TRUE STORIES

This soundtrack album from Talking Heads came hard on the heels of the Little Creatures release. A David Byrne film which hinted at even more autonomy he would have in terms of furure sound. Most soundtrack albums can throw listeners a curve ball or two so on initial listen many years ago I was not too surprised to be disappointed. The album is a mish mash of songs related to supposed true story events with Byrne's take or spin on it. Brian Eno had moved on as well with the result an almost retro sounding TH's hearking back to the first two albums, but lacking the necessary substance. " Wild Life" is a great catchy, likeable single off True Stories. " Puzzlin Evidence" and " Love For Sale" pretty good also. The rest very mediocre and not much to shout about. Recommended for diehard fans only or more specifically, David Byrne fans. Two stars.

Talking Heads 7th studio album "True Stories" was released in 1986 and is a studio album from the band that contains the band doing songs from David Byrne's film, but are not the actual performances from the movie since the songs were done by the actors in the film. There was also an album released later that year under David Byrne's name called "Sounds from True Stories" but that one contained incidental music from the movie and not the songs in the film.

Talking Heads come under the Prog Related category, and that is probably the best placement for them, because, even though their music rises above the standard pop music of the 80s, and they are one of the best bands from that decade, their music very seldom enters the realm of progressive rock. However, I would be doing a disservice to them by not saying that I do love their music, and I am not usually a lover of pop music, especially from the 80s. I do find that I always seem to enjoy their music, even the albums that aren't considered their best. Even this one.

Yes it is true that it is not their best, but it is also one that I don't ignore either. Of course, I love "Love for Sale", "Wild Wild Life" and "City of Dreams", but I also enjoy "Puzzlin' Evidence" and "Hey Now". Even the lesser songs are happy and sunshine-y, like "Radio Head" (yes this is where the band "Radiohead" got their name, though the song sounds nothing like their music) and "Papa Legba". This is so against my nature, and honestly, I can't quite put my finger on why I find their music so great, but I can't help but enjoy their catchy rhythms and tribally inspired rhythms, and even seem to be drawn to Byrne's lyrics. But the music is not progressive on this album. It's just a step above the norm as far as being enjoyable for a guilty pleasure.

I have to make myself only give this 3 stars, but I do it as it pertains to a progressive site. As a guilty pleasure album, I have no problem giving it 4 stars, but, it has no progressive leanings, it's just fun to listen to.