David Byrne and Brian Eno deliver faultless,clean pop. More outlandish is Damon Albarn’s Chinese rock opera ‘Monkey’. You’ll probably get more listens out of Jakob Dylan’s solo debut, however.
You can stream Byrne and Eno’s ‘Whatever Happens Will Happen Today’ in its entirety for free. It being a very subtle album, I suggest you live with it for a while and see if it sinks in. Then get it in a format that’s suited to more HiFi listening.
‘Monkey: Journey To The West’ revives the much maligned Rock Opera for a glimpse into a classic Chinese adventure epic. A curious aural journey through Asian and Western music styles that may or may not work for you. Jakob Dylan walking in the footsteps of his dad Bob is certainly a safer option and may find its way onto your stereo more often.
Stylish Pop: David Byrne And Brian Eno ‘Whatever Happens Will Happen Today’
This is an effortlessly elegant exercise in stylish Pop. Some might find it cold, but Byrne’s detached singing style and Eno’s understated and efficient backing tracks give the album character.
Former Talking Heads frontman Byrne describes the duo’s sound as ‘Folk-Electronic-Gospel’. Don’t expect shouts of ecstasy or thundering tales of brimstone and fire. Byrne and Eno’s brand of Gospel falls more into the gently life-affirming vein of soft spoken New England parishes.
Musically most out there is ‘Wanted For Life’ with its squashed metallic Beats and grinding electric organ. ‘Poor Boy’ is a surprisingly glitchy track held together by scratchy Afro Funk guitar and tight percussion.
‘Life Is Long’ and ‘My Big Nurse’ are the most immediately ‘poppy’ tracks with strong choruses and, in the case of ‘Life’, a snappy brass section.
The remainder of the songs is more drawn out, either in a leisurely, funky way like ‘Strange Overtones’ or in a more somber fashion reminiscent of Icelandic mood merchants Sigur Ros.
The artists have made ‘Everything That Happens Will Happen Today’ available for free streaming! Just use the player below to listen to the album.
Stream Byrne And Eno’s New Album For Free!
Solid Songwriting: Jakob Dylan ‘Seeing Things’
Jakob Dylan, Bob’s son, is making his solo debut at 38 with ‘Seeing Things’. Previously frontman of jingly-jangly guitar combo The Wallflowers, Jakob’s found a new, grittier voice with age.
I’m sure Dylan junior hates being compared to his iconic dad all the time. But that’s the lot he chose when he embarked on a career as a singer playing acoustic guitar.
Jakob plays the guitar like he sings - Accomplished and somewhat sober. Producer Rick Rubin distills a scratchy earthiness out of Jakob’s guitar that adds an edge to his fairly dry style of playing.
Only twice does ‘Seeing Things’ come to a point where emotions run free - In the ecstatic guitar picking on ‘All Day And All Night’ and the barely under control vocals on ‘I Told You I Couldn’t Stop’. If this is Jakob letting go, the album could have used more of the same.
‘Seeing Things’ is a confident album, but Dylan jnr stays within his comfort zone and as a result the album ultimately lacks bite.
Listen Here to ‘Seeing Things’ and download the album from iTunes. You just pay the regular iTunes price - We don’t charge you anything extra.
A Mixed Blessing: Monkey ‘Journey To The West’
Blur frontman Damon Albarn combines Asian Pop, Prog Rock and Ambient on the score for this adaptation of a Chinese saga.
Some scores take on a live of their own away from the stage. ‘Monkey’, I’m afraid, doesn’t quite pull it off. You are left with a compilation of Asian-styled Pop songs erratically shot through with ambient instrumentals and sound collages.
The Sino Pop of ‘Heavenly Peach Banquet’, ‘Monkey Bee’ and ‘Living Sea’ easily provides the strongest moments on the album. ‘Monkey Bee’ in particular is quite interesting, adding cold choral touches of minimal composer Philipp Glass to a quirky pop tune.
Albarn’s score captures some of the absurd humour of ‘Eskimo’, the 1979 score for an imaginary play about life on the Polar circle by San Francisco art rockers The Residents. ‘I Love Buddha’, ‘The Dragon King’ and ‘Confessions Of A Pig’ fall into this category. But where ‘Eskimo’ is a cohesive work, ‘Monkey’ fails to integrate the absurd and the pieces stick out rather awkwardly.
The score is too mixed a bag to work for me as an album. A DVD capturing the stage performance might make more sense.
Listen Here to ‘Journey To The West’ and download the album from iTunes. Just pay the regular iTunes Store price - We don’t charge any extras!
