David Byrne has a
wonderful four-song EP for download benefiting Amnesty International highlighted by an amazing live version of
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts' "Help Me Somebody," converting a song based on samples to a live vocal jam. There's also a superior version of "One Fine Day," from his
still-percolating 2008
album with Brian Eno. Here's Byrne's email in full:
Some time ago Amnesty International asked if I might do "something"
for that organization this year- (in previous years I had done one of
my tour dates as a benefit for them). Amnesty has such an amazing and
consistent track record of speaking out and helping to illuminate
courageous people who might otherwise not be heard from so the answer
was "yes."
It was decided to record some songs from my current tour for them to
be sold as a download with the proceeds going to Amnesty. As there are
no physical costs with digital distribution this means more of the
sales percentage actually goes to where it's supposed to. So, thank you
for supporting a great organization and I hope you like these
recordings too.
Get the Tracks
The tour isn't over yet. It has been exhilarating for all the
musicians, singers, dancers and the crew as well- so we all voted to
keep rolling on through summer 09. On these live shows I decided to use
the connection of Brian Eno- as a collaborator, producer or musician-
as the thread that links some material from the past with a group of
songs done last year. Most of the time music listeners are blissfully
unaware of the contributions of a record producer, and sometimes even
of which musicians who play on a record as well...so the Eno linking
device might not be as self evident as I imagine. However, the device
also allowed me to include a fair number of songs in the live set that
people are somewhat familiar with, which wasn't exactly accidental.
For me, there is are rhythmic and structural links between the older
material and the new- though there are lyrical and melodic differences
too that I, at least, can hear. Those musical parallels help the live
show maintain some kind of musical thematic unity- they help the show
from becoming a random hodge podge of songs. I've even heard someone
say to us backstage that they felt the show tells a story. They didn't
elaborate as to what kind of story.
DB
Midtown
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