By Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Released via Starbucks' Opus Collections series in 2009, Same as It Ever Was is a very good 16-track overview of Talking Heads basics. Surprisingly for a compilation geared toward mass-market casual fans, Same as It Ever Was skews a little bit toward their early art punk and not their latter-day crossover hits, with half of the set culled from their first three albums, but this is the kind of hair-splitting that is only of interest to those who already own the proper albums, all housed in Rhino's white-plastic brick. This is for the less dedicated listener and it will satisfy them, as it has "Psycho Killer," "Take Me to the River," "Life During Wartime," "Once in a Lifetime," "Burning Down the House," "This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody)," "Road to Nowhere," "Wild Wild Life," and "(Nothing But) Flowers" on one entertaining disc.