David Byrne: The Knee Plays
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Track:Sound of Business
I finally started listening to the backlogged podcasts of All Songs Considered on my I-pod. (Kids are back in school and the holiday seasons are over!) The first one I put on was from October 18th and it starts off with a song from David Byrne. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15965475Music For Knee Plays was a record that David Byrne released in 1985. He wrote it to accompany a theatre project by Robert Wilson, The CIVIL WarS. It was only released on album and cassette. Here is part of the review from Pitchfork: "Originally envisioning a Japanese drum ensemble, Byrne instead opted for music more in the vein of New Orleans' Dirty Dozen Brass Band-- a perfect fit for a play inspired by the Civil War and scored by Byrne, at this point seemingly fascinated by all art with strong cultural resonances. From the opening track, "Tree (Today Is an Important Occasion)" to the quintessentially Byrnian spoken-word closer "In the Future", the music is variously light, dramatic, authoritative, and empathetic. Byrne's ethnomusicological streak in full force, several sections of his score were adapted from traditional music: "In the Upper Room", "Social Studies (The Gift of Sound)", and "Things to Do (I've Tried)" are faithful gospel adaptations, and "Theadora Is Dozing" comes from the Bulgarian folk tradition." http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/46863-the-knee-playsByrne re-released the album this fall and it is finally available on cd. I have only heard the one song, The Sound of Business, from The Knee Plays they played on All Songs Considered but i keep playing it over and over. The only way to get it right now is to order it from Amazon.com. Go to NPR and see if you can stop listening to it. I need it. I need it now.
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