Look into the Eyeball
| Look into the Eyeball | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 8, 2001 | |||
| Recorded | The Cutting Room Studio and Sound on Sound Studio, New York City | |||
| Genre | Art rock, alternative rock, folk rock, worldbeat | |||
| Length | 38:46 | |||
| Label | Virgin | |||
| Producer | Michael Mangini | |||
| David Byrne chronology | ||||
| ||||
Look into the Eyeball is the sixth studio album by musician David Byrne, released on May 8, 2001. The single "Like Humans Do" was supplied with the Windows XP operating system to showcase Microsoft's Windows Media Player.
"Desconocido Soy" is a Spanish language song, performed with Nrü (a.k.a. Rubén Isaac Albarrán Ortega) from Café Tacuba. The title means "I Am Unknown" in English.
As of August 2001 the album has sold 63,000 copies in United States according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Recording
This record started to take shape in the summer of 1999, after my Byrne's Knitting Factory dates with the Balanesçu Quartet, and the TV appearance they did together on the PBS show "Sessions At West 54th" in 1998. While Byrne was in Spain, he began to start writing and giving shape to the songs[1] "I got a lot of musical ideas recorded. I played grooves, made loops and faked string parts with a sampler and sang gibberish lyrics to outline some melodies."
Some musical inspirations for this album include "Stevie Wonder, Bjork, Isaac Hayes, Caetano Veloso, Tricky, Lambchop, Serge Gainsbourg and Los Fabulosos Cadillacs."[1]
The song "The Revolution" deals with "[...] a real revolution [that] is won by seduction, by winning over not just the mind, but the body and the senses as well. And that the sadness of some of these melodies are countered by the vigor and persistence of the groove."[1]
The song "Desconocido Soy" is the first song Byrne writes fully in Spanish, Spanish Musician Javier Liñan help with the translation, and the decided to Have Ruben Albarrán from Cafe Tacvba (going by Nrü at the time) to record backing vocals.
The songs "Neighborhood" and "Like Humans Do" have elaborate horn and strings sections done by Thom Bell, composer for The Stylistics, the O'Jays, whiich Bynre is a huge fan off.
Cover Art
The cover art for this album was going to be very different, according to Byrne:
I still didn't have a title at this point. But I did have an idea for a cover. I had seen Martin Parr's hilarious little book of photos of himself taken by all sorts of portrait photographers all over the world. I was also reminded of an idea Geggy Tah once mentioned about wanting their publicity photos done at Sears. So I thought I would have a go at it, but with a twist. Kara Finlay and I went to a photo studio in a mall in Jersey City, which was loads of fun. But after looking at the results, I could see that one of my ideas--to dress up as different people, sort of in disguise, sort of extreme versions of myself--was not appropriate. The record, I believe, is fairly sincere, not ironic, and any tricky--jokey images like those would give the wrong impression. This idea was abandoned for a cover.
The title of the album Look Into The Eyeball to Byrne "reflects both the record's preoccupation with human relations, and it's slightly off-kilter view of the same."[1]
The album concept and art was realized by Doyle Partners, it was nominated for Best Packaging Design in the 44th annual Grammy Awards in 2002[2]
Track listing
All songs written and arranged by David Byrne
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "U.B. Jesus" | 3:49 |
| 2. | "The Revolution" | 2:15 |
| 3. | "The Great Intoxication" | 2:36 |
| 4. | "Like Humans Do" | 3:32 |
| 5. | "Broken Things" | 4:29 |
| 6. | "The Accident" | 2:34 |
| 7. | "Desconocido Soy" | 2:38 |
| 8. | "Neighborhood" | 4:32 |
| 9. | "Smile" | 3:33 |
| 10. | "The Moment of Conception" | 2:55 |
| 11. | "Walk on Water" | 3:26 |
| 12. | "Everyone's in Love with You" | 2:27 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 13. | "All Over Me" | 5:18 |
| 14. | "Princess" | 3:56 |
Personnel
- David Byrne – vocals and guitar, keyboards on "Walk on the Water", Mellotron on "Everyone's in Love with You", and timpani on "The Accident"
- Additional musicians
- Thom Bell – Rhodes on "Neighborhood"
- Herb Besson – trombone
- Virgil Blackwell – clarinet on "Smile"
- Kysia Bostic – back-up vocals
- Paulo Braga – percussion on "The Great Intoxication"
- Vinicius Cantuária – percussion on "The Great Intoxication"
- Bob Carlisle – French horn
- Tara Chambers – cello
- Vivian Cherry – back-up vocals
- Greg Cohen – upright bass
- Imani Coppola – back-up vocals on "Everyone's in Love with You"
- Nick Cords – viola
- Michael Davis – trombone
- Larry Etkin – flugelhorn and trumpet on "Broken Things"
- Bruno Eicher – violin
- Arlen Fast – bassoon on "The Accident""
- Paul Frazier – bass guitar
- Robert Funk – trombone on "Broken Things"
- Karen Griffin – piccolo
- Dawn Hannay – viola
- Jim Hayes – trumpet on "Like Humans Do"
- Birch Johnson – trombone on "Broken Things"
- Bradley Jones – bass on "The Revolution", baby bass on "Everyone's in Love with You"
- Rodd Kadleck – trumpet
- Vivek Kamath – viola
- Lisa Kim – violin
- Judy Leclair – bassoon on "The Accident""
- Ken Lewis – bass and keyboards
- Eileen Moon – cello
- Kristina Mosso – violin
- Maxim Moston – violin
- Nrü (a.k.a. Rubén Isaac Albarrán Ortega) – vocals on "Desconocido Soy"
- Suzanne Ornstein – violin
- Sandra Park – violin
- Rajnhidur Pejursdottir – violin
- Shawn Pelton – drum kit and percussion
- Susan Pray – viola
- Dan Reed – violin
- Mauro Refosco – percussion
- Robert Rinehart – viola
- Stewart Rose – French horn
- Roger Rosenberg – baritone saxophone
- Marlon Saunders – back-up vocals
- Laura Seaton – violin
- Sarah Seiver – cello
- Fiona Simon – violin
- Alan Stepansky – cello
- John Vercesi – Rhodes on "The Revolution"
- Shelley Woodworth – English horn on "The Great Intoxication"
- Sharon Yamada – violin
- Production
- David Byrne – photography
- Greg Calbi – mastering
- Danny Clinch – photography
- Stephen Doyle – photography
- Ken Lewis – engineering, mixing (tracks 2 to 12)
- Michael Mangini – producer
- Doyle Partners – artwork
Release history
| Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Worldwide | 2001-05-08 | Virgin | CD | 50924 |