Same as it ever was, but different again

June 2, 2018 5:03 PM

As mentioned previously, Grammy Award-winning Beninese singer-songwriter Angélique Kidjo's reinterpretation of Talking Heads' 1980 album Remain in Light (YT pl, Wiki) brings the sound full circle, from the album's original construction based on the template of Fela Kuti's 1973 album Afrodisiac (Bandcamp, prev.), to take the album back to Africa, with help from other artists informed by Talking Heads. You can enjoy the first single/video, "Born Under Punches," and the second music video, "Into the Light," which Kidjo performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and even hear the full album a bit early from NPR's first listen.

Angélique Kidjo has been performing her reinterpretation of Remain in Light live for over a year now (New York Times review of the Carnegie Hall performance), so you can also find audience recordings of the tracks:
1. "Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)"
2. "Crosseyed and Painless" (again)
3. "The Great Curve"
4. "Once in a Lifetime" with David Byrne
5. "Houses in Motion" with Nona Hendryx
6. "Seen and Not Seen"
7. "Listening Wind"
8. "The Overload"

Bonus track:
"Burning Down the House" with Nona Hendryx

And to make the Fela connection really clear, here's a bonus track from Talking Heads' expanded CD:
"Fela's Riff"

posted by filthy light thief (9 comments total)

Fave album of the year so far for me.
posted by vverse23 at 5:32 PM on June 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

I have been so looking forward to this. So far, what I've heard I like. Not as much as the original Remain in Light, but I'm willing to admit this is probably because of the idiom of music I grew up with. Remain in Light definitely opened me up to a lot of African music, and this project at the very least has made me appreciate even more what I think is perhaps the most brilliant record in the history of American pop music.

And I am going to use this space to once again promote my theory that Once in a Lifetime is about Siddhartha's moment of enlightenment by the river. I've been contemplating this for decades.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 6:55 PM on June 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

I saw the live show of this in Seattle a few weeks ago. It was rocking and joyous.
posted by matildaben at 7:47 PM on June 2, 2018

The world moves on a woman's hips. The world moves and it swivels and bops.
posted by Nerd of the North at 8:31 PM on June 2, 2018

Anyone know if this is getting a vinyl release? The pre order on her site looks to be digital only.
posted by mannequito at 12:12 AM on June 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

There was a great interview with Kidjo on BBC 6Music last week . Full programme here (Requires BBC login)
posted by brilliantmistake at 5:17 AM on June 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

We're going to see the show in concert this summer. I can't wait.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:29 AM on June 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

I've been incredibly excited about this ever since I heard the Born Under Punches cover. I've also been bugging my local record store about a vinyl version.
posted by redsparkler at 11:00 PM on June 3, 2018

Angélique Kidjo Connects Talking Heads With Her African Roots (new NPR interview)

In making a cover album of Talking Heads' Remain in Light, people kept telling Angélique Kidjo that the absurd songs had no meaning. But it didn't seem that way to her. She connected the music with folk songs from her home country of Benin and interpreted them through the same cultural lens that the band did.

And something for your (summer/ winter/ whenever) reading list: African Rhythms and African Sensibility by John Miller Chernoff, a book that Kidjo notes inspired and informed David Byrnes (New York Times, 1981).
posted by filthy light thief at 12:42 PM on June 4, 2018