THE former Talking Heads front man produces his best solo album yet.
The edgy, frenetic music of his past is gone, along too with the subsequent wanderings around world music.
Instead, Byrne writes surprisingly tuneful songs, such as the opener Glass, Concrete & Stone, the sly, shuffling Tiny Apocalypse or the playful She Only Sleeps. Pirates is almost a modern variant on Gilbert and Sullivan, while The Other Side Of This Life betrays charming hints of Byrne's Talking Heads days. Byrne covers Lambchop's The Man Who Lived Beer to winning effect, and even takes two excursions into opera, with Au Fond Du Temple Saint by Bizet and Verdi's Un Di Felice, Eterea.
Operatic purists are unlikely to be impressed, but the rest of us can welcome an on-form outing from a singer and musician who has found a happy purpose, mixing strong tunes with a touch of the old eccentricity. He has, indeed, grown backwards into himself.
Updated: 09:32 Thursday, April 15, 2004
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