David Byrne

David Byrne - Uh-Oh - 1992 - Sire Records Company

Uh-Oh was only David Byrne's second pop-oriented solo album and his first to be released after the formal end of Talking Heads. Though informed by his various investigations into world music, the album was a natural successor to the Talking Heads records, relying on involved percussion tracks topped by Byrne's quirky singing and lyrics. By this point, disaffected fans may have grown accustomed to the idea that a David Byrne solo album could contain anything from an extended flirtation with Latin styles (Rei Momo) to an eclectic instrumental score (The Forest), to name only his most recent solo projects. Maybe Byrne and his record label failed to get out the message that he was back to making Heads-style pop/rock (he didn't organize a tour until the album had come and gone on the charts), but Uh-Oh never reached its potential audience. Talking Heads fans should give it a listen. © William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
A great album from a rock/new wave legend. This is the original Sire 10 track album. It has since been re - released on various labels with different remixes and bonus tracks. David Byrne has been responsible for some of the greatest music of the last thirty or so years. Check out any of his albums with Talking Heads, and give his brilliant "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts " album, with Brian Eno a listen. There is info on a great rare David Byrne recording, "Sessions at West 54th Street, NYC, 13.10.98" @ D.BYRNE/SESSIONSW54

TRACK INFO.

A1. Now I'm Your Mom (4:43)
Backing Vocals - Dolette Mcdonald , Joyce L. Bowden*
Clarinet [Bass] - Ronnie Cuber
Flute, Clarinet - Steve Sacks
French Horn - Fred Griffen* , John Clark (2)
Oboe - Melanie Feld
Written-By - David Byrne
Written-By, Flugelhorn - Angel Fernandez
A2.Girls On My Mind (3:52)
Violin - Lewis Kahn
Written-By - David Byrne
A3.Something Ain't Right (3:37)
Backing Vocals - Billy Cliff , Dolette Mcdonald , John James , Nona Hendryx
Reco-reco, Cowbell, Vocals [Effect], Performer [Prepared Pens], Whistle - Marc Quiñones*
Saxophone [Alto] - Dick Oatts
Saxophone [Alto], Vocals [Effect], Performer [Prepared Pens], Whistle - Steve Sacks
Trombone [Tenor] - Christopher Washburne , Gerald Chamberlain
Trumpet - Charlie Sepulveda , Joe Shepley
Vocals [Effect], Performer [Prepared Pens], Whistle - Tom Zé
Written-By - David Byrne , Terry Allen
A4.She's Mad (5:20)
Backing Vocals - Nicky Holland
Bata - Milton Cardona
Trombone - Gerald Chamberlain , Leopoldo Pineda*
Trumpet - Ite Jerez* , Angel Fernandez , Joe Shepley
Violin - Felix Farrar , Lloyd Carter , Patmore Lewis
Written-By - David Byrne
A5.Hanging Upside Down (4:31)
Saxophone [Alto] - Steve Sacks
Saxophone [Baritone] - Ronnie Cuber
Saxophone [Tenor] - Lawrence Feldman
Trombone - Christopher Washburne
Trumpet - Ite Jerez*
Written-By - David Byrne
Written-By, Trumpet - Angel Fernandez

B1.Twistin' In The Wind (4:14)
Backing Vocals - Billy Cliff , Dolette Mcdonald , John James , Nona Hendryx
Cello - Akua Dixon* , Enrique Orengo
Written-By - David Byrne
B2. A Walk In The Dark (4:21)
Bata - Milton Cardona
Clarinet [Bass] - Ronnie Cuber
Saxophone [Tenor] - Lewis Del Gatto* , Steve Sacks
Written-By, Arranged By - David Byrne
B3.The Cowboy Mambo (Hey Lookit Me Now) (3:37)
Backing Vocals - Nicky Holland
Saxophone [Alto] - Steve Sacks
Saxophone [Baritone] - Ronnie Cuber
Saxophone [Tenor] - Lawrence Feldman
Trombone - Christopher Washburne
Trumpet - Ite Jerez* , Angel Fernandez
Written-By - David Byrne
B4.Tiny Town (5:03)
Backing Vocals - Nicky Holland
Clarinet [Bass] - Ronnie Cuber
Clarinet, Flute - Steve Sacks
French Horn - Fred Griffen* , John Clark (2)
Oboe - Melanie Feld
Trombone [Bass & Tenor] - Christopher Washburne
Trumpet [Solo] - Charlie Sepulveda
Written-By, Arranged By - David Byrne
Written-By, Flugelhorn, Piano - Angel Fernandez
B5.Somebody (4:59)
Arranged By, Trumpet - Angel Fernandez
Backing Vocals - Billy Cliff , Dolette Mcdonald , John James , Nona Hendryx
Saxophone [Alto] - Dick Oatts
Saxophone [Baritone] - Ronnie Cuber
Saxophone [Tenor] - Ken Hitchcock
Trombone - Christopher Washburne , Gerald Chamberlain
Trumpet - Ite Jerez* , Joe Shepley
Written-By, Arranged By - David Byrne

CREDITS

Arranged By [Horns, Woodwinds & Strings], Conductor - Angel Fernandez (tracks: A1, A2, A3 to B5) , Tom Zé (tracks: A3)
Artwork By [Cover Painting] - Brian Dewan
Artwork By [Design] - M&Co. New York
Artwork By [Drawings] - Mr. Chick , Scott Stowell
Bass - George Porter, Jr.
Bongos, Bells, Agogô, Tamborim, Surdo, Percussion [Blocks] - Café
Congas, Maracas, Triangle, Percussion [Tambora] - Hector Rosado
Drums, Timbales, Cowbell, Surdo, Bells, Shaker, Percussion [Woodblocks] - Oscar Salas
Engineer [Assistant At Electric Lady] - Michael White (4)
Engineer [Assistant At Platinum Island] - Axel Niehaus
Engineer [Assistant At Power Station] - Dan Gellart
Engineer [Assistant At Sigma Sound] - Brian Kinkead , Michael Scalcione*
Engineer [Assistant At The Hit Factory] - Michael Gilbert
Mastered By - Bob Ludwig
Other [Direct Management Group] - Martin Kirkup , Steven Jensen
Other [Project Coordinator] - Brenda Dunlap
Other [Random Thoughts] - Yale Evelev
Photography [David Byrne Photos] - Chris Nofzinger
Producer, Recorded By, Mixed By - Nick Launay
Synthesizer, Vibraphone [Vibes], Clavinet - Ashley Cadell
Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Guitar [Electric], Performer [Prepared Pens], Whistle, Photography [Band] - David Byrne
Recorded at Power Station, Sigma Sound, The Hit Factory,
Platinum Island & Electric Lady Studios, NYC, april-october, 1991.
Mixed at The Hit Factory & Sigma Sound.
Mastered at Masterdisk, NYC.

REVIEW

On his second official solo album, David Byrne continues to come to grips with the paradoxes that have turned him into one of the quirkiest of pop icons. Jampacked with catchy ditties as coy as the album's title and bristling with North America-meets-South America stylistic hybrids, Uh-Oh is a pop tart as only Byrne can concoct – light and sweet on top, sticky and ironic in the middle. Tastes good, and for the most part, it's good for you. Musically, Byrne deliberately mixes it up (with the help of such abettors as Angel Fernandez, who co-wrote salsafied sections for a few tunes). The opening track, "Now I'm Your Mom" (a snappy number about transsexualism), sets the stage for what's to come, shifting from a mechanistic synth bed, passing through a droll clarinet solo and coming out the other side in mambo mode. Uh-Oh sums up Byrne's career, carrying over the Latin-Caribbean hot sauce from his previous solo experiment Rei Momo (1989) and trafficking in a more familiar Talking Heads-style blend of funk, C&W and pure goof-ball pop. Byrne manages to introduce fresh ingredients to make New Wave sound new again; call it neo-New Wave. And yet, as summery fun and juicy as Uh-Oh is, what's missing is the undertow of tension that we haven't heard much from Byrne since the Heads' masterworks Fear of Music (1979) and Remain in Light (1980). He seems to have gone giddy on us, moved over to the sunny side of the street. Still, there are always dark shadows to contend with in his work. "Twistin' in the Wind" is a chipper diatribe about dirty dealings in Washington, D.C., and Everytown, U.S.A. In the otherwise party-ready tune "Tiny Town," Byrne sings, "The whole world is a tiny town, full of tiny ideas." He holds up a self-deprecating mirror in the frivolous "Girls on My Mind": "I'm the star of my own movie/Honey, I'm the leading man/You might ask yourself – who is that guy?/ With the girls upon his mind?" Byrne hasn't forgotten everything he learned in art school, but he's basically a craftsman in the grand pop tradition, making big noise with a few chords, plenty of attitude and an ear for hooks. He's just not one to wear his heart on his sleeve: The girls stay safely on his mind, beautiful abstractions held up for objective observation. It's hard to complain, though. There's still a party bubbling in David Byrne's mind. It hasn't stopped yet. (RS 626) © JOSEF WOODARD, © Copyright 2008 Rolling Stone

BIO (Wikipedia)

David Byrne (born May 14, 1952, in Dumbarton, Scotland) is a Scottish-American musician and artist. He is perhaps best known as a founding member and the principal songwriter of the new wave band Talking Heads, who were active between 1974 and 1991. Since then, Byrne has released his own solo projects on record, and worked in a variety of media, including film, photography, opera, and internet-based projects. His achievements have been recognized by Grammy, Oscar and Golden Globe awards. He currently lives in New York City. David is a SubGenii. Byrne was born in Dumbarton, Scotland, on May 14, 1952. Two years later, his parents moved to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and then to Arbutus, Maryland, when he was 8 or 9 years old. He graduated from Lansdowne High School in southwest Baltimore County. He then attended the Rhode Island School of Design for one year before dropping out and forming Talking Heads in 1974 with fellow RISD students Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, later joined by Jerry Harrison. He also attended the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, for one year.During his time in the band, Byrne took on outside projects, collaborating with Brian Eno in 1981 on the album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, which attracted considerable critical acclaim and featured a groundbreaking use of sampling. Byrne has a daughter, Malu Abeni Valentine Byrne, with Adelle Lutz. Byrne and Lutz divorced in 2004. In 1981, Byrne partnered with choreographer Twyla Tharp, scoring "The Catherine Wheel," a ballet prominently featuring unusual rhythms and lyrics. Productions of "The Catherine Wheel" appeared on Broadway that same year. In Spite of Wishing and Wanting is a soundscape David Byrne produced for the Belgian dance company Ultima Vez. His work has been extensively used in movie soundtracks, most notably in collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su on Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, which won an Oscar for Best Original Score. In 2004, Lead Us Not Into Temptation (music from the film "Young Adam") included tracks and musical experiments from his score to Young Adam. Byrne also directed and starred in True Stories, a musical collage of quirky Americana released in 1986, as well as directing the documentary Île Aiye and the concert film of his 1992 Latin-tinged tour titled Between the Teeth. He was chiefly responsible for the stage design and choreography of Stop Making Sense in 1984. Byrne wrote the Dirty Dozen Brass Band-inspired score for Robert Wilson's Opera The Knee Plays from The CIVIL warS. Some of the music from Byrne's orchestral album The Forest was originally used in a Wilson-directed theatre piece with the same name. The Forest premiered at the Theater der Freien Volksbuhne, Berlin in 1988. It received its New York premiere in December 1988 at BAM, the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The Forestry Maxi-single contained dance and industrial remixes of pieces from The Forest by Jack Dangers, Rudy Tambala, and Anthony Capel. Byrne also appeared as a guest vocalist/guitarist for 10,000 Maniacs during their MTV Unplugged concert, though the songs in which he is featured were cut from its album. One of them, "Let the Mystery Be", appeared as the fourth track on 10,000 Maniacs' cd single "Few and Far Between". Byrne also worked with "Queen of Tex-Mex", Tejano superstar Diva Selena, writing, producing and singing a song ("God's Child (Baila Conmigo)"), included on Selena's last album, "Dreaming of You", before Selena's death. Byrne was the host of "Sessions at West 54th" during its second of three seasons. Byrne founded Luaka Bop, a world music record label which releases the work of artists Cornershop, Os Mutantes, Los De Abajo, Jim White, Zap Mama, Tom Zé, Los Amigos Invisibles and others. Byrne is also a visual artist, and has shown his work in contemporary art galleries and museums around the world since the 1990s. He has also created a number of public art installations, many of them anonymous. He is represented by Pace/MacGill Gallery, NYC. In 2001 a censored version of Byrne's single "Like Humans Do" was selected by Microsoft as the sample music for Windows XP to demonstrate Windows Media Player (not included in SP2 installs).. The next year, he provided vocals for a track, "Lazy" by X-Press 2, which reached number 2 in the United Kingdom and number 1 on the U.S. Dance Charts. David said in an interview in BBC Four Sessions's coverage of his Union Chapel performance that Lazy was number 1 in Syria. In April 2003, Byrne appeared as himself in an episode of The Simpsons, "Dude, Where's My Ranch?". In late 2003, Byrne released a book with a companion DVD called Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information (ISBN 3-88243-907-6). The work included artwork composed entirely in Microsoft PowerPoint. It includes one image that depicts, according to Byrne, "Dan Rather's profile. Expanded to the nth degree. Taken to infinity. Overlaid on the back of Patrick Stewart's head." Byrne's latest solo album, Grown Backwards, was released on March 16th, 2004 by Nonesuch. This album used orchestral string arrangements, and includes two operatic arias. He also launched a North American and Australian tour with the Tosca Strings. This tour ended with Los Angeles, San Diego and New York shows in August 2005. The following year, his singing was featured on "The Heart's a Lonely Hunter" on The Cosmic Game by Thievery Corporation. In 2005, Byrne initiated his own internet radio station, Radio David Byrne. Each month, Byrne posts a playlist of music he likes, linked by themes or genres. Byrne's playlists have included African Popular Music; Rednecks, Racists, & Reactionaries: Country Classics; Vox Humana; Classical Opera; Italian Movie Music. Byrne also posts personal comments on the music and, occasionally, on the state of the recorded music industry. In July 2007, Byrne posted the following comment: "There was another piece in the Times today about yet another 20 percent drop in CD sales. (Are they running the same news piece every 4 months?) Jeez guys, the writing's on the wall. How long do the record execs think they'll have those offices and nice parking spaces? (Well, more than half of all record A&R and other execs are gone already, so there should be plenty of parking space). They, the big 4 or 5, should give the catalogues back to the artists or their heirs as a gesture before they close the office doors, as they sure don't know how to sell music anymore. (I have Talking Heads stuff on the shelf that I can't get Warner to release.) The "industry" had a nice 50-year ride, but it's time to move on. Luckily, music remains more or less unaffected — there is a lot of great music out there. A new model will emerge that includes rather than sues its own customers, that realizes that music is not a product in the sense of being a thing — it's closer to fashion, in that for music fans it tells them and their friends who they are, what they feel passionately about and to some extent what makes life fun and interesting. It's about a sense of community — a song ties a whole invisible disparate community together. It's not about selling the (often) shattered plastic case CDs used to come in". Returning to this work in the theatre, in late 2005 Byrne and Fatboy Slim began work on Here Lies Love, a disco opera or song cycle about the life of Imelda Marcos, the controversial former First Lady of the Philippines. Some music from this piece was debuted at Adelaide Festival of Arts in Australia in February 2006 and the following year at Carnegie Hall on February 3rd, 2007. Byrne and Eno's influential 1981 album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts was re-released for its 25th anniversary in early 2006, with new bonus tracks. In keeping with the spirit of the original album, two of the songs' component tracks were released under Creative Commons licenses and a remix contest site was launched. Later that same year, Byrne released Arboretum, a sketchbook facsimile of his Tree Drawings, published by McSweeney's. He also had an exhibition of his chairs — drawings, photographs, sculptures, and embroideries — at Pace/MacGill Gallery, NYC. Byrne was profiled in the New York Times in January, 2007. The article refers to his April 15, 2006 journal entry, in which he wrote: “I was a peculiar young man — borderline Asperger's, I would guess.” It was recently announced that David Byrne is working with Brian Eno on new music. In April 2008 Byrne took part in the Paul Simon retrospective concert series at BAM performing You Can Call Me Al and I Know What I Know from Simon's Graceland album. In 2008, Byrne and his band programmed the Battery Maritime Building, a 99-year-old ferry terminal in Manhattan, to play music.