SUMA RECORDS
2008
Big Love: Hymnal
About This Album
Simply put, Big Love: Hymnal is exactly what its title and subtitle -- Music Written for the HBO Series Plus Other Compositions -- claim it to be: serial music to accompany the various episodes from the second season of the cable show that stars Bill Paxton. Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh wrote the first season -- and let's just say that in his own contribution, David Byrne is really aware of that fact. Byrne claims he wanted to write a series of "fake" Mormon hymns to accompany the many themes that characters encounter and express, from devotion to jealousy, anger, and betrayal. He initially wrote a number of these grand gestures without seeing a frame of the season's pictures, but they ended up not being used -- even though he would have allowed the series' producers to slice and dice them any way they wished. Byrne claims that's just as well, and punters can decide for themselves since he's included a number of them here as bonus tracks (though you'll have to figure out what's what for yourself because the super budget HBO CD package doesn't designate them). Byrne fans will no doubt recognize many of the same tropes he's employed since True Stories.
Track List (try tracks 1,4,5,20 and 21)

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