Listen to the beat

Bohannon : Bohannon's Beat

[Purchase]

I was interviewing David Byrne Saturday about his Imelda Marcos disco opera "Here Lies Love" coming to Seattle in the Spring, and our conversation veered into the former First Lady's love of disco, which lead to my confession that I only recently discovered and now adore Donna Summer's A Love Trilogy even though I was firmly on the Rock side of the Rock vs Disco debate back in the day. But I'm still listening to Donna Summer and I'm listening a lot to Bohannon. 

   "Bohannon? He's the minimalist ," the Talking Heads founder said. 

   He's also the artist celebrated in the Tom Tom Club's most famous song "Genius of Love", though I forgot that fact when the name slipped out.

  Yes, Bohannon was a minimalist. All about that beat. That chicken scratch guitar. And no more than one chord if he could help it. ( I could have sworn he was the disco artist with the biggest influence on Talking Heads but perhaps not). From 1976, this is "Bohannon's Beat" from an album whose title could have only come from the disco era, Dance Your Ass Off.

I'll have more about my David Byrne interview later.