Tuesday, May 16 • 8 pm
NYC avant-new-wave group Talking Heads were at the peak of their creative powers after 1979’s Brian Eno-produced Fear Of Music, which spawned the tensely exhilarating hit “Life During Wartime.” But where could they go after three commercially and artistically successful rock albums? A hint lay on Fear Of Music‘s “I Zimbra,” a funk-rock take on Afrobeat. David Byrne and company decided to add guitarist/vocalist Adrian Belew, backing vocalists Nona Hendryx and Eno, and trumpeter Jon Hassell, and head deeper into African-influenced rhythmic mesmerism and chant-intensive vocal arrangements, inspired by pioneering Nigerian musician Fela Kuti’s Afrodisiac.
The change did them good; the dazzling result was 1980’s Remain In Light. The LP reached #19 in the US album chart, buoyed by the oddly levitational hit single “Once In A Lifetime.” Side one bristled with dance-floor burners featuring incredibly intricate Afro-funk laced with Belew’s freaky, synth-augmented guitar solos. Side two burrowed into more introspective and ominous territory, but not without generating some strange beauty. Forty-three years later, Talking Heads keyboardist/guitarist Jerry Harrison, Belew, and nine other musicians are resurrecting Remain In Light‘s polyrhythmic magic and existential lyrics for what will likely be an overload of sonic pleasure. Expect some non-RIL Heads songs as well as assorted Harrison solo tracks and other treats.
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