Customer Reviews

Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

Brian Eno has a long history of assisting and inspiring other artists to create some of their greatest works (U2, Coldplay, David Bowie, James, Paul Simon, John Cale, and, of course, The Talking Heads, all spring to mind), and his collaboration with David Byrne on EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS WILL HAPPEN TODAY is no exception.

In many ways, this is the freshest sounding and most directly impacting album of David Byrne's exceptional (and exceptionally overlooked) solo career. Eno describes his musical arrangements here as simple but inviting, and this is the perfect way to put it. The music is also lush, clever, and intoxicating, and it clearly inspired Byrne to deliver some of his most soulful and appealing performances ever.

Having heard the record a half-dozen times already (and having seen a show from the celebrated concert tour), I can safely say that I consider at least 8 out of the 11 songs a perfect 5 out of 5 stars. Only the last couple songs seem to lose some steam, although they are only pale in comparison to the great tracks preceding them.

I suggest checking out the song, "Strange Overtones" (which, according to another reviewer, is available free here on Amazon), one of the major stand-outs from the album. DB opens his concerts with this song, and it's the perfect way to introduce new listeners to the distinctive soundscape of ETHWHT.

Anyways, I was pretty annoyed and disappointed to see the tangle of rotten reviews for this record, and I have to wonder why such a great artist as David Byrne attracts so many embittered spammers. This isn't to say that every bad review is a spam, but most of the bad reviews here struck me as uninformed and truly uninspired nonsense. But you can be the judge about that, I guess.

Check this album out - it's one of my favorites from '08, and probably David Byrne's (and Brian Eno's) best yet.

David Byrne. Brian Eno. Together again. 'Strange Overtones' may be the best single of the year, period. It does sound like a mishmash of leftover 90's samples, but that's because it's what it is. It even references that fact in it's own lyrics. "This groove is out of fashion/These beats are 20 years old." Still, it's incredibly catchy, charming, poppy and intelligent and against all odds, sounds very fresh.

Everyone digs Byrne and the Talking Heads, but I never counted myself as a huge fan of his music, more of a fan of his label Luaka Bop. My vanilla attitude made this record that much sweeter in that it blindsided me. The album has lots of bizarre blips and pops, weird pacing, abstract lyrics... the whole thing is very unconventional, and in this time of everyone you've ever met releasing an album online, it's very strange to find something unique. Sure, it's got hints of Byrne, hints of Eno, some XTC, TLC, FYC, a heavy (intentional) dose of modern gospel, even some Michael Jackson-ish beats... but it's greater than the sum of its parts. It's difficult to describe what you're going to hear here, but it's almost impossible to listen to the album without a smile on your face.

And I love all the artwork. The cover. The liner notes. Reminds me of The Sims meets Sunny Day Real Estate's 'Diary'. Mundane and exciting at the same time.

If you are expecting raucus Talking Head style rock, you'll be disappointed. If on the other hand you appreciate the complex arrangements, precision production, and beautiful lyrics fully appropriate for these trying times, you will love it.

Like many of my most favorite albums, I did not love it the first time I heard it. But I listened to it a couple times, and then it just haunted me. I wake up thinking of it.


I recently had the pleasure to see David Byrne in concert for this album tour, and it was the best show I have ever seen. Perhaps the only thing that would have been better would have been to be in the actual audience for Stop Making Sense back in the day, 1983.

I bought "Everything That Happens" after listening to some of the song samples on iTunes and thinking they had potential. This album didn't hit me right away. After my first and second listen, I picked a couple tracks ("Strange Overtones", "Everything That Happens", "One Fine Day") that I liked the most and regularly skipped the rest. Later, I gave the entire CD a couple more listens and finally got into each track.

Let's just say that right now I consider this album to be one of the best, and most consistently strong records of the past couple years. For me, David Byrne's voice took some getting used to but now I absolutely love it.

Highly recommended!

There seems to be two CDs crammed into one here. Eno leaves Byrne alone with a simple melody on a song like One Fine Day, and then in the very next song he throws a Full Funky Eno at you with Poor Boy. These are my two favorte songs in the few listens to this CD so far, yet you'd have never guessed they'd be on the same CD. There are several other simple melodic songs like Home and then there is the funkiest of the bunch: I Feel My Stuff. I am not sure if this will or even should work together as a whole...I'll just call it a 2 for 1 deal and go with it. From Roxy Music to the Talking Heads to U2, I know better than to bet against these two.

If you perhaps only like the clips of the melodic songs, I would still recommend getting the whole CD and giving the two funkier songs several listens. Not to take anything away from Byrne's vocals and the nice melodies, but I think those latter two songs might be the long lasting gems here.

Being a fan of Talking Heads' classic material, I jumped at the chance to see David Byrne in concert this past October, and since I was made aware that he would be playing a lot of his new record, I figured I had better give it a whirl, so I would at least be familiar with them when he played them.

Suffice it to say, I was not expecting to be blown away like I was by this record.

While influenced a bit by electronic music at times, it is less rhythmic than Talking Heads music was, and definitely more melodic. And I was stunned by how great Byrne's voice still sounds. He sounds as good as he did back in the 70s and 80s. Really. Six months later, I am still getting a ton of mileage out of this record. I am not familiar (yet) with the first Byrne/Eno record, but I'll be checking it out sooner than later. All I know for now is, this record is a winner, in every sense of the word.

Oh, and the concert was incredible. My brother and I saw him at the Fox Theater here in St. Louis, and both our expectations were exceeded by a wide margin. It was just one of those shows where, as long as you have a pulse, you were having a blast. I cannot even count how many people we saw dancing in the aisles. David Byrne's music tends to have that effect on music fans, of all ages!

Byrne has always appealed to my Asperger's side. I might have been the only 12 year old who bought "Stop Making Sense" and "Little Creatures" and wanted more. In doing this review, I am going to stick to just Byrne's lyrical albums as a comparison and avoid his instrumental works.

As others have noted here, "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today" is one of Byrne's finest albums. That being said, there are a few mediocre songs like "I Feel My Stuff", "The River", "Poor Boy" and "The Lighthouse", but these are minor interferences. They do not bring the album down as a whole.

The rest of the songs are true Byrne gems like "Home", "My Big Nurse", "Everything That Happens", "Life Is Long", "Strange Overtones", "Wanted For Life" and "One Fine Day"--I like them all equally, which really makes this album a strong album. It's hard to find this quality in many albums by newer artists today.

Note to Byrne: Do another album with Eno. Although I am looking forward to Byrne and Fatboy Slim next year. That should be interesting too.

So here's my comparison chart for "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today" against Byrne's other lyrical albums.

1989 Rei Momo: Three and a Half Stars
1992 Uh Oh: Three and a Half Stars
1994 David Byrne: Three and a Half Stars
1997 Feelings: Four Stars
2001 Look Into The Eyeball: Three Stars
2004 Grown Backwards: Three and a Half Stars
2008 Everything That Happens Will Happen Today: Four Stars

And if you must know:

1981 My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts: Three Stars

And furthermore:

1977 Talking Heads '77: Four Stars
1978 More Songs About Buildings And Food: Four Stars
1979 Fear Of Music: Four and a Half Stars
1980 Remain In Light: Five Stars
1982 The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads: Three Stars
1983 Speaking In Tongues: Four Stars
1984 Stop Making Sense: Five Stars
1985 Little Creatures: Four Stars
1986 True Stories: Three and a Half Stars
1988 Naked: Three and a Half Stars

Oh, this is the best musical surprise since the closet McCartney 'Fireman' CD. Byrne is in fine singing form, his lyrics are as twisted as ever, and Brian Eno is full of ideas, some new, some reworked.

If you're looking for them to re-do their past work...they don't. This is how Talking Heads might have been, if they were still in business. If you can still fog a mirror, you'll love this album.

The standout track to me is "I Feel My Stuff". It's a journey through musical ideas, getting funkier by the second, and ending up with great ersatz brass and Byrne at his hysterical best. A couple of times, you might even think they're sampling Robert Plant.

I've been listening to this album over and over. New age. Folk music. Peter, Paul and Mary. Instrumental with words. Occasionally reminds me of some of the Beatles' pensive music, especially the eponymous "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today."

I stumbled upon the album when I stumbled upon the blog, "an udge and a wink." Hint, hint, wink, wink.

I guess what I like about it best is its calming effect. Kind of fridaynight, turn-the-lights-down-low, wrap-your-arms-around-someone music. And then fall asleep with the album on continuous replay....

Syrupy. Treacly. Maybe. Good? Definitely.

It's not the kind of album you buy songs separately at 99 cents a piece, or mix them up on your iPod. It's a coherent album with songs placed in order by sentient beings.