Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

by

David Byrne and Brian Eno

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When David Byrne was the keynote speaker at Austin's South By Southwest Conference a couple of years ago, he did a presentation called "Record Companies, who needs them?". The point of his presentation was that this age of rampant digital file sharing presents challenges and opportunities for artists to reinvent the way they release their music, and record companies better figure out a different business model, or get left in the digital dust.

Well, as the saying goes, Mr. Byrne put his money where his mouth was, and released "Everything" digitally on his own imprint.

It's been phenomenally successful. As he predicted in his keynote address, he and Brian Eno have been putting about 80%, instead of 12 or 15% of the profits in their own pockets.

Byrne embarked on his current tour in support of the album a couple of weeks after its release. In doing so, he followed the second prong of his keynote address: After releasing the record, start making the big money on the road. Aside from undoubtedly being very lucrative, the tour has gotten nearly universal positive acclaim by critics and fans alike. I've seen two of the shows so far, and currently have tickets to a third show, if that tells you anything.

Now to the record itself. So much has been written on websites all over the internets since its digital release, that it's almost superfluous to do a review, but here it goes:

As the story goes, Eno had the basic tracks, sent them by email to Byrne, whose task was to add melodies and lyrics. "Strange Overtones" celebrates that process:

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

Eno was a de facto fifth member of Talking Heads on the group's second, third, and fourth albums. As the review taken from Rolling Stone above says, they also collaborated on "My life in the Bush of Ghosts", and on a couple of tracks from "The Catherine Wheel".

This record doesn't necessarily sound specifically like any one of those records, yet Byrne's inimitable signature is indelibly engraved on it, just as it is on all his post Talking Heads records.

Most of Byrne's solo records are pretty solid (granted, some more so than others), but "Everything" is probably the best post Talking Heads album he's done. Since it's a collaboration with Eno, it's often been compared to the three Talking Heads records and "Life in the Bush of Ghosts".

After having listened to "Everything" maybe a half dozen times, and hearing bits and pieces of Talking Heads era influences along with post Talking Heads influences, it finally dawned on me that the record it resembles most is not a Byrne/Eno or Talking Heads record, but instead the 1990 record Eno released with John Cale of Velvet Underground fame called "Wrong Way Up", so check that out. Byrne has described "Everything" as "electronic gospel". Both "Wrong Way Up" and "Everything.." do have a very uplifting sound, and would sound great in a church or cathedral.

The song "One fine day" was inspired by the book "What is the what", which is about a young Sudanese man who made an amazing journey to America and made a new life for himself.

As this historic election approached, Byrne began saying we could all make November 4 "One fine day" before he played the song live. Yes We Did, and the song stands as a beautiful example of many of Byrne's songs which are born with one meaning, and evolve into an entirely different meaning after their release.

"Everything" is already making its way to several "Best of 2008" lists. It's definitely high up on mine.

On "Everything", Byrne's voice is stronger than it's ever been, and the show is a real joy.

Great record.

This is a HUGE disappointment considering the hype leading up to its release, plus the fact that the tour supporting the album was such a success (watch snippets of the tour on YouTube) -- not to mention the great collabotations previously forged by Byrne and Eno on Talking Heads albums. I also thought that given the rather good quality of Eno's "Another Day," and Byrne's recent efforts, albeit uneven over the years, "Everythig That Happens" would be great stuff. But after two listenings this CD has already made its way into my vast collection of soon-to-be forgotten new releases purchased out of loyalty or promise. If you want staying power, download "Strange Overtones" (it's free right now on Amazon) and add it to a mix of your favorite Byrne/Heads tunes. That should keep you going at least until Byrne's next project, which we hope incorporates a driving rhythm section.