David Byrne: Grown Backwards

David Byrne: Grown Backwards

2004

Nonesuch/Warner Bros.

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Glass, Concrete & Stone  2. The Man Who Loved Beer  3. Au fond du Temple Saint  4. Empire  5. Tiny Apocalypse  6. She Only Sleeps  7. Dialog Box  8. The Other Side of this Life  9. Why  10. Pirates  11. Civilization  12. Astronaut  13. Glad  14. Un Dì, Felice, Eterea  15. Lazy


I own every damn Talking Heads album but for some reason I've never listened to a David Byrne solo album until very recently....

 
 Sure, just like anybody who has ever owned a computer with Windows XP, I've heard "Like Humans Do," and I enjoyed it just fine, but I was still never compelled to pick up a copy of the album...I think it's because I've never been knocked out by the final two Talking Heads albums...I definitely like them, and still play them to this day, but despite a few killer tracks, they never grew on me in the same way "Fear of Music" or "Remain in Light" did...



 I only have a copy of 2004's "Grown Backwards" as a fluke...I was feeling nostalgic for Sugar's "File Under Easy Listening" so I stopped at the FYE...



FYE always has some sort of buy one, get one free deal...But the free item has to be the same price or less...the Sugar CD was $2.99, so I had to find something else that cost $2.99...and in that price range pickings are pretty slim unless your a big Chumbawumba or Aqua fan...




The only $2.99 record I could imagine myself ever listening to was David Byrne's "Grown Backwards." Turns out it's a  fun record and pretty much what I would expect a 2004 David Byrne release to be...His voice and persona are immediately recognizable...Still wide-eyed and quirky, but with a hint of maturity...He still sounds like a bewildered alien, but he's now a mature bewildered alien...

The album starts out with its best song, "Glass, Concrete & Stone," which mixes understated, yet thumping, pop and world music...And the way David sings the playful melody makes this the easy winner...

But imagine my surprise when the next song comes on and it was about me..."The Man Who Loved Beer,"

  I'll drink to that! Fancy-Dan string quartet sound with a nice clear vocal line, I think that's what I like best about David Byrne....The music can go all over the place, but he always seems to anchor it with a clean and simple vocal melody...It makes a seemingly scattered album flow seamlessly...

(Looking at that 3 year old photo of my fridge, I posted above, makes me realize I really need to clean my refrigerator...It looks so nice in that photo...I'm betting that package of baloney on the bottom shelf is still there...)

 One of the most surprising things about the album is that he tackles opera on a pair of tracks...At first these were a real hindrance to my enjoyment of the record, but they eventually grew on me...There's a duet with Rufus Wainwright on Georges Bizet's "Au Fond du Temple Saint" from the 1863 opera "Les Pêcheurs de Perles." I normally can't stand Rufus Wainwright, but he works just fine here...There's something appealing about a couple of guys who probably aren't best-suited for opera just going for it...Nobody ever has the balls to do it....

The other opera song is "Un Dì, Felice, Eterea" from the opera "La Traviata" by Giuseppe Verdi...I'm not as into this one, it isn't as lively or spirited as the Bizet ditty, but it has a moving, mournful mood...I could be wrong, maybe it's happiness that's being conveyed...I have no idea what's being said because you can never understand the lyrics in these damn heavy metal songs the kids listen to these days...

What strikes me about listening to "Grown Backwards," is it's something I probably would have sneered at this in my younger days...I most likely would have said, "The Talking Heads used to kick ass and shit, but now David Byrne sucks! It's all world music, man...and the world sucks! Bongos suck!"

 

  But now that I'm old man who smokes a pipe while reading the Sunday Paper, I totally enjoy this...But yea, kids who are just getting into the Talking Heads after hearing  "Burning Down the House" or "Psycho Killer" for the first time might want to wait a few years before they tackle this...

I'd actually probably listen to this all the time if it was about 10-15 minutes shorter...I often find myself skipping "She Only Sleeps," which feels like a lame lounge act..."Glad" also does nothing for me but I can handle it...The 10 minute remix of his 2002 collaboration with dance duo X-Press 2 could be shaved down a bit too, but that's nitpicking...Most of what's here is agreeable....

So let's just agree to check out "Glass, Concrete & Stone" by David Byrne...Enjoy...