Naked
| Talking Heads
Naked
Naked is the eighth and final studio album by American rock band Talking Heads, released on March 15, 1988 by Sire Records. The band dissolved shortly after the album's release, but did not announce their breakup until 1991. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Rolling Stone
The vital human harmony suggested by the international band of players on Naked is the strongest counterpoint to the album’s pervasive themes of alienation and dread.
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Ultimate Classic Rock
Naked was big, explosive and filled with the polyrhythmic shuffles and sway that made Graceland a worldwide hit. Talking Heads even included dozens of backing musicians, who supplied various horns, percussion and keyboards to the record.
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Classic Rock Review
The four member group employed an additional twenty or so musicians of vastly different genres in order to achieve a world music sound through most of the album, making Naked the most musically diverse album by the band.
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Stereogum
At best, we have a saccharine, heavy-handed facsimile of a pop record.
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All Music
As swan songs go, Naked proves to be a pretty good one: Alternately serious and playful, it once again allows frontman David Byrne to worry about the government, the environment, and the plight of the working man as it frees up the rest of the band to trade instruments and work with guest musicians. I
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Sputnik Music
On their final studio album, Talking Heads take on old ideas, but don't execute them well enough to be enjoyed.
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The Vinyl District
Naked is not a total waste of perfectly good vinyl by any means, but it has huge problems, the biggest of which is that it’s–how to best say this?–boring. Only one song–the cosmic ecological disaster comedy “(Nothing But) Flowers”–holds its own against the best of the Talking Heads’ earlier work, and it’s a sunny outlier on this anything but perky LP.
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The Young Folks
Overall, the Heads made something that was both provocative and powerful. If listened to multiple times, you may find something satirical about it. In a world where pop music was dominating the culture, the Heads found inspiration elsewhere in the world, and created one final message for their fans.
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Spectrum Culture
Naked is still, in its own way, just as odd as their debut, 11 years prior, and in many ways quite emotionally direct for a songwriter as oblique as Byrne. Ultimately, it was a graceful way to bow out—some trumpets, but little fanfare.
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COS
Naked might be the most ambitious record of the band’s storied catalogue, with Byrne looking to combine a loose, improvisational feel with heavy, often dark subject matter.
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Mark Prindle
Naked is interesting only in that it is a desperate attempt to regain the tribal dance feel of old while clinging pathetically to the slick pop sound that made them huge stars about three years earlier.
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