Eno and Byrne release My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts

Brian Eno-David Byrne : Regiment

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In February of 1981, Brian Eno and David Byrne released My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, which paired the funky African polyrhythmic music both were so intrigued by with snippets from radio broadcasts and Middle Eastern singing. The album was both a prequel and a sequel to the 1980 Talking Heads album Remain In Light. Though completed before Remain In Light, Bush Of Ghost was delayed because of a legal problem with one of the voices used.

Along with "Moonlight In Glory", "Regiment" is one of the songs that made Eno happiest. 

"I think my synth solo on Regiment is possibly the best I've ever played," he told Melody Maker. "People think it's a Fripp guitar rip-off, but it really is me on synthesizer. 

 "In fact I remember Fripp once saying something like I was the best guitar player he'd heard, and I didn't even play guitar."

Both Eno and Byrne wanted to make an album that made people dance and connect on a spiritual level.

"We are both fairly disenchanted with ordinary song structures - the voice you record is invested with your own personality," Eno said. "What we wanted was to create something more mysterious, and by taking voices out of context, but featuring them dominantly as the main vocal performance, you can go on to create meaning by surrounding the voice with a musical mood."

 In some cases they use sounds from a New Orleans preacher, an exorcism, readers of the Koran and, in the above example, a Lebanese singer named Dunya Yusin. The album is named after a novel by Nigerian author Amos Tutuola 

 Years ahead of his time, Rolling Stone's Jon Pareles wrote "My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts is an undeniably awesome feat of tape editing and rhythmic ingenuity. But, like most found art, it raises stubborn questions about context, manipulation and cultural imperialism."

Robert Fripp and David Byrne team up on a "heavy" album track

Robert Fripp ( with David Byrne) : Under Heavy Manners

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In March of 1980 Robert Fripp's sabbatical from King Crimson bore new fruit with the album God Save the Queen/Under Heavy Manners. The follow-up to Exposure consists of atmospheric Frippertronic instrumentals on Side A. Side B has what Fripp called "Discotronics", more tape loops but this time with a beat. With "Under Heavy Manners", we even get lyrics sung by David Byrne (billed as Absalm el Habib), as future touring head Busta Jones plays bass:

Solipsism 
Euphemism 
Pessimism 
Pointillism 
Flagellism 
Nihilism

High Straight in Plainview

Terry Allen : Amarillo Highway

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In 1979 the multi-talented Lubbock, Texas songwriter Terry Allen released Lubbock (On Everything), regarded by fans as his masterpiece. Among those fans is David Byrne who wrote the liner notes for the album when Paradise of Bachelors reissued the album in 2016. Like Byrne, Allen is most comfortable as an outsider artist who writes songs, paints, and dabbles in musical and video. The two have become friends. 

Allen's music isn't true country. It's that West Texas sound that have us Buddy Holly, The Flatlanders, Joe ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Byrne describes the music as Americana and goes on to say:

Having sat in with Terry more than once, I know that these songs are not as easy to play as I, for one, might have assumed. Sometimes there is an “extra” bar, and sometimes there’s an “extra extra” bar, as the music often follows the lyrics and the peculiar phrasing of the singer. Terry is a storyteller, after all, and the cadence and timing of the words cue the punchlines. Though the music might be vernacular—a mix of country, Latin, and Texas rock—he blends those genres to fit his own ends. It’s familiar sounding, but at the same time something’s off, and that something is what intrigues; it’s what keeps you paying attention.

Although he had moved to Los Angeles and seen "Amarillo Highway" recorded by Bobby Bare and "New Delhi Freight Train" by Little Feat, Allen moved back to his hometown to record this double album with Joe Ely's band. It's full of cynical humor that may bring to mind Randy Newman, but Allen is one of a kind. 

As Pitchfork summed up in a recent review:

Decades after the Lubbock of Allen’s childhood has passed, this double-LP is still a powerful dreamscape, capturing a West Texas that may never have quite existed, but Lubbock (on everything) certainly makes it feel like it did.

Hold On To That Paper

Talking Heads : Paper

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By the spring of 1979 Talking Heads were ready to record their third album. They had survived an appearance on American Bandstand in March, where David Byrne sang "Take Me To The River" while the rest of the band pantomimed playing their instruments. 

After the song was over, Dick Clark headed over to interview the band. David Byrne froze up a bit. His interview reminds me of my mildly autistic son trying to answer an adult. Tina Weymouth explains "David is organically shy".

On April 22, 1979 a Record Plant truck parked outside Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth's loft ( See video below at 14:50) . Audio cables were run through the windows. This is where the band always rehearsed so why not try to record here?

Byrne has some songs all ready. One was about paper. Another one was about New York (30:15 on the video below) . A third was about air. (23:14 on the video below . Both of Tina's sisters would perform backing vocals as "The Sweetbreaths"). This time, the band really wanted producer Brian Eno to go all out and help make what would become Fear of Music the weirdest and funkiest album ever recorded.

Welcome to 1978

Dinosaur : Kiss Me Again

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Welcome to 1978, the year that brought back The Boss ( Darkness on the Edge of Town, "Fire", "Because the Night) , witnessed Brian Eno taking on some major producing roles (More Songs About Buildings and Food, Q. Are We Not Men?, No New York)  saw the blooming of New Wave (Elvis Costello, The Cars, Blondie, The Police) overran us with images of John Travolta dancing (Saturday Night Fever, Grease) , overwhelmed us with so much disco both The Rolling Stones ("Miss You") and Rod Stewart ("Do Ya Think I'm Sexy") scored dance hits and even The Who recorded a song called "Sister Disco". 

From February 4th to May 13 a Gibb brother or three were on top of the US charts, only to be pushed from #1 by a Gibb written and produced song by Yvonne Elliman. For 26 of 52 weeks, a Brothers Gibb was involved with the #1 song in the U.S. The only thing they couldn't do was make a movie called Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band worth watching.

I thought I'd start the year off with a disco number produced by avant garde musician Arthur Russell with Talking Head David Byrne jamming on electric guitar and Gloria Gaynor's rhythm section handling bass and drums. Myriam Valle is the singer. May 2018 unveil more hidden gems.

40 Year Itch : Ohhh, Ohhh Dear

Talking Heads : I Feel It In My Heart (live)

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  “As a young man I think I was mildly autistic, really. I probably had an undiagnosed case of Asperger’s Syndrome, but I grew out of it.”
-David Byrne

  David Byrne has admitted his early songs were forms of catharsis, attempts to deal with the isolation he felt in a world where every one else seemed comfortable expressing their feelings. This rare live track and the studio version can both be found on the extended version of Talking Heads '77, an album I can't live without.

Before They Fell In Love With Their Own Voices...

All artists have the right to evolve and to perfect their craft. At the risk of losing readers, I reserve the right to say I wish they hadn't.

David Byrne Before




David Byrne After



I liked when David Byrne sang out of tune. (I even liked when Tina's bass was out of tune). Now he's wearing the dreaded double earplugs and singing opera. And even so, I'm not so sure he's nailing the notes. And you may ask yourself, well, can I leave already?

Sting Before



Sting After



Sting couldn't hit those ball imploding high notes all his life but did he really have to go for baroque? The young Sting would have torn that neck-er-cheif off the old Sting too.

Elvis Costello Before




Elvis Costello After



The day Elvis started giving his lyrics an extra degree of "importance" by adding vibrato, he lost a little love here.


Michael Stipe Before




Michael Stipe After



In the early days Stipe buried his vocals and lyrics in the mix ( and his identity behind his hair). Now he's bald-- in a hip way-- his vocals are upfront and his earnestness all too apparent. Could an album of whaling songs be far behind?

who would you add to this list?