Little Creatures

Little Creatures is the sixth studio album by American rock band Talking Heads, released on June 10, 1985 by Sire Records. The album examines themes of Americana and incorporates elements of country music, with many 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 best-selling studio album, with over two million copies sold in the United States. The cover art was created by outsider artist Howard Finster, and was selected as album cover of the year by Rolling Stone.

This article is about the Talking Heads album. For the Australian brewery, see Little Creatures Brewery.
Little Creatures
Studio album by
Talking Heads
ReleasedJune 10, 1985
RecordedOctober 1984 – March 1985
StudioSigma Sound, New York City
Genre
Length38:38
LabelSire
ProducerTalking Heads
Talking Heads chronology
Stop Making Sense
(1984)		 Little Creatures
(1985)		 True Stories
(1986)
Singles from Little Creatures
  1. "The Lady Don't Mind"
    Released: 1985
  2. "Road to Nowhere"
    Released: September 1985
  3. "And She Was"
    Released: December 1985
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Chicago Tribune[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[3]
Hot Press11/12[4]
Pitchfork8.0/10[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[6]
Spin Alternative Record Guide8/10[7]
The Village VoiceA[8]

Track listing

All tracks are written by David Byrne, except where noted.

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."And She Was" 3:36
2."Give Me Back My Name"Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth3:20
3."Creatures of Love" 4:12
4."The Lady Don't Mind"Byrne, Frantz, Harrison, Weymouth4:03
5."Perfect World"Byrne, Frantz4:26
Side two
No.TitleLength
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.TitleLength
10."The Lady Don't Mind" (Extended Mix)6:51
2005 reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
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

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

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 CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia — 150,000[22]
Germany (BVMI)[23] Gold 250,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[24] Platinum 15,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[25] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[26] 2× Platinum 2,000,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

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References
  1. Ruhlmann, William. "Little Creatures – Talking Heads". AllMusic. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  2. Kot, Greg (May 6, 1990). "Talking Heads On The Record". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 8, 2015.
  3. Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-85712-595-8.
  4. Stokes, Dermot (July 5, 1985). "Little Creatures". Hot Press. Archived from the original on February 21, 2002. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  5. Bloom, Madison (April 23, 2020). "Talking Heads: Little Creatures". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  6. Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Talking Heads". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 802–03. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  7. Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig, eds. (1995). "Talking Heads". Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. p. 394. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  8. Christgau, Robert (July 30, 1985). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  9. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  10. "Talking Heads – Little Creatures". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  11. "RPM Canadian Charts". Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  12. "Talking Heads – Little Creatures". charts.de. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  13. "Talking Heads – Little Creatures". charts.nz. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  14. "Talking Heads – Little Creatures'". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  15. "Talking Heads – Little Creatures'". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  16. "Talking Heads – Little Creatures'". swisscharts.com. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  17. "Talking Heads – Little Creatures'". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  18. "Talking Heads Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard.com. 2019. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019.
  19. "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – 1985". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  20. "The Official New Zealand Music Charts: End of Year Charts – 1985". Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  21. "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – 1986". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  22. Barker, Glenn A. (9 November 1985). "Majors (Australia Spotlight)". Billboard. p. A-26. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  23. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Talking Heads; 'Little Creatures')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  24. "New Zealand album certifications – Talking Heads – Little Creatures". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  25. "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.
  26. "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. 
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