NAKED

By the time Naked was released TH had firmly run out of ideas in a big way. There were rumours of infighting within the band, supposedly more because of Byrne's disinterest and focus on other projects, so it was little surprise they disbanded three years later from an official standpoint.

" Blind" starts the album in a positive fashion, with a great jazzy/funky riff, great sarcastic lyrics from David Byrne but the song does fizzle out after a while. You expect more from it but it never really takes off. " Mr.Jones" the first single off the album again is catchy and pleasant with a good beat, but it sounds like the band is just going through the motions but not so much Byrne, as there is not enough inflection in his voice.There is the latino american influence on Naked and " Totally Nude" is a combination of that an country western. Not a clever idea or a good result. " (Nothing But) Flowers" is definitely one of the high points on the album with a return to the Talking Heads of old, it again though fizzles out at the end.

The second side is unfortunately poorer than the first side and "The Facts Of Life" talking about the ape/man similarities has some weird vocals with almost Daniel Lanois style slide guitar in the background. " Bill" Offers some respite from the ennui with great tempo and guitar work. The final chapter " Cool Water" has the only progressive side to it reminiscent of the excellent Fear Of Music era, nine years previously and is by far the best track on the album. So this was Byrne's last album and the band called it a day soon after only to reform again without David Byrne for The Heads album in 1996. It is their weakest effort as far as studio albums go, so only recommended for collectors of their music. Two stars.