Little Creatures is a great Talking Heads album released smack dab in the middle of the Eighties. (June 10th, 1985) The band appears on the back of this album in the wackiest outfits I have seen. (If you have the album, go back and look at it, and tell me if you don't agree). This is also the album with the "outsider" art cover showing the band in some strange ancient world.

This year, the Talking Heads chose to re release all eight of their studio albums in the DUAL DISC format, which has regular stereo CD on one side, and DVD with DVD-Audio on the other side. You can buy your favorites, or spring for the Talking Heads Brick which contains ALL EIGHT dual discs.

CD The original studio album as released in 1985 is all on the CD side with the songs: And She Was, Give me back my Name, Creatures of Love, The Lady Don't Mind, Perfect World, Stay Up Late, Walk it Down, Television Man and Road to Nowhere

CD Extras Extra songs on the CD side are early versions of Road to Nowhere and And She Was. An extended eight minute mix of Television Man is also included.

DVD-Audio Side Four tracks are on the DVD side, advanced resolution 5.1 surround sound, and advanced resolution stereo for those with DVD-Audio players, and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound and PCM stereo for those with ordinary DVD players. All the tracks are very well done, but my favorite is hands down the Advanced Resolution Surround Sound mix.

DVD extras include music videos for And She Was and Road to Nowhere, both of which are pretty cool.

On this, the sixth Talking Heads album, Jerry Harrison remarks that Little Creatures marked a return to more traditional songwriting and particularly American song structures. Unlike Remain in Light and Speaking in Tongues which were recorded with an eye on interlocking textures, on Little Creatures we returned to recording most of a song in a single pass as a four piece band. We added overdubs as necessary, yet there was plenty to work with when Eric Thorngren and I brought the songs into the extended space of 5.1. "Creatures of Love" and "Perfect World" are two of my favorites. "Creatures of Love" has an increased lushness and "Perfect World" has an increased majesty, with David's "George McCrae" inspired vocals (Jerry Harrison from the liner notes to Little CreaturesDual Disc).

For review purposes here, I am listening to the Advanced Resolution 5.1 Surround Sound mix. The album begins with the 80s hit And She Was and she was lying in the grass, and she could hear the highway breathing, and she could see a nearby factory, She's making sure she wasn't dreaming. The rhythms here don't seem as dense as previous albums, and it seems more melodic, more like 80s pop, more accessible. This may be good or bad depending on how you view it, but it is still unmistakably the sound of the Talking Heads. The sound stage is spread out, and it adds an increased depth to the album. The effect is not as noticable as it is on the denser Talking Heads album, but it is good nonetheless.

(Give me back my) Name is a creepy sounding sort of song, and the sweeping melodies of this song throughout the sound field add to the oddness of this song. some things can not be spoken some things cannot be pronounced that word does not exist in any language It will never be uttered by a human mouth.

Creatures of Love sounds almost country with a mellow beat. A woman made a man, a man he made a house and when they lay together, little creatures all come out. To me this had too pop a feel to it, and I didn't care for the country style sound.

The Lady Don't Mind begins with the familiar rhythms of the Talking Heads with guitars coming from the front, and incessant drum beats appearing in the rear channels. Soon Byrne starts to sing in the center channel last time she jumped out the window, well, she only turned and smiled.

Perfect World is another mellow slow song.

Finally, after slow drawling sprawling songs, the familiar thump thump ba ba bump, brrr brrrr kicks in and Stay Up Late starts in. Mommy had a little baby there he is fast asleep he's just a little plaything why not wake him up? This is my favorite song from Little creatures it just has an infectious rhythm and tune that I can't help but sing along. baby baby please let me hold him, I wanna make him stay up all night.

Walk it Down slams into play next with a gritty guitar drum intro. Echo effects play off the intro lyrics I ... I am just a number I hang on to what I got. It's an interesting song, with some fun stuff going on with the instruments.

Television Man is my second favorite tune on this album, beginning with a catchy hook. Byrne laments on the media and soon the chorus kicks in the world crashes in, into my living room, television made me what I am, People like to put the television down, but we are just good friends. I'm a television man.

The album closes with the familiar Talking Heads tune Road to Nowhere Well we know where we're goin' but we don't know where we've been

For me, Little Creatures is a mix of songs I love, and songs I'm not so crazy about. I liked the more complex rhythms of More Songs about Buildings and Food and Speaking in Tongues, but I also enjoyed the simple pop rhythms and catchy tunes on this album which are certainly more acessable than Remain in Light. Yet when all is said, I give Little Creatures over 3 1/2 stars, so it rounds off to Four stars for this review. If the denser complex rhythms of earlier Talking Heads aren't for you, this may be the Talking Heads album for you to pick up on Dual Disc. The videos, extra songs on the CD side, and the Surround Sound mix make it a good buy.

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Exercising