Back in 1979, when Brian Eno and David Byrne were leading charges into new and edgy material, they created a masterpiece that is still remembered today.  My Life in the Bush of Ghosts sampled freely and was musically at the forefront of an emerging style.  Lo, these many years later, they reunite to create Whatever Happens Will Happen Today.  This alone would be ample cause to get excited.  But if you were expecting My Life in the Bush of Ghosts II, you won’t get it.  This album might not be for you.

This collaboration shows the artistic musical strength of these two personas.  Based on loose pieces from Brian Eno musical meanderings, Byrne adds his own brand of eclecticism to make a satisfying collection of tunes that will remind greatly of Talking Heads in their latter years.  The first song (“Home”), even though there are ‘called to mind’ heavy hints of Simon and Garfunkel compositions (“The Sounds of Silence,” “Homeward Bound”), is fiercely a Byrne/Eno tune.

The experiments of Whatever Happens Will Happen Today are, for the most part, wonderful.  With Byrne shaping the music supplied by Eno, applying lyrics, vocals, and direction, the songs of this album take on a life that only these two could breathe into it.  To call it the equal of My Life in the Bush of Ghosts would be quite wrong.  But to distance the quality of the talent and musical output of both albums would be equally as wrong.  With repeated listens, you come to love each individual tune.  Each tune is a planet that revolves around the star of the album as a whole.  They just belong together.

Listening to this album also brings forth compelling reasons why Talking Heads should reassemble!  Byrne needed the challenge of another mind to create the brilliance heard on this album.  The remaining Heads can supply that because, as this album evidences, the magic is still there.  But for now, Whatever Happens Will Happen Today is as close to a new Heads album as we’ve gotten since Naked.