Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, the new Byrne/Eno collaboration, is now streaming online.

I'm enjoying it on a first listen... Heck, I'm dazzled. This is the most exciting stuff that Byrne's recorded in years.

The first track contains a chorus that makes me extremely suspicious. I think Brian Eno must have been impatient to record this song, because I've heard this chorus before... something very much like it appears as a bridge in U2's "Walk On."

Overall, it's like a fusion of U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind and Paul Simon's Surprise.

I can't trust the quality of streaming audio, so i've only heard the free mp3, but...

What a disappointment! They got some lamestain pop producer to mix the album instead of having Eno do it himself! The result is kitschy filter sweeps & rampant overcompression.

For heaven's sake, if you're David Byrne, the guy that directed True Stories, the guy that does bizarre powerpoint lectures, the guy that DANCED WITH A LAMP, you shouldn't aspire to to KEXP/IKEA Geggy Tah mid-brow polish in a mix.

I don't know what's wrong, why Eno keeps doing this; he handed off Viva La Vida to Andy Wallace for mixdown, Surprise went to Tchad Blake, and All That You Can't Leave Behind went to 7 different awful mixers, and they all smoothed out what could have been real interesting sounds. Dudes, at least get Markus Dravs or someone like that to take care of it.

What's worse, in hearing the unmistakeable sound of Byrne's lead over Eno's cushion of multitracked gospel backing vocals, you can tell how great/weird it could have been.

Someone alerted me to it the day they posted it, and I rushed to listen.

I was really underwhelmed. It's not a bad album per se, and a couple of tracks are catchy in a non-stupid way, but I definitely agree with Kevin on this.

Maybe it'll grow on me, but for now this is falling into the "good not great" file.

I feel rather lukewarm about it as well. What stands out to me, after just one listen, are a few details about the production, but not any of the actual songs. It feels very much like a display of studio craft to me, but not a particularly inspired set of singing or songwriting from Byrne. In fact, these tracks mostly feel more like ideas than actual songs.

Privileging ideas over songs doesn't concern me too much--My Life in the Bush of Ghosts definitely wasn't a song-oriented work, but it ended up being a small masterpiece. But there's too much motion in these mixes, too much self-conscious quirkiness--and maybe it's not fair of me to pin it on the mixer, but it seems relevant that his most prominent other credit is the albums he did for They Might Be Giants.

Maybe I just like big firework-show soundscapes, but I don't think so. I'm really enjoying the melodies, Byrne's playfulness, and the wide range of styles on this album. There's a bright sunny tone here that I don't usually associate with Byrne, and it's coming in a time when I need some sunny melodies. The songs are already taking turns getting stuck in my head.

I'm liking this album, too, and I'd be interested to hear what it sounds like on disc as opposed to a low-quality audio stream. But I like the quirky production flourishes.

Here's a fun interview with Eno/Byrne about the new album, including an interesting anecdote about how one of the tracks from "Everything That Happens" was originally going to be on the Coldplay album, but Coldplay graciously gave it back after conceding that David Byrne made a better song out of it than they had.

Twice in a Lifetime: Byrne, Eno Reunite for New Disc

I'm really enjoying this album as well. There are a lot of interesting things going on in the background, yet overall it doesn't sound overly cluttered. "Strange Overtunes" is incredibly catchy. Byrne sounds like he's relaxed and enjoying himself.

Pitchfork sides with Jeffrey!

I'm glad they agree, but I shake my head at the reviewer's closing comment:



Um... it doesn't really matter if an album's built to last? All that matters is that it's enjoyable at the moment? Huh. Really?

Well, I had originally planned on rushing a review of this but decided to wait until the physical release, and I'm glad I did. I confess that my take on the album has made a 180 since my first posting here; I'm probably still not quite on Jeffrey's level of appreciation for it, but the album is working its magic on me, and I'm finding it more and more to be a very sophisticated, smartly crafted, and charming piece of work. It's simply delightful.

Well, it just keeps growing and growing on me. Here's my review.

Good grief... I saw Byrne in concert last night, playing about half songs from the new record and half Talking Heads favorites, plus one song from My Life in the Bush of Ghosts and one unrecorded piece he and Eno wrote together years ago. As far as pure entertainment and spectacle goes, this was one of the most exhilarating and joyful concerts I've ever seen. Byrne had a full band and dancers with him, and he was in fine voice throughout the evening. He stayed for two encores, and the second-- "Burning Down the House," performed with full house lights on-- provoked the most exhuberant response I've ever seen from a crowd, save, perhaps, for U2's Vertigo tour and Tom Waits' show at the Ryman. It was something else. My friend Gavin Breeden was also there, and wrote this review.

Josh, have you ever seen Jonathan Demme's film Stop Making Sense, his 1984 documentary of a Talking Heads concert? It's magical. I've never seen Byrne live, but I do know that I witnessed something amazing when I saw that film -- a crowded theater with virtually everyone on their feet and dancing by the end of the film. I've been to plenty of concerts where that reaction would have been normal, but I've never seen a film that elicited that kind of response. I'm envious that you got to see David Byrne.

I've seen part of the film, but not the whole thing. The reaction at the show last night was really wild, though-- as you say, everyone in the theater was dancing in the aisles and in their seats by the end of the show, which is pretty remarkable when you think about what the average age of a Talking Heads fan must be these days.

And I've really got to hand it to Byrne: Not only did his voice sound younger and more effortless than I've ever heard it sound on record, but he was dancing in perfect sync with everyone else on stage, even while playing guitar and singing. Frankly, I wouldn't have nearly the physical strength and stamina to pull off a performance like the one he gave, but from where I was sitting, he didn't seem to be breaking a sweat.

Man, I love that film, Andy. Saw it on a big screen in Portland about 17 years ago, and I can still remember every song.

Josh, you lucky dog. Wish I could have been there.

Stop Making Sense is simply amazing. I was also lucky enough to see Byrne at Austin City Limits this year. One of the best shows of the weekend.