Album of the Day

Released on this day in 1988, NAKED would be the final studio album from Talking Heads. Recording for the Sire collection began in Paris with co-producer Steve Lillywhite (and such musical guests as guitarist Johnny Marr and vocalist Kirsty MacColl) before being finished off at New York City’s Sigma Sound studio. Musically, the 11 originals recall the worldbeat jamming of REMAIN IN LIGHT more than the mainstream approach of the quartet’s two previous releases; lyrically, frontman David Byrne said that many of the songs were “about human beings stripped of their pretensions; stripped of their surface trappings,” which likely explains the set’s title. A Gold-certified, Top 20 success, NAKED is a superb swan song for the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers.