AMERICAN UTOPIA ALBUM REVIEW FULL

The premise of Stop Making Sense was that a band could be mutated-shrunken or expanded-in order to perfectly fit any song. However, the two albums are very different. Both are live recordings, both have accompanying films made by noteworthy directors (Jonathan Demme, in the case of Stop Making Sense), and there is even some overlapping material. One obvious question about the Broadway version of American Utopia is whether it’s redundant of Talking Heads’ celebrated Stop Making Sense soundtrack.

They can sing, too, as you’ll well appreciate on the a cappella renditions of “One Fine Day” and the opening to “Road to Nowhere,” both of which are spellbinding. All of them, particularly the six drummers Byrne deploys to faithfully create his trademark polyrhythms, are simply non pareil. The album is many things: a retrospective of Byrne’s prolific career a chronicle of a unique performance a live recording that gets the sound just right and a showcase for the stupendous 12-piece band that Byrne assembled with musicians from all over the world.

AMERICAN UTOPIA ALBUM REVIEW FULL

And that’s how we can finally hear this music in full flower. In conjunction with the movie’s release, along came American Utopia on Broadway (Original Cast Recording). Later in 2020, we learned that Spike Lee had directed-and HBO had produced-a film version of the Broadway show. Unfortunately, Covid-19 forced an end to the sold-out run. Then, in his boldest move yet, he took the revamped show to Broadway. Next came a year’s hiatus, during which Byrne further tweaked the set list, arrangements, and staging. As you might imagine, the tour was a smash. Meanwhile, the set list culled out the weaker Utopia material and supplemented it with astutely-curated selections from Byrne’s rich Talking Heads and solo-career catalogs. Byrne obliged, and in doing so found the emotional heart of each song. That change, in turn, called for more streamlined arrangements. For that enterprise, Byrne slimmed the band down to 12 musicians. In late 2018, he took the Utopia material on a month-long international road trip. And while half the album featured undeniably worthy songs, the other half was subpar.Īs it turned out, though, Byrne was just getting started. That didn’t exactly ruin the music, but it sure was annoying.

An equal-opportunity intonation violator, Byrne was sharp as often as he was flat. Then there was Byrne’s singing, which was uncharacteristically but consistently out of tune. The credits listed no fewer than 27 musical contributors, an assemblage that at times proved unwieldy and plodding. “We’re only tourists in this life,” he sang in “Everyone’s Coming to My House.” “Only tourists but the view is nice.”Īll that said, several factors kept American Utopia from reaching its full potential. However, this time out, he traded cynicism for a notably sunnier outlook. Lyrically, American Utopia continued Byrne’s fascination for seemingly-insignificant slices of American life. Exhibit A: “Every Day is a Miracle,” which, with its irresistible singalong chorus, ranked alongside Byrne’s best. Further, Utopia boasted some truly standout tracks. Debuting at number 3 on the Billboard 200, American Utopia owed its success to Byrne’s return, after many years of soundtrack work and musically-experimental collaborations, to the crisp song structures and askew sensibilities that characterized his years with Talking Heads. T he story of the fruition of David Byrne’s American Utopia begins, ironically, with what you’d expect to be the endpoint: the album’s release in 2018.

American utopia album review