Talking Heads' Fear of Music

My favorite type of critique on a particular piece of art is the one where the author uses it as a subject matter - and then goes off into the inner world of that art work - or in this case the Talking Head's album "The Fear Of Music." Jonathan Lethem tears into the album if it was a mysterious lost......more

Jonathan Lethem is both an excellent writer and, to me, and immensely annoying and smarmy guy. This is worth reading if you’re a fan of the band or the album, and many of Lethem’s criticisms and descriptions of the music were fantastic, but *god* did his voice get to me after a while.......more

I've never been an ardent Talking Heads fan but was attracted by the author. I liked the concept of listening to the album while reading along.......more

This was a tough one to rate--full disclosure, never read a book by Lethem before, though I'm aware of his reputation. I went into this one excited, both to sample his writing and also because this album is classic, and only the latter salvaged this for me. The writing was kind of all over the place......more

In my view, the best 33 1/3 books offer a potent mix of personal recollection and cool, well-researched observations about the players, sounds and contexts behind a particular album. Lethem goes all-in purely for his own personal obsessions and interpretations in the book. He certainly has the liter......more