Review: Talking Heads

Review: Talking Heads

Talking Heads "Brick": Aidin Vaziri | Three years ago, Talking Heads were inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, ahead of the Sex Pistols, Stooges and, yes, even Lynyrd Skynyrd. This lavish box set -- containing all eight of the New York band's studio albums in DualDisc format, with rare photos and exhaustive liner notes -- explains why. Get past the irritating pop hits like "Burning Down the House" and "Once in a Lifetime," and what comes up is a band that innovated at every turn, matching fluid African rhythms with a punk sensibility and art school education. They revolutionized rock not only with David Byrne's oversize suits but also with an anything-goes sense of adventure in college radio classics like "Crosseyed and Painless" and "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" that still inspires. If Franz Ferdinand and the Arcade Fire aren't signing over their royalty checks, something isn't right.