A Slight Delay

It certainly sounds like a great idea: bring together two DJ’s, one from North America and one from South America, along with about forty guests. Simmer for four years, and then unleash upon an eager public. In practice… well, that’s something else again. The Spirit of Apollo sounds, and feels, like a frustrating relic of what might have been, but wasn’t quite.

For the most part, the results smolder, but never fully come alight. It’s not for lack of talent. Producers/DJ’s Squeak E. Clean and Zegon are competent, and on those occasions that things click, it’s because of collaborations that work precisely because they’re counterintuitive; if putting David Byrne and Seu Jorge alongside Gift of Gab and Chali 2na (as on “The People Tree” and “Money”) is cool, pairing Tom Waits with Kool Keith on “Spacious Thoughts” is downright inspired. However, some of the disc’s other combinations come off as a form of musical stunt casting, as with the ubiquitous Kanye West and Wu Tang cameos (the fact that O.D.B. appears here gives you an idea of about how long this disc has been in the works). There are some gems here, but you’ve got to pan through an awful lot of averageness to find them. (more…)

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. (more…)