When new wave rock blends Brian Eno’s & Afro’s musical genius | Talking Heads — The Great Curve
“The world moves on a woman’s hips / The world moves and it bounces and hops”
The lyrics themselves want your body grooving.
In 1980, American new wave rock band, Talking Heads paid tribute to the African way of making music, celebrating life in spontaneous and instinctive live jams.
Written with brilliant producer Brian Eno, between New York City, Bahamas and Africa, The Great Curve is a journey for the ears, and a piece of musical History.
1980. We are at the twilight of pop-culture.
Inspired by tribal art’s creative talent, a decade of experimentation and creative burst is opening ahead.
A new generation of artists is rising. Questioning art’s heritage, they favor primitive instinct and spontaneity in the name of artistic innovation.
While technological progress allows for new creative potential, artists are pushing the limits of the musical landscape.
Disco has already been shaking dance floors for the last decade, and hip-hop is coming to light, becoming in music what graffiti is in painting.
Pure expression of intuition into primitive patterns.
It is well known that Black music - jazz, blues, and funk - played a central role in the development of those genres.
As of now, Afro’s musical genius is omnipresent.
Dizzy Gillepsie - All That Philly Jazz ©
After 70s punk rock experimental breeze from bands like The Velvet Underground & Nico, Talking Heads were pushing rock music’s frontiers towards a universal cross-genre style.
The Great Curve appears on Remain In Light, an art rock album that returns its former glory to traditional music in its deepest meaning: celebrating life and the world’s beauty.
Art rock challenges common rock approach with unconventional elements, seeking towards a more artistic and conceptual vision, rather than entertainment. Its influences range widely from avant-garde to jazz and classical music.
In the aim of blending rock with African genres, the band used Nigerian Fela Kuti’s afrobeat album Afrodisiac as a template for writing theirs.
Brian Eno’s production techniques and personal approach, expressing instinct and spontaneity, were key to the record’s conception. His fellow experimental musician Jon Hassel even appears on Houses In Motion, under his always recognizable trumpet sound.
Experimentation, improvisation and making use of mistakes were at the core with the utmost playfulness.
Qualified as human sampling by leader and singer David Byrne, the band performed and recorded instrumental jams, repeating the best parts to transform them into actual songs.
They mostly recorded at Island Records owner’s Compass Point Studio, in Nassau, Bahamas. Haitian vodou percussions and local reggae grooves are also infused in the album’s rhythms.
When the engineer in charge left, unhappy with the fast working pace, Jamaican audio engineer and producer Steven Stanley took over. Having worked with musicians like Bob Marley since he was 17, he helped to create widely acclaimed song Once In A Lifetime, that made a single.
As Byrne was facing a writer’s block in making the lyrics, he went on a trip to Africa, looking for inspiration.
He noticed that African singers sometimes improvise when they forget words, and practiced rhythms of onomatopoeia, scatting regardless the lack of meaning.
As modern society’s non-sense is central to Talking Heads works, blending rhythms with alike lyrics was the final spice on the dish.
The album was globally well received when released. So far, the critic has only reviewed their opinion for the better.
Nowadays, Talking Heads are regarded as one of the most innovative rock groups of their time.
Amongst other praising rankings, The Guardian placed it 43 amongst the 100 Best Albums Ever, and Rolling Stone ranked it 129 in its 2015 edition of the 500 Best Albums of All Time.
Only time can embellish what’s already beautiful.
In the image of their 1984 concert, let’s “Stop Making Sense”.
In the image of Talking Heads and Brian Eno, let’s celebrate our mistakes.
In honor of African tribal rituals, let’s be dancing minds.
