ALBUM REVIEW

DAVID BYRNE

“Uh-Oh”

Luaka Bop/Sire

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David Byrne got lumped into a sly Spy magazine piece last year on the supposed “Faux Naif” movement in art, a derogatory stereotype that’s obviously had no effect on his work. If anything, “Uh-Oh” is far more riddled with whimsy than his other recent projects, with a return to the kind of goofy vocal mannerisms that characterized the earliest T-Heads albums meeting up with the exuberant Latin pop he’s dived into of late. It’s as if he sloughed off the burdensome onus of sophisticated multicultural tour guide to get back to basics, but managed to hold on to all the fun souvenirs from his travels anyway.

The Latin touches--notably salsa-flavored horns--recall the last Heads album, “Naked,” albeit with a far lighter touch. Less noticeably, featherweight strings and reeds pop in and out quickly like carefree neighbors. Byrne isn’t afraid to let old-fashioned four-piece rock elements drive the songs again, either, and the noodling synthesizer that gurgles under the chorus of “Girls on My Mind” may remind you less of CeliaCruz territory than the pop oldie “Sugar Shack.”

If anything, the album probably stays on too frothy a musical level, even in its darkest moments--less a purposeful expression of irony, it’d seem, than of the fact that Byrne was having too much fun putting together neat-o arrangements. The tempos bubble along with almost annoyingly unerring cheerfulness whether Byrne is cursing God (“Something Ain’t Right”), describing a lovers’ spat (“She’s Mad”) or just waxing cute on transsexualism (“Now I’m Your Mom”).

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four (excellent).