Fear Of Music

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Because David Byrne is so respected as a multimedia artist, lots of people don’t notice how funny some of his songs are. The third Talking Heads album, <i>Fear of Music</i>, is hilarious in a deadpan way, especially if you like jokes about anxiety; <i>Music of Fear</i> would be a more accurate title. There are plenty of experiments into the disorienting possibilities of studio production; “Drug,” the slow, staggered song that ends the album, more than lives up to its title with dub effects on the instrument, a staccato keyboard part, and the intermittent sound of koala bears snorting, which Byrne had recorded during a tour stop in Australia. He jogged around the studio before singing it, so he’d sound out of breath, and the discordant, ill-fitting guitar part at the end was stitched together from several different solo. “Animals” is a song about pet paranoia, and Byrne brings a demented intensity to the lyrics about deceitful quadrupeds (“I won’t follow animals’ advice”), as though some innocent doggo has pushed his berserk button. .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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