Neither of the parties responsible for this album shies away from collaboration. Even taking his work as a producer out of the picture, Brian Eno seems to thrive on a collaborative atmosphere, as can be heard on work with John Cale, Jah Wobble, Daniel Lanois, Bill Laswell, Robert Wyatt, and scads of others. David Byrne’s no slouch either, having lent his pipes and trademark quirk to the likes of Cafe Tacuba, Caetano Veloso, and Selena. Oh, and Eno once did an album with that Byrne guy, who did a disc with the selfsame Mr. Eno, which was something of a classic.
That doesn’t mean, of course, that the second time out will be as satisfying. Does anyone even remember the name of the film that reunited the cast of A Fish Called Wanda? I don’t. And it was terrible, so I’m not exactly on tenterhooks waiting to be reminded. Ditto the excerable M*A*S*H* spinoff that wedded a handful of cast members and a C-list writing staff, with predictable results. The Buzzcocks, first time around? Phenomenal. Second time? Well, not so much.
So chemistry is a rare and fleeting thing. Even when two (or more) artists gel the first time around, there’s nothing to garauntee that the second coming will have the same spark. The last time that David Byrne and Brian Eno graced the same studio, the result was the groundbreaking, funky, and sometimes disturbed My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Now, nearly thirty years later, they’ve reunited, and the best news is that Everything That Happens doesn’t sound anything like its worthy predecessor.
Ghosts, first issued in 1981 and rereleased on Nonesuch a few years back–remastered and expanded–was like lightning caught in a bottle, or at least on wax. In contrast to the overly-cerebral sound of so much of Eno’s work, it was fluid and decidedly unselfconscious. Byrne, on the other hand, indulged a darker, more experimental side that’d only been hinted at on Fear of Music and Remain in Light. It wouldn’t be too much of an exaggeration to say that some artists, in fact entire genres of music, might not have existed if not for this album, from the cut-and-paste esthetic of hip hop through to several varieties of ethno-something.
Everything isn’t quite as ambitious as Ghosts, but that’s not to its detriment. As the liner notes explain, the genesis of the album took place over a few years, as Eno happened to mention to Byrne that he had some unfinished songs laying about, and Byrne offered to take a crack at finishing them off. What’s resulted is something closer in spirit (and sound) to Eno’s collaboration with John Cale (Wrong Way Up), on which Eno’s cerebral side was tempered by a sense of optimism, and signs of soul percolating beneath a shimmering surface. Think of it as the sound of a bald guy letting his hair down.
Byrne’s usual wit is on full display, his lyrical stylings aiding and abetting something that’s light-years from Eno’s usual ambient noodlings. I could pick out individual tracks, quote the snappier or snazzier bits of the lyrics, but all the description in the world doesn’t do much to tell you what you’re dealing with, especially where these two are involved. Suffice to say that this is very nearly a pop album, with even the more atmospheric bits having a certain beguiling Head-nod to them, and others displaying a kind of jagged funk that wouldn’t be out of place on a dancefloor for the slightly spastic.
So when all’s said and done, is this as good an album as My Life in the Bush of Ghosts? Oh, hell no. But both musicians set the bar pretty high with that album which, remember, capped a sequence that included More Songs About Buildings and Food, Fear of Music, and Remain in Light. That’s an intimidating feat for anyone to try and match. However, if you take away that yardstick, and approach this set on its own terms, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. This is the sound of two guys with nothing left to prove to anyone but themselves, who sound as though they set out to do nothing more than make a good record. In that, they’ve succeeded.
Everything That Happens microsite
“Strange Overtones” free download (from Amazon, safe and legal)
Brian Eno on the web
David Byrne on the web