Little Creatures
Little Creatures | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by Talking Heads | ||||
Released | June 10, 1985 | |||
Recorded | October 1984 – March 1985 | |||
Studio | Sigma Sound Studios in Manhattan | |||
Genre | New wave, pop[1] | |||
Length | 38:38 | |||
Label | Warner Bros./Sire (US/Canada) EMI (UK/Europe) | |||
Producer | Talking Heads | |||
Talking Heads chronology | ||||
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Singles from Little Creatures | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
---|---|
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Chicago Tribune | [2] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [3] |
Hot Press | 11/12[4] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [5] |
Spin Alternative Record Guide | 8/10[6] |
The Village Voice | A[7] |
Little Creatures is the sixth studio album by American new wave band Talking Heads, released in June 1985. The album examines themes of Americana and incorporates elements of country music, with many of the songs featuring steel guitar. It was voted as the best album of the year in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll and is the band's biggest-selling studio album, with over two million copies sold in the US.
The cover art was created by outsider artist Howard Finster, and was selected as album cover of the year by Rolling Stone magazine.
In 2005, it was remastered and re-released by Warner Music Group on their Warner Bros./Sire Records/Rhino Records labels in DualDisc format, with three bonus tracks on the CD side (early versions of "Road To Nowhere" and "And She Was" and an extended mix of "Television Man"). The DVD-Audio side includes both stereo and 5.1 surround high resolution (96 kHz/24bit) mixes, as well as a Dolby Digital version and the videos of "And She Was" and "Road to Nowhere." In Europe, it was released as a CD+DVDA two disc set rather than a single DualDisc. The reissue was produced by Andy Zax with Talking Heads.
Contents
1 Track listing
2 Personnel
2.1 Talking Heads
2.2 Additional musicians
2.3 Recording
3 Charts
3.1 Weekly charts
3.2 Year-end charts
3.3 Decade-end charts
3.4 Singles
3.5 Certifications and sales
4 References
Track listing
All tracks written by David Byrne, except where noted.
Side one | |||
---|---|---|---|
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
1. | "And She Was" | 3:36 | |
2. | "Give Me Back My Name" | Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth | 3:20 |
3. | "Creatures of Love" | 4:12 | |
4. | "The Lady Don't Mind" | Byrne, Frantz, Harrison, Weymouth | 4:03 |
5. | "Perfect World" | Byrne, Frantz | 4:26 |
Side two | ||
---|---|---|
No. | Title | Length |
6. | "Stay Up Late" | 3:51 |
7. | "Walk It Down" | 4:42 |
8. | "Television Man" | 6:10 |
9. | "Road to Nowhere" | 4:19 |
1985 UK CD Bonus Track | ||
---|---|---|
No. | Title | Length |
10. | "The Lady Don't Mind" (Extended Mix) | 6:51 |
2005 reissue bonus tracks | ||
---|---|---|
No. | Title | Length |
10. | "Road to Nowhere" (Early version) | 4:37 |
11. | "And She Was" (Early version) | 3:36 |
12. | "Television Man" (Extended mix) | 7:52 |
Personnel
Talking Heads
David Byrne – guitar, vocals
Chris Frantz – drums
Jerry Harrison – keyboards, guitar, backing vocals
Tina Weymouth – bass guitar, backing vocals
Additional musicians
- Ellen Bernfeld – backing vocals on "Perfect World" and "Walk It Down"
- Andrew Cader – washboard on "Road to Nowhere"
- Erin Dickens – backing vocals on "Television Man" and "Road to Nowhere"
- Diva Gray – backing vocals on "Road to Nowhere"
- Gordon Grody – backing vocals
- Lani Groves – backing vocals
- Jimmy Macdonell – accordion on "Road to Nowhere"
Lenny Pickett – saxophones- Steve Scales – percussion
Naná Vasconcelos – percussion on "Perfect World"
Eric Weissberg – steel guitar on "Creatures of Love" and "Walk It Down"- Kurt Yahijian – backing vocals
Recording
- Jack Skinner – mastering
- Eric Thorngren – engineer, mixing
- Melanie West – second engineer
Charts
|
Chart (1985) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Kent Music Report[8] | 2 |
Austrian Albums Chart[9] | 4 |
Canadian RPM Albums Chart[10] | 18 |
German Albums Chart[11] | 9 |
New Zealand Albums Chart[12] | 1 |
Norwegian Albums Chart[13] | 16 |
Swedish Albums Chart[14] | 10 |
Swiss Albums Chart[15] | 14 |
UK Albums Chart[16] | 10 |
US Billboard 200[17] | 20 |
Year-end charts
Chart (1985) | Position |
---|---|
Australian Albums Chart[18] | 7 |
New Zealand Albums Chart[19] | 5 |
Chart (1986) | Position |
---|---|
Australian Albums Chart[20] | 17 |
Decade-end charts
Chart (1980–89) | Position |
---|---|
Australian Albums Chart[8] | 21 |
Singles
Year | Song | Peak | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
US | UK | AU | ||
1985 | "The Lady Don't Mind" | — | 81 | 24 |
"Road To Nowhere" | 105 | 6 | 16 | |
"And She Was" | 54 | 17 | 10 |
Certifications and sales
Region | Certification | Certified units/Sales |
---|---|---|
Germany (BVMI)[21] | Gold | 250,000^ |
United States (RIAA)[22] | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI)[23] | Gold | 100,000^ |
*sales figures based on certification alone |
References
^ ab Ruhlmann, William. "Little Creatures – Talking Heads". AllMusic. Retrieved February 4, 2016..mw-parser-output cite.citationfont-style:inherit.mw-parser-output qquotes:"""""""'""'".mw-parser-output code.cs1-codecolor:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registrationcolor:#555.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration spanborder-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-errordisplay:none;font-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-errorfont-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-formatfont-size:95%.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-leftpadding-left:0.2em.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-rightpadding-right:0.2em
^ Kot, Greg (May 6, 1990). "Talking Heads On The Record". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 8, 2015.
^ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-85712-595-8.
^ Stokes, Dermot (July 5, 1985). "Little Creatures". Hot Press. Archived from the original on February 21, 2002. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
^ Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Talking Heads". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 802–03. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
^ Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig, eds. (1995). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. p. 394. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
^ Christgau, Robert (July 30, 1985). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
^ ab Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
^ "Talking Heads – Little Creatures". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
^ "RPM Canadian Charts". Retrieved 15 April 2017.
^ "Talking Heads – Little Creatures". charts.de. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
^ "Talking Heads – Little Creatures". charts.org.nz. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
^ "Talking Heads – Little Creatures'". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
^ "Talking Heads – Little Creatures'". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
^ "Talking Heads – Little Creatures'". swisscharts.com. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
^ "Talking Heads – Little Creatures'". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
^ "Billboard 200 August 3, 1985". Billboard.
^ "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – 1985". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
^ "The Official New Zealand Music Charts: End of Year Charts – 1985". Retrieved 15 April 2017.
^ "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – 1986". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Talking Heads; 'Little creatures')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
^ "American album certifications – Talking Heads – Little creatures". Recording Industry Association of America.
If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH.
^ "British album certifications – Talking Heads – Little creatures". British Phonographic Industry.
Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Little creatures in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.