Here Lies Love
*Here Lies Love* is an unlikely concept album based on the lives of the former First Lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos and her nanny Estrella Cumpas and their divergent fates. Marcos’ fascination with the clubs and discos of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s gives Byrne and collaborator Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook) free rein to create their own dancefloor numbers. Together, they employ a wide range of female vocalists to tell their story and frame the sound for a fantastic discotheque. British singer Florence Welch opens things with the disco-fied title track. Tori Amos sings as Imelda’s mother Remedios on the sultry South-American blues of “You’ll Be Taken Care of.” Steve Earle breaks up the female block with “A Perfect Hand,” a track that leans into Earle’s country background with a piano that slowly transforms into a barroom tinkle. Cyndi Lauper excels on the electronically hopped up “Eleven Days” and on the funked-up finale with Tori Amos, “Why Don’t You Love Me?” By the time Byrne makes his vocal appearance near the album’s end on the techno-laden “American Troglodyte,” it comes as a surprise. The man behind the scenes makes his presence known at long last.
The Talking Head and A-list dance producer gather 22 vocalists-- including Santigold, Tori Amos, and Florence Welch-- for a tribute to Imelda Marcos. Really.
One of the most generous conceits of the musical is that everyone has a song to sing. Hero or villain, characters have a right to take center stage and justify themselves. A collaboration between David Byrne and Fatboy Slim inspired by the rise and fall of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos—and the parallel story of Estrella…
A concept album based around the lives of Imelda Marcos and her nanny Estrella Cumpas, David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's (Norman Cook) Here Lies Love is primarily a great pop record featuring a bevy of name female vocalists.
Here Lies Love makes the case that the sprawling concept album shtick should be left to the prog rockers.
David Byrne loves to collaborate. His last full-length release was a collaboration with Brian Eno (their second together), he collaborated with The Dirty Projectors on their song “Knotty Pine” for last year’s Dark Was The Night charity compilation and he is reportedly currently working on new material with St. Vincent. On this project he shares