Remain in Light by Talking Heads

Innervisions

Stevie Wonder

The boldest political statement of Wonder’s career also managed to be deliriously funky.

The boldest political statement of Wonder’s career yet—assailing drug addicts, infrastructural racism, charismatic con men, and superficial Christians—Innervisions also managed to be deliriously funky. Wonder played and produced just about everything, and the musical peaks were as high as Wonder would ever get, though the tone was more accusatory than ever.

“The way that he was able to tease at your emotions and pick at you, you just had to let yourself become part of his music.”

Jack Garratt

“Living for the City” is a feverish seven-minute soul operetta about the unforgiving toll of urban life for the Black working class in the post-Black Power moment. The album-ending slow burn “He’s Misstra Know-It-All” suavely identifies the character types who prey on those same marginalized people, including, many surmised, the soon-to-resign Nixon. There’s salvation to be found in “Higher Ground,” which asserts Wonder’s belief in reincarnation over his trademark wah-wah clavinet and Moog bass. Both a kiss-off to late-’60s hippie optimism and a pathway to numerous possible spiritual futures, Innervisions cemented Wonder as the most inspired and singular mind in 1970s American popular music.

Remain in Light

Talking Heads

A revolutionary reimagination of the American punk movement through the lens of African music.

Talking Heads and their producer Brian Eno shared a love of African music, especially the work of Nigerian firebrand Fela Kuti, who built 15- to 20-minute songs out of repeated funk and jazz riffs. Fela was one of the strongest influences on Remain in Light, which used polyrhythms like no rock record had before. All four band members and Eno played multiple instruments on the album’s eight songs, and they also brought in percussionists, guitarist Adrian Belew, soul singer Nona Hendryx, and avant-garde trumpeter Jon Hassell.

Singer David Byrne’s interest in non-American cultures led him to new subject matter, such as on the atmospheric “Listening Wind,” which describes the stealthy actions of a bomber who targets the colonialist Americans who’ve begun living in his country. The album describes terrorism and danger (and on the last song, “The Overload,” dread as well), but the overall mood of these thick, extended jams is ebullience, in the music as well as the lyrics.

Apple Music 100 Best Albums

Innervisions

Remain in Light