The Catherine Wheel (album)

The Catherine Wheel
Soundtrack album by
ReleasedNovember 23, 1981 (1981-11-23)[1]
Studio
  • Celestial Sound, New York
  • Olympic, London
GenreArt rock, worldbeat, funk
Length40:45 (LP)
68:41 (cassette, CD)
LabelSire
ProducerDavid Byrne
David Byrne chronology
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
(1981)
The Catherine Wheel
(1981)
Music for "The Knee Plays"
(1985)
Alternative cover
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Robert ChristgauA−[3]

The Catherine Wheel is an album by Scottish-American musician David Byrne, released in 1981 by Sire Records. It contains Byrne's musical score for choreographer Twyla Tharp's dance project of the same name.[4][5] The Catherine Wheel premiered September 22, 1981, at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City.

The tracks "Big Blue Plymouth", "My Big Hands", "Big Business", and "What a Day That Was" were performed live by Talking Heads and notably in the groundbreaking film featuring many edited video images of the ‘ordinary and extraordinary’ accompanied with filming of their Wembley Arena “Once in a Lifetime” concert in 1983. The latter two tracks appear in their film Stop Making Sense (1984)— "What a Day That Was" appears on the original version of the soundtrack, "Big Business" was later included in the 2023 expanded edition.

Byrne has also performed several of these tracks in his solo tours, including "What a Day That Was", which appeared on his DVDs Live at Union Chapel (2004) and Live from Austin, TX (2007).

The complete score was reissued on double vinyl for Record Store Day 2023.

  1. ^ "FMQB" (PDF). p. 35.
  2. ^ Anderson, Rick. The Catherine Wheel at AllMusic
  3. ^ "Robert Christgau: CG: David Byrne". www.robertchristgau.com.
  4. ^ Kisselgoff, Anna (23 September 1981). "Dance: Twyla Tharp's New 'Wheel'" – via NYTimes.com.
  5. ^ "David Byrne".