Remain in Light cover

Remain in Light

Released

If ever there was an example of an artist taking songs by the scruff of the neck and going “these are mine now,” it’s this glorious reinterpretation of an entire Talking Heads album by the Beninese-French diva Angélique Kidjo. The original was explicitly inspired by West African music, especially Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat, but rather than take it back to its influences Kidjo and her collaborators – including Ezra Koenig, Dev “Blood Orange” Hynes and Tony Allen – pushed it forwards into the future. At first it’s hard to think how she could better the opening, Grace Jones-ish “Born Under Punches” – but the standard remains relentless throughout, and in fact as it opens out into the mellower, cosmic finale of “Seen and Not Seen,” “Listening Wind” and “The Overload,” the album ends even stronger than it began. An undeniable masterpiece.

Joe Muggs

Recommended by

Suggestions
New Horizon cover

New Horizon

Isaac Hayes
Face to Face cover

Face to Face

Vusi Mahlasela, Jive Connection, Norman Zulu
Candi cover

Candi

Candi Staton
From the Closet cover

From the Closet

Daryle Chinn
New Funky Nation cover

New Funky Nation

Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.
Walk Alone cover

Walk Alone

Napoleon Cherry
Ernie K. Doe cover

Ernie K. Doe

Ernie K-Doe
Keleketla! cover

Keleketla!

Coldcut, Keleketla!
Pressure Drop cover

Pressure Drop

Robert Palmer
The Meters cover

The Meters

The Meters
Maggot Brain cover

Maggot Brain

Funkadelic