David Byrne Reviews Barry Manilow’s Album of Duets With Dead Singers

Photo by Tom Oldham

Over on The Talkhouse, David Byrne wrote an essay about an album that came out last week: My Dream Duets by Barry Manilow—an LP Byrne accurately describes as “all duets with dead people”(Marilyn Monroe, John Denver, Whitney Houston, others). Byrne discusses how the album presents an unsettling disconnect between perception and reality.

He writes:

What we see, hear and feel is not necessarily what is actually going on. We can no longer trust our senses. Then what do we trust? In this way Mr. Manilow’s record is profound, bluntly confronting us with this cognitive dissonance. He never conceals the fact that he’s duetting with his favorite dead singers, free of the risks involved in getting their permission, let alone in actually collaborating. But once the digital patchwork is complete, he and his partners sound unanimously chummy and affirmative and defect-free. It’s creepy, but only in your head. If you just listen, the illusion is totally believable.

It gets more philosophical from there. He wonders, for example, “Can I make a record with folks who haven’t been born yet?” Read the whole thing here.

In the recent past, Byrne has written about how wealth inequality is impacting New York, his concerns about the NSA, and criticisms of streaming services.

The Talkhouse has previously featured Lou Reed on Yeezus, St. Vincent on Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig on Drake, and more. 

Watch Manilow discuss his album, and watch Byrne perform “Road to Nowhere”:

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