History Music / DavidByrneAlbum

''David Byrne'', released in 1994, is the third solo album (and fourth studio album overall) by the Scottish-American AlternativeRock musician [[Music/DavidByrne of the same name]]. A departure from the Latin worldbeat that had defined Byrne's sound since the late '80s, this record presents a more straightforward approach punctuated by darker lyrical touches in Byrne's distinctly offbeat style. Keeping in line with its eponymous title, Byrne moves away from the large quantity of session musicians that defined his previous albums in favor of playing most of the instruments here, a-la Music/PaulMcCartney's ''[=McCartney=]'' series, with session players only contributing accessory elements to the music after the fact. Additionally, the lyrical content becomes more introspective, moving away from story songs in favor of exploring what its advertising campaign billed as "songs of haunting reflection and hypnotic energy personified," altogether acting as a thorough examination of the implications behind the term "SelfTitledAlbum."

''David Byrne'', released in 1994, is the third solo album (and fourth studio album overall) by the Scottish-American AlternativeRock musician [[Music/DavidByrne of the same name]]. A departure from the Latin worldbeat that had defined Byrne's sound since the late 80's, this record presents a more straightforward approach punctuated by darker lyrical touches in Byrne's distinctly offbeat style. Keeping in line with its eponymous title, Byrne moves away from the large quantity of session musicians that defined his previous albums in favor of playing most of the instruments here, a-la Music/PaulMcCartney's ''[=McCartney=]'' series, with session players only contributing accessory elements to the music after the fact. Additionally, the lyrical content becomes more introspective, moving away from story songs in favor of exploring what its advertising campaign billed as "songs of haunting reflection and hypnotic energy personified," altogether acting as a thorough examination of the implications behind the term "SelfTitledAlbum."

On a more trivial note, this album was Byrne's first to ''not'' receive an LP release in any region, only being put out on CD and cassette. While vinyl had been reduced to afterthought status by the start of Byrne's solo career in 1989, by this point it had gone completely dormant within the mainstream. As a result, the format was considered commercially unviable until the start of the Vinyl Revival in 2007; tellingly, Byrne wouldn't return to LP releases until a year after the latter phenomenon began, with 2008's ''Everything That Happens Will Happen Today''.

* SelfPlagiarism: While the choruses are substantially different, the verses of "Angels" are similar in style to [[Music/RemainInLight "Once in a Lifetime"]]; ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'' among others ribbed at this by claiming that Byrne had finally run out of ideas as an artist.

After the critical HypeBacklash of ''[[Music/UhOhDavidByrneAlbum Uh-Oh]]'', ''David Byrne'' ended up flying under the radar. Reviewers generally ignored/dismissed the album, not helped by accusations of running out of ideas once people noticed the similarities between "Angels" and the increasingly iconic [[Music/RemainInLight "Once in a Lifetime"]]. Commercially, the album didn't fare too highly either, selling even less copies than its predecessor and only reaching No. 139 on the Billboard 200 (though it spent six weeks there and peaked at a more commendable No. 44 in the UK). "Angels" would fare moderately better as a single, peaking at No. 24 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. Like ''Uh-Oh'', Byrne would go on to ignore the album's existence in later years, with its numbers eventually disappearing from setlists. Though they also raised eyebrows at "Angels", fans would take to the album more kindly, regarding it as a decent means of adapting to how rapidly music had changed throughout the early 90's; this disparity in opinion would only cement the CriticalDissonance Byrne had come to face as a solo artist, with this pattern remaining unbroken until the positive press response to ''Grown Backwards'' in 2004.

[[caption-width-right:350:''"I cannot hide what I want."'']]

* SelfTitledAlbum: The album takes the "self" part to an unusually thorough extreme. Like Music/PaulMcCartney's forays into this trope, the album title reflects the fact that Byrne wrote every song on it and played most of the instruments. Byrne also includes photos of his body throughout the liner notes, and the more introspective lyrics focus mostly on examination of the self.

''David Byrne'', released in 1994, is the third solo album (and fourth studio album overall) by the Scottish-American AlternativeRock musician [[Music/DavidByrne of the same name]]. A departure from the Latin worldbeat that had defined Byrne's sound since the late 80's, this record presents a more straightforward approach punctuated by darker lyrical touches in Byrne's distinctly offbeat style. Keeping in line with its eponymous title, Byrne moves away from the large quantity of session musicians that defined his previous albums in favor of playing most of the instruments here, a-la Music/PaulMcCartney's ''[=McCartney=]'' series, with session players only contributing accessory elements to the music after the fact. Additionally, the lyrical content becomes more introspective, moving away from story songs in favor of exploring the self, altogether acting as a thorough examination of the implications behind the term "SelfTitledAlbum."

''David Byrne'', released in 1994, is the third solo album (and fourth studio album overall) by the Scottish-American AlternativeRock musician [[Music/DavidByrne of the same name]]. A departure from the Latin worldbeat that had defined Byrne's sound since the late 80's, this record presents a more straightforward approach punctuated by darker lyrical touches in Byrne's distinctly offbeat style. Keeping in line with its eponymous title, Byrne moves away from the large quantity of session musicians in favor of playing most of the instruments on the album, a-la Music/PaulMcCartney's ''[=McCartney=]'' series, with session players only contributing accessory elements to the music after the fact. Additionally, the lyrical content becomes more introspective, moving away from story songs in favor of exploring the self, altogether acting as a thorough examination of the implications behind the term "SelfTitledAlbum."

After the critical HypeBacklash of ''Music/UhOhDavidByrneAlbum'', ''David Byrne'' ended up flying under the radar. Reviewers generally ignored/dismissed the album, not helped by accusations of running out of ideas once people noticed the similarities between "Angels" and the increasingly iconic [[Music/RemainInLight "Once in a Lifetime"]]. Commercially, the album didn't fare too highly either, selling even less copies than its predecessor and only reaching No. 139 on the Billboard 200 (though it spent six weeks there and peaked at a more commendable No. 44 in the UK). "Angels" would fare moderately better as a single, peaking at No. 24 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. Like ''Uh-Oh'', Byrne would go on to ignore the album's existence in later years, with its numbers eventually disappearing from setlists. Though they also raised eyebrows at "Angels", fans would take to the album more kindly, regarding it as a decent means of adapting to how rapidly music had changed throughout the early 90's; this disparity in opinion would only cement the CriticalDissonance Byrne had come to face as a solo artist, with this pattern remaining unbroken until the positive press response to ''Grown Backwards'' in 2004.

After the critical HypeBacklash of ''Uh-Oh'', ''David Byrne'' ended up flying under the radar. Reviewers generally ignored/dismissed the album, not helped by accusations of running out of ideas once people noticed the similarities between "Angels" and the increasingly iconic [[Music/RemainInLight "Once in a Lifetime"]]. Commercially, the album didn't fare too highly either, selling even less copies than its predecessor and only reaching No. 139 on the Billboard 200 (though it spent six weeks there and peaked at a more commendable No. 44 in the UK). "Angels" would fare moderately better as a single, peaking at No. 24 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. Like ''Uh-Oh'', Byrne would go on to ignore the album's existence in later years, with its numbers eventually disappearing from setlists. Though they also raised eyebrows at "Angels", fans would take to the album more kindly, regarding it as a decent means of adapting to how rapidly music had changed throughout the early 90's; this disparity in opinion would only cement the CriticalDissonance Byrne had come to face as a solo artist, with this pattern remaining unbroken until the positive press response to ''Grown Backwards'' in 2004.

On a more trivial note, this album was Byrne's first to ''not'' receive an LP release, only being put out on CD and cassette. By this point, vinyl had gone dormant within the mainstream, making the format commercially unviable until the start of the Vinyl Revival in 2007. Tellingly, Byrne wouldn't return to LP releases until a year after the latter phenomenon began, with 2008's ''Everything That Happens Will Happen Today''.

* SelfPlagiarism: While the choruses are substantially different, the verses of "Angels" are similar in style to [[Music/RemainInLight "Once in a Lifetime"]]; ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' among others ribbed at this by claiming that Byrne had finally run out of ideas as an artist.

''David Byrne'', released in 1994, is the third solo album (and fourth studio album overall) by the Scottish-American AlternativeRock musician [[Music/DavidByrne of the same name]]. A departure from the Latin worldbeat of ''Uh-Oh'' two years before it, this record presents a more straightforward sound punctuated by darker lyrical touches in Byrne's distinctly offbeat style. Keeping in line with its eponymous title, Byrne moves away from the large quantity of session musicians in favor of playing most of the instruments on the album, a-la Music/PaulMcCartney's ''[=McCartney=]'' series, with session players only contributing accessory elements to the music after the fact. Additionally, the lyrical content becomes more introspective, moving away from story songs in favor of exploring the self, altogether acting as a thorough examination of the implications behind the term "SelfTitledAlbum."

After the critical HypeBacklash of ''Uh-Oh'', ''David Byrne'' ended up flying under the radar. Reviewers generally ignored/dismissed the album, not helped by the similarities between "Angels" and the increasingly iconic [[Music/RemainInLight "Once in a Lifetime"]] (which led to accusations of Byrne running out of ideas). Commercially, the album didn't fare too highly either, only reaching No. 139 on the Billboard 200 (though it spent six weeks there and peaked at a more commendable No. 44 in the UK). "Angels" would fare moderately better as a single, peaking at No. 24 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. Like ''Uh-Oh'', Byrne would go on to ignore the album's existence in later years, with its numbers eventually disappearing from setlists. Though they also raised eyebrows at "Angels", fans would take to the album more kindly, regarding it as a decent means of adapting to how rapidly music had changed throughout the early 90's; this disparity in opinion would only cement the CriticalDissonance Byrne had come to face as a solo artist, with this pattern remaining unbroken until the positive press response to ''Grown Backwards'' in 2004.