Fear of Music provides Heads'/Byrne's most explicit blueprint yet for survival in the face of paranoias—real or imagined, makes no difference…. [The] songs have a flow that makes it more immediately accessible. Byrne's a kind of Everyneurotic, wandering through the world encountering ouch-producers every step and breath he takes, relaying them back to us filtered through his sense of humor…. Fear of Music might as well have been called Fear of Everything. Show me an item extant sentient or otherwise in the world we share and I'll show you a clinically certified list of reasons why proximity to said item should be considered risky if not downright lethal….

In this album Dr. Byrne examines various popularly proposed panaceas [for the disease called life] with dissecting knife and discards them one by one.

Socialized day-to-day living in this imminent nullkreig is outlined in "Life During Wartime."… When...