A concept album based around the lives of Imelda Marcos and her nanny Estrella Cumpas, David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's (Norman Cook) Here Lies Love is primarily a great pop record featuring a bevy of name female vocalists. Grand conceptual themes aside, Byrne, Slim, and Slim cohort Tom Gandey (aka Cagedbaby) have delivered a kooky, fun, theatrical, and – more often than not – deliriously listenable collection of '70s and '80s club pop.
“ | My Life in the Bush of Ghosts Both Brian Eno and David Byrne had, for a number of years, been interested in non- Western music styles, particularly those of sub-Saharan African of the Arabic cultural sphere; In the Talking Heads /Eno records, such influences function implicitly, but on the album 'My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts' they became explicit. Over Rhythmic and harmonic backing tracks, played by Eno, Byrne and eleven other musicians, Eno and Byrne superimposed taped voices from a variety of sources. 'It's almost collage music, like grafting a piece of one culture onto a piece of another onto a piece of another, and trying to make them work as a coherent musical idea, and also trying to make something you can dance to' mentioned Eno." The title of the album is inspired by Amos Tutuola's novel with the same title. Track listing 1. America is Waiting (3:36) 2. Mea Culpa (3.35) 3. Regiment (3:56) 4. Help Me Somebody (4:18) 5. The Jezebel Spirt (4:55) 6. Very, Very Hungry (3:20) 7. Moonlight in Glory (4:19) 8. The Carrier (3:30) 9. A Secret Life (2:30) 10. Come With Us (2:38) 11. Mountain of Needles (2:35) Total Time: 39:41 All songs written by Brian Eno/David Byrne, excpet 1.(Brian Eno/David Byrne, arr. by Brian Eno/David Byrne/Bill Laswell/Tim Wright/David van Tieghem) 3.(Brian Eno/David Byrne/Busta Jones, arr. by Brian Eno/David Byrne/Busta Jones/Chris Frantz/Robert Fripp) **** Line-up Brian Eno & David Byrne / guitars, basses, synthesizers, drums, percussion and "found objects" Guest musicians: - John Cooksey / drums (4) - Chris Frantz / drums, additional arranging (3) - Robert Fripp / additional arranging (3) - Busta Jones / bass, additional writing and arranging (3) - Dennis Keeley / Bodhran (2) - Bill Laswell / bass and additional arranging (1) - Mingo Lewis / Bata, sticks (5, 8) - Prairie Prince / can, bass drum (5, 8) - Jose Rossy / congas, agong-gong (7) - Steve Scales / congas, metals (4) - David van Tieghem / drums, percussion (1, 3), additional arranging (1) - Tim Wright / click bass (1) *** VOICES: (1) Unidentified indignant radio show host, San Fransisco, April 1980; (2) Inflamed caller and smooth politician replying, both unidentified. Radio call- in show, New York, July 1979; (3) Dunya Yusin, Lebanese mountain singer; (4) Reverend Paul Morton, broadcast sermon, New Orleans, June 1980; (5) Unidentified exorcist, New York, September 1980; (7) The Moving Star Hall Singers, Sea Islands, Georgia; (8) Dunya Yusin; (9) Samira Tewfik, Egyptian popular singer; (10)Unidentified radio evangelist, San Fransisco, April 1980. Releases information (Some older editions apparently contain a track called "Qur'an" instead of "Very Very Hungry" , but it was not on this one.) Recorded at RPM, Blue Rock, Sigma, New York, Eldorado, Los Angeles and Different Fur, San Fransisco, August 1979 to October 1980 Engineer at RMP : Neal Teeman Assistant : Hugh Dwyer Engineer at Blue Rock : Eddie Korvin Assistant : Michael Ewasko Engineer at Eldorado : Dave Jerden Assistant : Georg Sloan Engineer at Different Fur : Stacy Baird Assistants : Don Mack and Howard Johnston Engineer at Sigma : John Potoker Produced by Brain Eno and David Byrne Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound | ” |