Gothic Theatre
David Byrne featuring The Tosca Strings
David Byrne is primarily known as the musician who co-founded the group Talking Heads (1976-88) in New York. On record and in concert, the band was acclaimed by critics and audiences alike; more importantly, however, they have proven to be extremely influential. Talking Heads took popular music in new directions, both in terms of sound and lyrics, and also introduced an innovative visual approach to the genre.
During his time with the group, Byrne was involved with several other projects.
•The Catherine Wheel. (an evening-length ballet score for choreographer Twyla Tharp)
•Music Videos, director.
•My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, a record incorporating “found” voices such as radio preachers, talk show guests and Arabic singers
•The Knee Plays- a brass band-and-spoken word score for a theater piece, The Knee Plays, directed by Robert Wilson.
•Stop Making Sense. 1984, dir by Jonathan Demme, winner of Golden Globes, best doc
•True Stories, 1986, feature film dir by Byrne
•The Last Emperor, 1987, DB collaborates on score for Bertolucci film, wins Oscar.
•Luaka Bop, Byrne’s record label, was founded in 1988
•The Forest, 1989 an orchestral score with mostly wordless vocals for theater piece dir by Robert Wilson
•Ile Aiye: The House of Life, 1989, a documentary on African religion in Brazil
More records followed
•Rei Momo, collaboration with 15 of the best Latin musicians in New York.
•Uh-Oh, 1992, funk and Latin grooves were combined together
•Between The Teeth, a concert film of that tour.
•David Byrne, 1994, a stripped down record
•Feelings, 1997, collaboration with other bands and artists
•The Visible Man, 1998, a record of re-mixed versions of songs from Feelings.
•Sessions at West 54th Street, 1999, a weekly one-hour music show which Byrne hosted.
•In Spite Of Wishing And Wanting. 1999 a collaborationwith the Belgian Dance Company Ultima Vez,
•Look Into The Eyeball, 2001. Subsequently Byrne toured with a six-piece string section.
•Lazy, 2002 David’s collaboration with the DJ group X Press 2 was released in the UK. The song went to number 2 on the UK charts within its first week of release & number 1 on the US dance charts, along with topping the charts in Syria and Turkey.
•Young Adam, 2002, a score for the David MacKenzie film for which David gathered together a comprehensive group of musicians from Scottish bands; Belle & Sebastian, Mogwai, Appendix Out amongst others. A spring ’04 release is planned for the U.S. David also worked with director, Stephen Frears composing the song “Glass Concrete and Stone” for his film Dirty Pretty Things.
Somewhere around 2002 Talking Heads were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. About a year later, in 2003, Talking Heads released a lovely boxed set which includes a DVD of all the band’s videos.
•Grown Backwards, Spring 2004 release and tour.
