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Music News: David Byrne's 'True Stories' enters Criterion Collection

David Byrne in 'True Stories.'
David Byrne in 'True Stories.'Warner Bros.
  Play Now [13:19]

by Jay Gabler

November 19, 2018

Above, listen to an episode of The Current's daily Music News podcast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. You can also sign up for a daily Music News e-mail and join our Facebook group.


The 1986 film True Stories, directed by David Byrne and featuring an album's worth of original music by Talking Heads, is being reissued on home video as part of the prestigious Criterion Collection. Even more exciting for music fans: the release will be accompanied by the movie's first-ever true soundtrack release. The Talking Heads songs from the movie were released as the album True Stories, which has remained in print, but Byrne's instrumental score has been out of print for decades. An asterisk: at least initially, it seems that reworked soundtrack will only be available as a package deal with the movie, out on Tuesday, Nov.20.

The film will be remastered and stocked with bonus features for the reissue, making it the version "we hope people see," Byrne tells Billboard. The film, which stars John Goodman in a Byrne-narrated story about eccentric characters ripped from tabloid headlines who live together in a fictional Texas town, has become a cult classic and a must-see for fans of Talking Heads, who are pictured performing some of their songs in music videos.

Metallica pitch in to support wildfire victims

Metallica have donated $100,000 to support relief efforts for the recent wave of California wildfires. The band shared a video of an acoustic performance of their song "All Within My Hands" from a recent benefit concert, and urged fans to "join us in supporting those in need and our first responders in any way you can by donating money, non-perishable food, clothing and other supplies or by giving your time volunteering or providing temporary housing. Every little bit helps." (Rolling Stone)

Beatles' White Album returns to the top ten

The Beatles are back in the top ten on Billboard's album chart, with a deluxe reissue of their 1968 self-titled release unofficially known as the White Album. Amid a tide of praise for the reissue, laden with dozens of outtakes and demos, the album lands at number six on this week's Billboard 200. It spent nine weeks at number one upon its original release, making it one of the Beatles' record 19 chart-topping albums.

John Williams writes new Star Wars music...for a theme park

Disney has released new music written by legendary composer John Williams for their for the Star-Wars-themed attractions currently under construction at Disney theme parks. There's no bigger name in movie music than Williams, and his most famous movies are the Star Wars movies...so when the 86-year-old composer writes new Star Wars music, it's a big deal. He says the upcoming Episode IX will mark his retirement from the franchise, but in the meantime, Disney tapped him to write a new "Galaxy's Edge" theme that plays in a video showing time-lapse construction footage. The attractions will open at both Disneyland and Disney World in 2019. (Rolling Stone)

Does Taylor Swift really roll around in a giant suitcase?

Pop star Zayn Malik seems to have confirmed rumors that Taylor Swift occasionally travels inside a suitcase to avoid paparazzi. Yes, inside a suitcase.

Last year, internet jokers suggested that a giant black gear case being transported into Taylor Swift's New York apartment actually contained the singer-songwriter, one of the world's most recognizable musicians. That theory was proven false, but the idea that Swift hid inside suitcases wouldn't die.

In a new interview with British Vogue, Malik — who collaborated with Swift on the Fifty Shades Darker song "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" — he's quoted as saying, with "eyes agog," that "she was travelling around in a suitcase."

In more musically consequential Taylor Swift news, she just announced that she's split with Big Machine, the label she's been on since she started releasing music at age 15. Announcing that she's signed to Republic Records, Swift wrote, that she'll "own all of my master recordings that I make from now on. It's really important to me to see eye to eye with a label regarding the future of our industry." Along with the signing, she wrote, came demands (MTV)

Viral video shows how closely Bohemian Rhapsody copied Queen's Live Aid performance

If you've seen the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody and been impressed by how it captured the energy of Queen's legendary 1985 Live Aid performance, you'll be even more impressed after you check out a new viral video showing just how precisely the film copied Freddie Mercury's crowd-pleasing moves. (NME)

https://twitter.com/MOMENTOFMERCURY/status/1061567015503192064


Songs sampled in podcast
Jahzzar: "Comedie" (CC BY 4.0)
BoxCat Games: "Against the Wall" (CC BY 3.0)
Metallica: "All Within My Hands"
John Williams: "Star Wars Galaxy's Edge"
Zayn and Taylor Swift: "I Don't Wanna Live Forever"
Talking Heads: "Radio Head"
Queen: Live Aid performance