#20: Little Species (Talking Heads and Invasive Species Brewing)
Barry and Abigail discuss Little Creatures by Talking Heads and sample Splash Pad, Sour Slurps Disco Future, Snake Jazz, and Ninja Juice from Invasive Species Brewing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Despite having “Burning Down the House” drilled into his head by a neighbor in college, Barry made this album his first CD purchase ever! It helped that a roommate in medical school owned a CD player, and Barry needed something to compete with “The Nightfly” by Donald Fagan of Steely Dan.
Barry was drawn to the album after seeing the music video of “And She Was”, directed by Jim Blashfield. Blashfield also directed a video for “The Boy in the Bubble” by Paul Simon. Blashfield named Terry Gilliam of Monty Python’s Flying Circus as a big influence. Barry also used Terry Gilliam as an influence for a sketch during his Senior Medical School Skits.
We now interrupt the show notes to report that we did not see a skink during the recording, but rather a Northern Curly-Tailed Lizard.
Abigail recalled seeing David Byrne at the Hollywood Bowl as part of KCRW’s World Music Festival. Read this review of show’s premiere on June 26, 2005, featuring David Byrne, Arcade Fire, Si*Sé, and the Extra Action Marching Band.
Abigail feels that this album “lives in the same space” in her head as “Business as Usual” by Men at Work, which we previously reviewed in “Episode #10: Drinking as Usual”.
Barry discussed that the latin music influences in this album were carried over to David Byrne’s solo work, beginning with Rei Momo. David Byrne also compiled a collection of Brazilian artists on the album “Brazil Classics 1: Beleza Tropical”.
Abigail was surprised to learn that there was a woman in Talking Heads! Not only was Tina Weymouth a brilliant part of this band (check out her work in the video for “Lady Don’t Mind”, the third single from this album), but she and her husband Chris Frantz made quite a splash with the album “Tom Tom Club” in 1981”. They made an even bigger splash with their recent auto-biograhical book about Talking Heads, “Remain in Love”.
Barry thought the lyrics to “Perfect World” had a similar structural call-back style as “Hello Goodbye” by the Beatles, “Room of our Own” by Billy Joel, and “Running to Stand Still” by U2. Yeah, that song.
Barry thought that “Television Man” told a story similar to “Being There” starring Peter Sellers, based on a Jerzy Kosiński novel.
Abigail thought the gospel choir used to open “Road to Nowhere” was similar to the acapella opening of “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” by Paul Simon.
The “Anosmia” jingle was performed by our friend, Pete Coe! You can follow this happy noisemaker on Twitter at @PeteCoeVO.
“U Talkin’ Talking Heads 2 My Talking Head” discussed this album in their Little Creatures Episode.
Up next… A Fab Four Christmas, Volume. 1 by The Fab Four
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