Byrne's had commendable collaborations outside of Talking Heads - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, The Catherine Wheel and I'll even add The Knee Plays and The Last Emperor, all but the first done for projects that were much more than a recorded album - but otherwise I agree, his solo career has been massively disappointing.
― birdistheword, Wednesday, 21 September 2022 01:46 (one year ago) link
I should say basically every album he's done after Talking Heads split has been disappointing - I wasn't a fan of the last one with Eno or the one he did with St. Vincent.
― birdistheword, Wednesday, 21 September 2022 01:49 (one year ago) link
morrisp, it doesn't appear to happen in this press conference - at 29:36 they're asked whether they thought about reuniting after seeing the film and Weymouth wryly says "When we saw it in the studio ... we said, 'Wow! What a great band...'" Harrison jokes he hasn't seen the film yet and Byrne avoids the question altogether.
weymouth's comment is a bit more than that:
Q: has this reinspired you, seeing it again, to do something together again musically?
Weymouth: yes. when we saw it in the studio with Erik Thorngren (sp?0, who was remixing it, he said "wow, what a great band...._too bad_"
and she kind of gave a deadpan stare during the "too bad" part. i don't know though, it's hard to read her. they have a very complicated situation and, like most humans, they are incredibly ambiguous and there are a lot of different ways one could understand what she said and her intentions
― Karl Malone, Wednesday, 21 September 2022 01:51 (one year ago) link
There have been flashes of greatness--"Strange Overtones" comes immediately to mind--but in general he's just underscored the importance of the other three.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 21 September 2022 01:53 (one year ago) link
catherine wheel a very good album, indeed. not tons of fun by any measuring stick though.
― γππ π π € π ‘ π π π彑 (Austin), Wednesday, 21 September 2022 01:54 (one year ago) link
xxxp Oh yeah, Music for The Knee Plays , also for a stage production--with horn players, and "inspired by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band," also, The Last Emperor was a soundtrack, so those continue w the live and/or collaborative stimuli of his best DB albs. (I need to get back to the ones with Eno.)
― dow, Wednesday, 21 September 2022 01:55 (one year ago) link
El alma del PerΓΊ negro is an outstanding collection.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 21 September 2022 01:56 (one year ago) link
The Catherine Wheel was fun to try to dance to, or so my younger self would say.
― dow, Wednesday, 21 September 2022 01:57 (one year ago) link
Yeah, Luaka Bop released tons of great stuff.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 21 September 2022 01:57 (one year ago) link
Byrne also wrote lyrics for good album version of Philip Glass's The Photographer, based on his multimedia production.
― dow, Wednesday, 21 September 2022 02:06 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN7VRbnOm1U
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 21 September 2022 02:08 (one year ago) link
Yeah, Byrne's has had a commendable career outside of making music himself. Luaka Bop is a good label - didn't they introduce Cornershop to the U.S.?
― birdistheword, Wednesday, 21 September 2022 02:13 (one year ago) link
(didn't need that apostrophe s)
Tom Tom Club were only good for one album, but pop music is filled with one-album wonders. Don't hold it against them.
Third album is pretty good too. You can get a totally fun, solid Best Of out of the five C20th albums and b-side/soundtrack cuts.
(Haven't heard the later records.)
― Vance Vance Devolution (sic), Wednesday, 21 September 2022 02:23 (one year ago) link
(throw Damage I've Done from the The Heads album in too. sucks that they didn't get to go on and try that second album with Johnette as full-time frontwoman.)
― Vance Vance Devolution (sic), Wednesday, 21 September 2022 02:26 (one year ago) link
David Byrne got a song into Windows XP he's the most listened to artist on the planet
― frogbs, Wednesday, 21 September 2022 02:27 (one year ago) link
Hey, I'm also fond of the Franz-Weymouth-produced Ziggy Marley album
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 21 September 2022 02:30 (one year ago) link
I like that record.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 21 September 2022 02:33 (one year ago) link
everybody's just doing great
― Karl Malone, Wednesday, 21 September 2022 02:34 (one year ago) link
xxxp Thanks for the tips, sic---"the five C20th": you mean they did five albums in the 20th Century?
I wrote a Voice piece (yes, one for every thread) about Luaka Bop's 15-track celebratory retrospective,Twenty First Century Twenty First Year---archived here with comments about a few more later LB releases:https://thefreelancementalists.blogspot.com/2009/07/luaka-being-and-boppingness.html
― dow, Wednesday, 21 September 2022 02:35 (one year ago) link
Adrian Belew was on Maron yesterday and mentions picking up a yet another sampling check for "Genius" (Latto - Big Energy).
― put their faith in a god-fearing man selling them tiny homes (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 21 September 2022 03:22 (one year ago) link
Belew was on Tom Tom Club and Jerry solo records but never on a Byrne solo record, I think?
― put their faith in a god-fearing man selling them tiny homes (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 21 September 2022 03:25 (one year ago) link
belew was on the catherine wheel
― ufo, Wednesday, 21 September 2022 03:26 (one year ago) link
Ah of course. In the interview, Belew jumps from Remain to Tom Tom Club to solo Jerry.
― put their faith in a god-fearing man selling them tiny homes (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 21 September 2022 03:29 (one year ago) link
tbh there are too many albums to discuss in this interview and some of the best and most detailed bits are about his cincinnati beatles cover band.
― put their faith in a god-fearing man selling them tiny homes (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 21 September 2022 03:32 (one year ago) link
definitely give byrne props for luaka bop stuff.
― γππ π π € π ‘ π π π彑 (Austin), Wednesday, 21 September 2022 03:34 (one year ago) link
Belew also talked about his good relationship with Jerry and playing on the Crash Test Dummies record, which I missed in the Jerry thread.
― put their faith in a god-fearing man selling them tiny homes (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 21 September 2022 03:41 (one year ago) link
Thanks for the tips, sic---"the five C20th": you mean they did five albums in the 20th Century?Thatβs right. I might try and relisten this week to see if I really can throw together a good C80 and YSI to Leo. Have never heard the unreleased new EP that got added to the US version of the third album!
― Vance Vance Devolution (sic), Wednesday, 21 September 2022 05:34 (one year ago) link
has it been mentioned that belew and jerry harrison are playing together at hardly strictly bluegrass? https://www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com/artist/jerry-harrison-adrian-belew-remain-in-light/
― Thus Sang Freud, Wednesday, 21 September 2022 09:13 (one year ago) link
Speaking of former punk guys showing up as producers on '90s albums: Belew produced Jars of Clay.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 21 September 2022 09:22 (one year ago) link
The band is promoting a new website "with music, videos, photos, merch and bios written personally by David, Chris, Tina and Jerry."
Byrne's peronally written bio is brief, but mentions Frantz several times (Providence: "I believe Chris suggested we put a band together to play at school dances"; Manhattan: "Seeing bands playing original music at our local bar (CBGB) I believe Chris suggested we form a new band and audition once we had enough material.")
Frantz's bio is longer, but his recollections square with Byrne's ("I invited some of my friends to form a band to play at school parties and dances. One of those guys was David Byrne. [...] Tina and I graduated from RISD in 1974 and moved to New York City where we reunited with David and moved into a raw loft at 195 Christie Street. I asked David to form a new band").
So fwiw, Byrne seems to be giving credit where due there.
Harrison's bio lists his production credits! ("Crash Test Dummies, Live, The Violent Femmes, The Bodeans, Poi Dog Pondering, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, The Verve Pipe, Rusted Root, O.A.R, The String Cheese Incident, Stroke 9, Josh Joplin, The Von Bondies...")
― "Cool ranch dressing!" (morrisp), Thursday, 22 September 2022 20:10 (one year ago) link
They all seem determined to play nice. Tina credits David for teaching her "the basics of rock song structures."
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 22 September 2022 20:14 (one year ago) link
btw - that site has tons of rapidly flashing images, if you're sensitive to / irritated by those (as I am)
― "Cool ranch dressing!" (morrisp), Thursday, 22 September 2022 20:15 (one year ago) link
seen and not seen
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 22 September 2022 20:35 (one year ago) link
A more hooked nose
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 22 September 2022 21:00 (one year ago) link
Website seems pretty nice. Despite their feud, they've all been good at maintaining their back catalog and doing whatever needs to be done to keep their legacy visible (short of reuniting and touring). IIRC all four are always involved in their reissues, whether it's Stop Making Sense or the two box sets they've put out.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 22 September 2022 21:12 (one year ago) link
I wonder how they share profits. Cheap Trick, for example, Bun E. is no longer in the band, but he's essentially a co-owner of the band that still gets a cut. Same with the members of Journey, many of whom are long gone but still make money from Journey tours, iirc.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 22 September 2022 21:20 (one year ago) link
Jerry was interviewed by Maron a couple months ago too. Very good interview - especially for the Jonathan Richman stories. Byrne remains an enigma. Also, I had no idea Harrison had worked with Stephen Jay Gould at Harvard?https://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-1351-jerry-harrison
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 22 September 2022 21:25 (one year ago) link
after my startup is funded, we'll all own a share or two of the next Journey tour.
― put their faith in a god-fearing man selling them tiny homes (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 23 September 2022 02:35 (one year ago) link
and Talking Heads Reunion Tour contracts. We could write and sell them to naive young fans that don't understand -- David does not value friendship.
― put their faith in a god-fearing man selling them tiny homes (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 23 September 2022 02:44 (one year ago) link
Excellent interview. Harrison involved in a start-up for antivenom!
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 23 September 2022 12:16 (one year ago) link
but will it work on Chris' words?
― put their faith in a god-fearing man selling them tiny homes (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 23 September 2022 14:23 (one year ago) link
You can get a totally fun, solid Best Of out of the five C20th albums and b-side/soundtrack cuts.
Tom Tom Club track for the Party Girl soundtrack was discussed on its own thread years ago but it deserves a re-up here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbfPBPu0mSk
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Friday, 23 September 2022 15:47 (one year ago) link
Today I learned about the CD+G Museum, which collects the video files of graphics-enhanced CDs that were around for a heartbeat in the late 80s and early 90s. Always wondered what was going on in my copy of Talking Heads' "Naked." https://t.co/YiQFrOG9te— Mark Athitakis (@mathitak) September 23, 2022
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 23 September 2022 18:31 (one year ago) link