What does it sound like?:
The Afterword has been to the gigs and enjoyed Spike Lee’s movie but how about completing the set and buying the soundtrack? The musicians on the American Utopia were untethered, all wore matching grey suits with bare feet and every move across the stage was carefully choreographed, their ebbs and flows emphasised and exaggerated by simple but effective lighting, the backdrop being a curtain of chains. Can a soundtrack capture a show whose essence is so visual?
There are twelve musicians: guitar, bass, keyboards, six percussionists, two backing vocalists and David Byrne himself, contributing guitar to some songs. The bassist, Bobby Wooten III, revels in the limelight and the percussionists, who more than substitute for a drum kit, are well organised and disciplined. They add power and intricacy to songs that rely heavily on complex rhythmical patterns.
They play twenty-two songs in all: ten Talking Heads: one from ’77, one Fear Of Music, three Remain In Light, three Speaking in Tongues, one Little Creatures and one Naked: six ‘solo’ Byrne, four of which were collaborations, and five from the American Utopia album itself, plus a cover. The song choices are mostly the obvious » Continue Reading.