CD: Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Artist: David Byrne and Brian Eno
Label: Todo Mundo



Reviewed by David Ward,
Host of Afternoon Edition

Listen to samples from Everything That Happens Will Happen Today:
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Life Is Long
Strange Overtones
One Fine Day

When the road we travel on
Takes us back where we come from
I'm counting all the possibilities
For dancing on this lazy afternoon

(lyrics from "My Big Nurse," a song from the new album by David Byrne and Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today)

Back in my early 20's, I couldn't stop myself from playing over and over and over again a series of recordings by Talking Heads (More Songs About Buildings and Food, Fear of Music, Remain In Light). The music on those albums was adventurous and accessible, the lyrics were an intriguing mix of slightly strange narrative and somewhat fragmented stream-of-consciousness observations about the human condition, and the band's lead singer, David Byrne, had managed to somehow combine the nervous nerd and the supercool hipster in a voice that exuded confidence and optimism yet contained tones of fragility and humbleness. Looking through the fine print I discovered that the guy who helped produce those records and who played many different instruments on all three records was a guy named Brian Eno who had once been part of Roxy Music. The Byrne and Eno partnership created a couple of records outside the TH sphere including their crowning achievement - the experimental masterpiece My Life In the Bush of Ghosts which fused the voices of radio evangelists and Muslim devotional singers with ethereal ambient soundscapes and driving funk-infused new world beats. An absolutely brilliant LP but this was way back in 1981 and it marked the end of the first flowering of their partnership.

In the 25 years since their last formal collaboration David has gone on to write scores for dance productions and motion pictures; founded a record label which made available to western ears the exotic yet attractive sounds of musicians from Latin America, Asia, and Africa; won an Academy Award for his musical contributions to Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor; curated shows at art galleries around the world; and recorded seven albums of his own songs. Meanwhile, Brian Eno has had a huge impact on popular music by working behind the scenes as a producer working with some of the biggest names and creating numerous landmark albums for David Bowie (Low), U2 (Joshua Tree), and Coldplay (Viva La Vida) among others. If you're unfamiliar with the scope of Byrne and Eno's artistic explorations, you'll be well rewarded for digging a little deeper into their biographies.

An innocent dinner conversation a few years ago ended up sparking the necessary conditions for the two of them to think about making a new album. Over the past few decades, it turns out that Eno had amassed a storehouse of instrumental music that was in need of a melodies and lyrics. Byrne jumped at the chance to work together again. The results confirm that they have lost none of their collaborative magic and Everything That Happens Will Happen Today is a joyous celebration brimming with Eno's rich & sophisticated musical ideas, pristine yet funky production, and Byrne's alluring voice singing out another batch of confounding and concise lyrics. Strangely enough, this album wouldn't have sounded out of place had it arrived as a follow-up to any of those great albums I mentioned earlier. That's not to say ETHWHT is some kind of retro sounding record. Rather, I think it speaks volumes about the possibilities inherent in visionary collaborative relationships that are not frozen in time but, instead, remain powered by imagination, grounded with patience and tempered by wisdom.

Your song still needs a chorus
I know you'll figure it out
The rising of the verses
A change of key will let you out

(lyrics from "Strange Overtones," another song from the new album by David Byrne and Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today)

p.s. The new year brings David Byrne and these new songs to Alberta with performances in Edmonton and Calgary in February!