The first Red Hot + Rio, from 1996, reimagined bossa nova; this one jumps off the politicized, avant-rock Tropicália movement of the Sixties and Seventies. Many songs are classics - like "Baby," envisioned here by arty soul singers Alice Smith and Aloe Blacc, and "O Leãozinho," voiced by Beirut's Zach Condon in his best indie-matinee-idol voice. (Both were written by Tropicália godfather Caetano Veloso, who joins David Byrne for the theremin-charged "Dreamworld.") Other tracks, like the kinetic breakbeat jam "A Cidade," by DJ Dolores with Gogol Bordello's Eugene Hutz, take the Tropicália spirit into the 21st century, where it sounds perfectly at home.

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“1999”

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.