Byrne and Eno: Together Again

Brian Eno and David Byrne – “Very, Very Hungry”
(from My Life in the Bush of Ghosts)

David Byrne and Brian Eno – “Strange Overtones”
(from Everything That Happens Will Happen Today)

Brian Eno and John Cale – “One Word”
(from Wrong Way Up)

“Strange Overtones,” the first song off Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, the latest collaboration between David Byrne and Brian Eno, was made available on the album’s website yesterday, and a few things are instantly noticeable:

1. It sounds nothing like their previous collaboration, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Thank God. Be honest: despite all the gushing reevaluations the album received for upping its hipness cache by making the individual tracks available for digital remixing, the pseudo-political collages set to world music beats isn’t exactly the sort of vibe you get down to very often. It was an interesting album, but it didn’t come close to the greatness of either of their respective personal discographies.

2. Brian Eno no longer takes top billing. Why is that? It definitely sounds more like an Eno song. (I realize that’s a somewhat dubious claim to make, considering how many years Byrne spent imitating Eno and Eno spent imitating Byrne to the point that their respective idiosyncracies have become hard to distinguish, but I’m going with my gut on this one.)

3. Actually, this really reminds me of the sorely underrated 1990 collaboration between Brian Eno and John Cale, Wrong Way Up. Now there’s a match-up where you’d expect the two egotistical, experimental producers to concoct a dense, unlistenable ambient mess, but instead they pulled out a remarkably straightforward and enjoyable pop record. It’s a surprisingly pleasant and mostly excellent record that I’ve been revisiting a lot this year; well worth checking out if you’re a fan of either Eno or Cale. Now, is it too much to hope for a mega-collab between Byrne, Eno, and Cale one day? Probably.

At any rate, David Byrne has announced the tour dates for his upcoming “Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno” tour, sans Eno. Amazingly, he’s swinging by St. Louis and only a short drive away from Detroit (hey, Ann Arbor is a heckuva lot better than Plymouth, or whatever sinkhole is stealing your shows these days). Dates after the jump.

David Byrne’s “Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno” Tour

09-16 Bethlehem, PA – Zoellner Arts Center
09-17 Baltimore, MD – Lyric
09-18 Newport News, VA – Ferguson Center for the Arts
09-20 Atlanta, GA – Chastain Park Amphitheatre
09-21 Asheville, NC – Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
09-22 Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
09-23 Memphis, TN – Orpheum Theatre
09-25 Austin, TX – Paramount
09-26 Austin, TX – Zilker Park (Austin City Limits Festival)
09-28 Albuquerque, NM – Kiva Auditorium
09-30 Phoenix, AZ – Orpheum Theatre
10-02 San Diego, CA – Humphreys Concerts by the Bay
10-03 Los Angeles, CA – Greek Theatre
10-04 Santa Barbara, CA – Arlington Theatre
10-06 San Francisco, CA – Davies Symphony Hall
10-08 Santa Rosa, CA – Wells Fargo Center for the Arts
10-11 Park City, UT – Eccles Center for the Performing Arts
10-12 Denver, CO – Buell Theater
10-14 Minneapolis, MN – State Theater
10-15 Milwaukee, WI – Pabst Theater
10-17 Omaha, NE – Kiewit Concert Hall
10-18 St. Louis, MO – Fox Theatre
10-19 Kansas City, MO – Uptown Theatre
10-21 Louisville, KY – Palace Theater
10-23 Cleveland, OH – Allen Theatre
10-24 Ann Arbor, MI – Michigan Theater
10-25 Indianapolis, IN – Clowes Memorial Hall
10-26 Chicago, IL – Civic Opera House
10-29 Toronto, Ontario – Massey Hall
10-30 Montreal, Quebec – Metropolis
10-31 Boston, MA – Wang Center
11-01 Atlantic City, NJ – Borgata
11-03 Red Bank, NJ – Count Basie Theatre
11-05 Albany, NY – Empire State Plaza
11-07 Pittsburgh, PA – Carnegie Music Hall
11-08 Philadelphia, PA – Tower Theatre