Naked is my absolute favorite album from Talking Heads and this is an underrated gem.
I love how jovial and energetic the first half of it is and then you get to Democratic Circus and it’s a totally different tone and feel. Darker and subdued.
The entire song is amazing. The transition from fairground dream sequence to angry guitar is perfection. Ominous songs are in short supply and that is part of what makes bands like TH and Pink Floyd so special.
The band worked out the instrumental together during one of their full-day jam sessions in Paris. David then sat down after returning to NYC, weeks or months later, and created lyrics to fit the track. Kinda.
David, clearly burnt out on Talking Heads and with his interests focused elsewhere, put together some of his most hackneyed lyrics. Politics as a circus was already a well-tread trope by the time of writing, and I think the evidence is clear that an earlier or later David Byrne wouldn’t have settled for these results. The same applies to much of Naked.
That said, his serene vocal delivery is fantastic. Something that he started playing with on Little Creatures and would continue to hone through the middle of his career.
Hyperbole, sure, but I honestly think it is a hugely overlooked gem of theirs.
Such a languid groove.
Maybe half of Naked is sub-Talking Heads, the other half though is very much worthy.
I’ve always felt this is a fantastic, underrated song. Glad to see it receiving some praise.
In my view, that’s the finest moment of the album.
Naked is my absolute favorite album from Talking Heads and this is an underrated gem.
I love how jovial and energetic the first half of it is and then you get to Democratic Circus and it’s a totally different tone and feel. Darker and subdued.
It is a good instrumental. I don’t like the lyrics very much, which is rare for a Talking Heads song.
Def an underrated track
The entire song is amazing. The transition from fairground dream sequence to angry guitar is perfection. Ominous songs are in short supply and that is part of what makes bands like TH and Pink Floyd so special.
It’s a juicy groove. Spyro the Dragon music.
The band worked out the instrumental together during one of their full-day jam sessions in Paris. David then sat down after returning to NYC, weeks or months later, and created lyrics to fit the track. Kinda.
David, clearly burnt out on Talking Heads and with his interests focused elsewhere, put together some of his most hackneyed lyrics. Politics as a circus was already a well-tread trope by the time of writing, and I think the evidence is clear that an earlier or later David Byrne wouldn’t have settled for these results. The same applies to much of Naked.
That said, his serene vocal delivery is fantastic. Something that he started playing with on Little Creatures and would continue to hone through the middle of his career.