David Byrne

In 1981, Brian Eno and David Byrne randomly taped politicians, ethnic folkies and exorcists (you must hear "The Jezebel Spirit") off the radio and combined their voices with dark African dance music and paranoid funk. They did everything with tape and knife that people now do with digital samplers but nobody has ever done it quite like Eno and Byrne. A big influence on hip-hop, dance music and indie rock, this edition of My Life In The Bush of Ghosts comes stocked with seven bonus cuts and a look into the recording process.

Something fishy's going on when unassuming swell-heads like these dabblers start releasing their worktapes. As cluttered and undistinguished as the MOR fusion and prog-rock it brings to the mind's ear, this album has none of the songful sweep of Remain in Light or the austere weirdness of Jon Hassell, and the vocal overlays only intensify its feckless aura. (Grade: C+)