BYRNE AND ENO: TWICE IN A LIFETIME

David Byrne and Brian Eno David Byrne (far right) and Brian Eno (right) have had one of the stranger collaborations in pop history. For three years from 1978, they put their formidable heads together on four albums that were fizzingly innovative and lastingly influential—three by Talking Heads, plus the pioneering sample-fest “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts”. They spent the next 27 years working with everyone but each other—Eno with U2, John Cale, Jah Wobble, Robert Fripp and Coldplay, Byrne with half of Latin America, and both (separately) with Paul Simon.

Last year, they finally reunited for “Everything That Happens Will Happen Today”, a likeable but less ambitious album, sung by Byrne and mixing gospel tinges with electronic sounds and leftfield lyrics. Now Byrne is on tour and performing only songs he has worked on with Eno, so the new tracks rub shoulders with classics like “Life During Wartime”, “I Zimbra” and “Heaven”. Eno, who hasn’t toured since 1975, will remain off stage, but he is giving a talk, with Jon Hassell, at the Southbank centre in London on April 9th, three days before Byrne gets there. And Eno talking is as compelling as many singers singing.

~ TIM DE LISLE

David Byrne Europe, March 9th to April 28th. www.davidbyrne.com

Picture credit: Corbis