It goes without saying that any David Byrne solo release will be all over the sonic map, and true to form, Look Into the Eyeball provides a pancultural stew of musical styles, exotic rhythms, and international guest stars. But what separates Eyeball from Byrne's previous offering, the only-fitfully successful Feelings, is a renewed emphasis on lush, natural sounds and consistent production. Nearly every track boasts strings and/or horns, and the textures go a long way in unifying Byrne's insistent genre-hopping. Tracks such as Smile, The Revolution, The Accident, and Everyone's in Love With You best demonstrate his new approach: Spare melodies are layered atop subtle, percolating rhythms and then filled in with evocative string arrangements. Better yet, Byrne's two collaborations with legendary Philly soul producer Thom Bell -- the buoyant Like Humans Do and Neighborhood -- blend in effortlessly with the other material. Of course, old habits die hard: U.B. Jesus and The Great Intoxication are at once too slick and too simple, with muddled messages both musically and lyrically. (It doesn't help that the latter track features a cringe-inducing, self-referential "Who disco? Who techno? Who hip-hop? Who bebop?..." shout-out.) The remainder of the album vacillates between pleasant Talking Heads-ish pop (Walk on Water) and accomplished if out-of-place forays into the Latin avant-garde (Desconocido Soy). It's hard to fault Byrne -- who produces an album every three or four years -- for packing as much as he can into one release. So it's best to view Look Into the Eyeball for what it is: an entertaining assimilation of the sundry artists and sounds he's gotten into since his last trip into the studio. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

1		U.B. Jesus
2		The Revolution
3		The Great Intoxication
4		Like Humans Do
5		Broken Things
6		The Accident
7		Desconocido Soy (feat. Café Tacvba & NRU)
8		Neighborhood
9		Smile
10		The Moment of Conception
11		Walk on Water
12		Everyone's in Love with You