22:05 (twenty years ago)

the "Blind" video is unbelievable. "Nothing But Flowers" is a beautiful song.

Album redeemed!

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 6 April 2006 22:12 (twenty years ago)

The Facts of Life is a bomb!

Is it "a" bomb or "the" bomb? Makes a big difference.

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 6 April 2006 23:30 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

it was very fair of them to have the whole band (johnny marr, kirsty macoll, etc.) in this performance video. marr was unaware he says that the tape was even rolling for that guitar at the intro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOEIRI5HSuQ

― pisces, Sunday, 5 August 2007 18:44 (eighteen years ago)

A Classic for me - very underrated. I like it much more than Little Creatures, True Stories, and Speaking In Tongues. My favorite tracks are "Big Daddy" and "Totally Nude".

I'll admit that my love for this album is colored by nostalgia for the time, but I liked True Stories and Little Creatures when they came out and quickly grew tired of them. I still like Naked a lot.

― Moodles, Sunday, 5 August 2007 20:00 (eighteen years ago)

one month passes...

gah I seem to have lost my copy of this record. THe first side is fantastic - Totally Nude, Ruby Dear, etc.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 20 September 2007 18:33 (eighteen years ago)

Really? For me the second side's the real killer.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 20 September 2007 19:41 (eighteen years ago)

I love 'Blind'.

― the next grozart, Thursday, 20 September 2007 19:51 (eighteen years ago)

side 2 seems a lot sleepier to me

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 20 September 2007 19:55 (eighteen years ago)

Democratic Circus is also a terrible title

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 20 September 2007 19:55 (eighteen years ago)

Side 2 is more darker than sleepier for me. More Remain in Light than Little Creatures.

― Eazy, Friday, 21 September 2007 00:10 (eighteen years ago)

The second side is all variants on "Listening Wind" and "Seen and Not Seen."

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 21 September 2007 00:12 (eighteen years ago)

I like "Blind" too!

― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Friday, 21 September 2007 00:30 (eighteen years ago)

Isn't this just a great example of "Why would I listen to this when I can pull out so many other great albums from this band?"

― Mr. Odd, Friday, 21 September 2007 00:35 (eighteen years ago)

Hahah. I remember buying it because "ooh look! It's got Johnny Marr on it!" but it left no impression whatever. Hell, not even the Marr parts. Still I get defensive if people criticize Marr. The guy is far, far from perfect in a number of ways but if you tell me he's a bad guitarist we will have to step outside.

― Bimble, Friday, 21 September 2007 04:29 (eighteen years ago)

The only Talking Heads album I don't own. Haven't been too impressed by what I've heard though.

― Geir Hongro, Friday, 21 September 2007 21:03 (eighteen years ago)

C'mon, Geir, it's like, ¢35 on vinyl or cassette, and easily worth $5.50.

― I eat cannibals, Friday, 21 September 2007 21:52 (eighteen years ago)


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