Even those who’d ingested his previous extracurricular activities with the likes of Twyla Tharp and Brian Eno would have been surprised by Music For “The Knee Plays”. Rather than exploring third world influences, the score consists almost entirely of brass instruments with a distinct New Orleans influence, having discovered the city’s Dirty Dozen Brass Band a full five years before Elvis Costello did. Some tracks are accompanied by drums, while six of the tracks sport vocals in the form of prose recited by Byrne in the wide-eyed voice used for “Once In A Lifetime”. All are thought-provoking, particularly “The Sound Of Business”, wherein he recites the titles of fictional oldies on the radio, and “In The Future”, which predicts events that are both contradictory and strangely prophetic.
For the most part, the music sounds like a cross between a Nola funeral and a Randy Newman movie score, with strong echoes of “Silent Night”, “Amazing Grace”, “Sentimental Journey”, and the like. The most striking piece is “Winter”, which is completely unlike any of the other pieces, presenting an impressionistic soundscape much more akin to the type of new jazz expected from the ECM label, which distributed the album.
The album wasn’t supposed to be a big seller, and since the opus it was intended for was never really completed, it was easily forgotten, until two decades later, when The Knee Plays made its CD debut with bonus tracks and a DVD wherein the original sequence was accompanied by images of the production. Three of the bonus tracks are alternate arrangements of the brass tunes, while the rest are early sketches from the development stage of the project, reflecting the Kabuki theater influences that dominated before the brass element broke through. Again, it’s nothing like the Heads, but is engrossing if you give it a chance.
David Byrne Music For “The Knee Plays” (1985)—3
2007 The Knee Plays reissue: same as 1985, plus 8 extra tracks
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