Album Review: American Utopia
On December 11, 2018, David Byrne — former lead singer of the Talking Heads — released his album American Utopia. After a pre-Broadway engagement at the Emerson Colonial Theatre in Boston, he brought the show to the Hudson Theatre on Broadway and released a live album.
Right off the bat, one might find it interesting that a singer from a cult favorite indie band is on Broadway — and their curiosity is valid. That is not to say, however, that he is not welcome there. If you look back to Jonathan Demme’s Stop Making Sense the Talking Heads concert film, or just about any of Byrne’s performances, you will notice that he has a quite theatrical stage presence. I would dare to say David Byrne’s work is musical theater in its truest sense.
I am not suggesting that every Broadway show has been made a fool of by American Utopia, or that traditional musical theater is a sham. What I am trying to do is make the point that much of musical theater is just theater set to music; American Utopia is musical theater. Including Byrne, the cast is composed of 12 musicians — all wearing gray suits — similar to the color scheme from Stop Making Sense (save for Chris’s turquoise shirt, which does not make a reprise on any American Utopia cast members). This is an ensemble larger than that of Stop Making Sense.
I have not seen the show in person yet, so that review will come later on, but as a fan of Byrne and the Talking Heads, I feel somewhat qualified to carry on the review, focusing on the music in the show. If you scan the album you might notice three Talking Heads classics, “This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody),” “Burning Down the House” and “Once in a Lifetime.” These songs hold up well, especially “This Must Be the Place.” The song retains its charm almost 40 years after its original release because it is timeless. The timelessness of the song is due, in part, to the fact that David Byrne does little to change what makes the song great. It remains similar in every performance and yet always feels fresh, and even when Byrne did a bit of experimentation on 2007’s Live from Austin, TX, it was done masterfully.
Despite my confidence in Byrne’s ability, I am pleased with the delightful familiarity of this track on American Utopia. “Burning Down the House,” is certainly interesting. At first, I was a bit bothered by the intro of the song. If you listen to the original and then this version, you will hear the difference. But after that section, the song proves itself. Throughout the song, you get the sense that this song was built for a large ensemble. The sheer energy is invigorating and Bobby Wooten’s pervasive bass lurking in the back of my earbuds was a delightful sensation.
The classics clearly hold their own, in my opinion, but it is absolutely worth giving credit to the newer tracks as well. “Everybody’s Coming to My House” is a well-crafted song that blends all of the instruments in this large ensemble very well. “Here” is a great song with which to open the album. It sets the stage for the rest of the album and fits well with the order of the songs.
Overall, I would give this album a 4.8/5. Over the course of David Byrne’s career, he has made a lot of creative and innovative music and keeping it as fresh and as exciting as when it first came out is a difficult task; a task that David Byrne met head-on in a way that only David Byrne could, and that made for a great show. The 0.2 points that I dropped are only due to small things I might change to make it perfect, but Byrne’s sense of confidence in his work and ability to keep the same song feeling new every time he performs it. It is a great album for die-hard fans, Broadway fans and new fans of Byrne alike. American Utopia is a promising album for Byrne’s late career and for whatever he may come up with next.