The Talking Animals

The Talking Animals
Studio album by T Bone Burnett
Released	1988
Studio	Sunset Sound Sounset Sound Factory
Genre	Rock and Roll
Length	40:31
Label	Columbia
Producer	David Rhodes T Bone Burnett
T Bone Burnett chronology
T-Bone Burnett (1986) The Talking Animals (1988) The Criminal Under My Own Hat (1992)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Robert Christgau	B−
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide
The Rolling Stone Album Guide

The Talking Animals is an album by T Bone Burnett, released in 1988.

The guest musicians include Peter Case, Bono, and Tonio K, among others.

Reception

Brett Hartenbach of AllMusic thought that "even with a few less than stellar songs, The Talking Animals is a strong, inspired record." Trouser Press called the album "all in all, worth hearing, though one wishes this talented jerk weren’t so impressed with himself." Robert Christgau wrote: "I hate to let the cat out of the bag, but this guy is pretentious."

Track listing

All songs by T Bone Burnett unless otherwise noted.

Side one

1. "The Wild Truth" – 3:38
2. "Monkey Dance" – 4:43
3. "Image" – 4:02
4. "Dance, Dance, Dance" – 2:45
5. "The Killer Moon" (Burnett, M. Burnett, Peter Case) – 5:00

Side two

1. "Relentless" – 3:24
2. "Euromad" – 4:21
3. "Purple Heart" (Bono, Burnett) – 4:36
4. "You Could Look It Up" – 2:41
5. "The Strange Case of Frank Cash and the Morning Paper" (Burnett, Tonio K) – 5:25

Personnel

Musicians

T Bone Burnett – guitar David Rhodes – guitar Mickey Curry – drums Tony Levin – bass Jerry Scheff – bass Tom "T-Bone" Wolk – bass Mitchell Froom – harmonium, electric piano, clavinet Tom Canning – piano Sexteto Mayor

Singers: T Bone Burnett Cait O'Riordan Ruben Blades Ludmilla Peter Case Bono Tonio K David Rhodes

Production

• Produced by David Rhodes and T Bone Burnett
• Recorded by Tchad Blake at Sunset Sound and Sunset Sound Factory with Mike Kloster
• Mastered by Bob Ludwig