We only retain the connections that matter to us. Does this mean that babies are smarter than we are, and that as we grow up we get stupider and stupider?ĭEGGANS: Not exactly, Byrne says. And then as we grow up, we lose these connections. I read that babies' brains have hundreds of millions more neural connections than we do as adults. And it's all topped off by cheeky occasional narration by Byrne, who starts off talking about how human brains work.īYRNE: I've read something, well, kind of surprising and amazing the other day. The combination is visually stunning, turning the band into living sculptures who capture the spirit of every song. The entire band enacts choreography by Annie-B Parson that seems equal parts modern dance moves and whatever geeky gyrations Byrne uses in his videos. Everyone's dressed in grey suits and barefoot. Letting the days go by - water flowing underground.ĭEGGANS: The stage look is arty and stark. UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing) Letting the days go by - let the water hold me down. Their choreography and groove is so tight, they sound powerful as any conventional band, even while recreating hits from Byrne's old group Talking Heads, like "Once In A Lifetime." One person carries a snare drum and cymbals, another plays bass drum, and yet another plays tom-toms. Several musicians in his 11-member backup band play instruments that would normally be in one drum set. Everything is wireless, and every singer wears nearly invisible headset mics. Everything is gone except the musicians and the instruments they play, which they all carry around. But "American Utopia" is so much more, in part thanks to the inventiveness of director Spike Lee and in part because of how it's staged. Oh, don't you want to save me?ĭEGGANS: If all this film that going forward were rocking versions of hits like "Lazy," Byrne's club jam with house artist X-press 2, that would be enough. (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DAVID BYRNE'S AMERICAN UTOPIA")ĭAVID BYRNE: (Singing) Oh, I'm wicked, and I'm lazy. HBO is debuting a film of his theatrical concert Broadway show called "David Byrne's American Utopia." NPR TV critic Eric Deggans says this movie is one of the best concert films, period, since Byrne's last one 36 years ago.ĮRIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: First, let's stipulate that David Byrne's spellbinding and celebratory film "American Utopia" is filled to the brim with a lot of great music. Multifaceted Grammy-winning artist David Byrne comes to TV on Saturday.
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