Customer Reviews

Remain in Light

5 star:		(116)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Remain in Light is perhaps the Talking Heads' best album. Technically it is flawless, and as far as music goes, Remain in Light unifies electronica, African rhythms, guitar riffs and Bryan Eno's signature minimalism to hypnotic effect. The music is captivating and melodic - great dance music, but also great careful-listening music - and David Byrne's halting, discordant voice and thoughtful lyrics transcend each song to a more intellectual and compelling level. Ultimately, Remain in Light is a piece of art as well as a piece of music - Byrne and Eno have carefully layered music, vocals and thoughtful lyrics to create perhaps one of the best albums of the eighties.

The first three tracks are primarily dance tracks, but each one is subtly constructed and multi-layered. `Born Under Punches' combines repetition, African rhythm and a variety of eclectic instruments Tom Waits would be proud of. The end result is a dance track with a political slant: "Take a look at these hands... I'm a tumbler/ I'm a government man... I'm so thin... all I want is to breathe." `Crosseyed and Painless' is another dance track, however the weakest of the three. `The Great Curve' is perhaps one of the Heads' best work - it is an exemplary piece of music that showcases the great song-writing and compositional aptitude of the band's frontman, David Byrne. The Great Curve is a haunting, melodic and multi-layered work that stays with the listener for a long time - but, if you like, you can get up and dance to it because it's got one hell of a rhythm pounding through it.

The next five songs are exceptional, however the focus shifts from dance to more of an art-rock. `Houses in Motion' is brilliant, `Seen and Not Seen' is a spoken conversation piece and `Once in a Lifetime' was the big hit from the album, and has a very catchy and musical chorus. `Listening Wind' revisits the African elements of the album and is quite a haunting piece of music, and finally, the album anti-climaxes with the Eno-Byrne collaboration `The Overload', which fails to live up to it's initial horrific promise.

But altogether Remain in Light rivals Speaking in Tongues for the Talking Heads' best album. It exemplifies their artistic and musical ability that started to mature with the advent of the captivating Fear of Music, yet still retains the pulsating rhythm of More Songs About Buildings and Food and Talking Heads '77. Remain in Light is a unique listening experience - one that you can dance to and listen to all the same - and is a worthy addition to anyone's music library.

polyrhythm(n): the simultaneous combination of contrasting rhythms in a musical composition

polyrhythmic(adj): 1: having many rhythms 2: having two or more rhythms proceeding simultaneously in different musical parts

Keep those definitions in mind when listening to this masterpiece from one of the most interesting bands I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. From the galloping multi-rhythmic opening song, "Born Under Punches(The Heat Goes On)," it becomes glaringly obvious that this is very original music. After pushing the Polyrhythmic Threshold with their previous albums, with varied success, Talking Heads shatter all their previous efforts with this epic and wholly amazing album. Along with their concert DVD, "Stop Making Sense," owning this album is absolutely essential to reach a full appreciation of this remarkable band. Both are exceptional experiences. My favorites from this CD are the faster tracks but the last two songs close the album with a somber, ethereal tone. The song "Listening Wind" is haunting, while "The Overload" is like walking around in a daze amid the ruins of some cataclysmic event. For the beginning fan I would suggest buying the DVD "Stop Making Sense" first, but soon after you should purchase this excellent album in a state of euphoria. I wish more bands would embrace polyrhythms and incorporate them in their songwriting. The songs on this album are crammed with them. Thank you.

Believe all the raves: Remain in Light is the zenith of the Heads' career and a classic essential for anyone who loves inventive music. This is a madly addicting collision of new-wave, pop, dance-rock and African trance that hasn't dated in the least. From David Byrne's masterful way with melodies to Brian Eno's impeccable onion-layered production work to Adrian Belew's stunt-guitar effects to the all-pervading percussion, every piece of the whole is perfect and falls into place just right.

The core of the album of course is the songs; the mad dance frenzy of "Crosseyed & Painless" and "The Great Curve," the beautiful tones of "Once in a Lifetime" (one of the Greatest Songs Ever), the slow trance of "Houses in Motion" and "Listening Wind" (which remains relevant enough to be downright eerie). Underneath there are layers upon layers of fascinating rhythm throughout, which make it much more than just a bunch of repetitive danceable beats (this release is also augmented by four bonus unfinished/demo tracks that give a nice window into how the original was constructed).

RiL has finally gotten the remastering that's been long overdue, so there are nuances of sound and percussion here that probably haven't been audible on any recording since the original LP. The sound improvement alone makes this an upgrade well worth buying.. assuming you can play it.

But that's one of the problems with this reissue: it's in Dualdisc format, which means a fair amount of CD players old and new won't be able to play it. And as novel as the idea of a single disc with CD & DVD sides is, it also makes storing/protecting the thing itself much more difficult than it needs to be. More strange, this release is in a cardboard/plastic digipak. It's a horrible way to store regular CDs to begin with, let alone discs that are vulnerable to scratching on *both* sides. Can someone explain this? What am I missing?

I dock a star for the crummy packaging, but hearing this masterpiece in all its sonic glory is still a treat not to be missed (I recommend just burning a CD-R of the audio). If all you've heard is the previous CD, to hear this is to discover Remain in Light all over again.

The Talking Heads, members of 1977's CBGB scene, certainly carved a unique niche in the music world. While the Ramones were pounding out 3-chord witty anthems and Television and Richard Hell were making literate punk rock, the Talking Heads were pioneering their own blend of dancy art-rock. While every album from Talking Heads '77 to Speaking In Tongues is classic material, if I was forced to choose their best album I'd have to side with Remain In Light. Although some gripe over Brian Eno's increased role in the band (some have said that he is the "fifth member") there is no denying that under his auspices as producer, David Byrne (vocals), Tina Weymouth (bass), Chris Frantz (drums) and Adrian Belew (guitar, later of King Crimson) released their best material.

Released in 1980, Remain In Light is often considered one of the seminal "New Wave" recordings, but it isn't really. The Talking Heads couldn't be compared to tripe like The Human League or Culture Club. Their music was diverse, intelligent, fluid, weird, and shake-your-hips-FUNKY.

The first half of Remain In Light is highly eccentric and upbeat dance music, sounding like some odd mutation of punk, African bush music, and funk. Wild polyrhythms abound, Byrne's vocals are quirky and neat bits of beat poetry ("I'm not a drowning man/I'm a tumbler!") and brilliantly inventive guitarist Belew unleashes sounds more remiscient of wild animals and electronic effects than the buzzsaw blast of punk. The second half, beginning with mainstream hit Once In A Lifetime (propelled by that timeless music video on MTV) progressively slows down the blistering pace with more moody and introspective pieces, ending with the dark dirge of The Overload (written by Eno, and very unlike the rest of the record). Overall, there's not a note wasted here.

Remain In Light is a truly great album--if you've heard the brilliant Once In A Lifetime already, that should be incentive enough to own this record. Right? Check out previous albums Talking Heads '77, More Songs About Buildings And Food, Fear Of Music, and the commercial followup Speaking In Tongues as well.

During the early 1980s, Talking Heads were among several artists who incorporated "World Music" elements into a pop context. Though this lead to some interesting music, few artists were able to synthesize these elements with complete success. Of all these artists, Talking Heads most fully realized their ambitions and this album stands out as their artistic peak.

Remain in Light is African poly-rhythms (and other World Music elements), exotic instrumentation, electronic sounds, applied to clever, highly literate songs. All of these complex elements are synthesized seamlessly by producer Brian Eno. While this album is nominally a Talking Heads record, David Byrne and Brian Eno deserve all the creative credit. The songs were written primarily by Byrne and Eno (who contributes musically to every track), with the other Talking Heads serving to accompany the other studio musicians.

A few other reviewers have remarked that this album sounds like mush, with elements thrown together without haphazardly. Nothing could be further from the truth. The World Music elements, pop elements, and studio effects are used judiciously to create music the feels effortless. It obviously isn't entirely spontaneous because there are so many exquisite sonic details and each song is precisely crafted. Every time you listen to Remain In Light, you will notice something you haven't heard before.

What makes Remain In Light even more remarkable is how endlessly listenable it is. The song structures are atypical of most popular music and Byrne writes some bizarre, esoteric lyrics. But Byrne sings with a quirky, often subtly humorous (that often isn't recognized) irony that makes the songs palatable. The songs are highly literate and impenetrable, yet infectious at the same time. Usually a song like, "Once in a Lifetime", which features deliberately esoteric lyrics and some unusual sound effects, would never have a chance of becoming a hit. But, thanks to a Eno's memorable melodies and Byrne's ironic delivery, it did. Not every song on Remain In Light is as infectious as "Once in Lifetime", but the whole album is focused and rivetting. The songs merge flawlessly and the chilling drone of, "The Overload" is an unforgettable conclusion.

What distinguishes the Talking Heads from other artists who dabbled in World Music was how well they are able to assimilate these ingredients into their own musical stew. Often when other artists (Peter Gabriel, Sting) use World Music elements, it seems artificial, and unfinished. On Remain In Light, Talking Heads created a fully synthesized amalgamation of diverse, sophisticated musical components that feels entirely natural, without bastardizing their source material (or their own artistic vision). The result is the best album from a band responsible for some of the greatest music released during the late 1970s and 1980s, and certainly one of the greatest records of any time in the history of music.

Note: Fans of this album should also listen to, "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts", by Byrne and Eno. It serves as an instrumental counterpart to this album. It isn't as good as Remain In Light (mostly because there are no real songs, just instrumental pieces that often aren't memorable), but it's definitely worth listening to.

Unquestionably the supreme art achievement of the Heads' oeuvre (and perhaps of New Wave music in general), Remain In Light continues to hypnotize, seduce and delight twenty years since its original release. As other reviewers have noted, the album begins with three exciting, danceable, heavily-layered synth tunes that flow into one another like some fast moving, bubbling river, carrying the listener swiftly down their rapids for the first twenty minutes. But the challenge of Remain In Light came when you flipped the LP or cassette over and played Side 2, because then you experienced the sea change away from the fun, funky mental space Side 1 had created. (In some ways, the passing of the vinyl age has obscured the clever symmetry of this work.) Side 2's first piece, Once in a Lifetime, was the hinge. The song melodically and rhythmically echoes the three on Side 1, but with a quiet darker side that is unmasked when Byrne, describing the existential awakening of his protagonist, cries out: "My God! What have I done!" From there, remaining in light becomes increasingly impossible as the music creeps ever more slowly into a dark and moody landscape of despair and pain. Yes, the Overload is a monotonous dirge. But guess what? As the last tune on the album, that's just exactly where the Heads wanted to take you. You just didn't guess that the title of the album was a CHALLENGE. I admit that, more times than I can count, I have put on this CD and turned it off before I got through Track 5. But if you make it all the way to the end, aside from the stunned silence, there is an enormous sense of accomplishment. Come away from this album unchanged, and you're probably not listening. And for those who are afraid of the dark, at least they gave you a blast of great dance music before you got there, right? Face it: getting depressed was never such a good trip.

I first heard this record either my sophomore or junior year in college. It was late one night and I'm sitting at my computer reading music reviews and I always heard these great things about the album "Remain In Light" as well as the Talking Heads. Rolling Stone (a magazine I cannot stand primarily for the rankings they always do) ranked this record the third greatest album of the 80's. (After #1 "London Calling" and #2 "Purple Rain"). I'm a lover of old-school music so I had to hear this record....I had to hear the Talking Heads. Luckily, my roomate had this CD and I listened to it at about 2 in the morning.

The record opens with "Born Under Punches" (The Heat Goes On). I did not get it at first. I'll go so far as to say I did not even like this record. All I liked was "Crosseyed and Painless". The music was too weird for my liking.

The next day I decided to give it another chance. And man, am I glad I did. This record is flat out ridiculous!! You want funky music?? The entire first side is filled with killer grooves. Tracks 1-4 are danceable and will either make you move or do something. You cannot stand still while listening to this record. This is possibly the first record by a prominent band exploring African polyrhythms....all that really means is that each member of the band is doing their own thing within the song. The additons of Adrian Belew (guitar), Steve Scales (percussion) and Funk Legend Bernie Worrel (Parliment/Funkadelic) on keyboard give the band a complete sound not heard before. The second side starting with "Houses in Motion" slows the record down but the funk does not go away. Concluding with "The Overload" which has producer Brian Eno's influence all over it. (Eno was also on "Buildings and Food" and "Fear of Music" (The track is a very "Low", "Heroes" era David Bowie track, albums which Eno also produced).

The funk that started on "Fear of Music" is magnified ten-fold on this record. My two favorite songs are "Crosseyed and Painless" and "Once In A Lifetime". Starting with "Lifetime", this was the single from this record and it had a video as well. This is considered by many to be the band's greatest song. Watery keyboards along with the Weymouth/Frantz tandem and David being David with the lyrics makes this songs special. But to me, "Crosseyed and Painless" is the jewel of this record.

When I first heard this song back in college I immediately thought it was amazing. This is pure funk. I listened to it about 20 times that night. (No exaggeration) Tina Weymouth'a bass destroys this track and with everything going on at once it is almost impossible to name all the instruments on this one track. (Or any track for that matter) Weymouth has to be one of the best bassists. She never plays anything too complicated but she never messes up, never drops the rhythm. The bass fits in perfectly on these tracks. Frantz does not drop his 4/4 pattern and the track just has so much life. More than any other record, Byrne's lyrics really do not matter nor what the songs are about. This record is all about the music....the polyrhythms. The Talking Heads were so inventive and their music crossed all racial boundries. Songs from the record were played on Black and White radio stations. The influence of this record was felt throughout the entire decade in Rock, Funk and R&B music by groups wanting to branch out in their music.

As great as the music is it is kind of strange to me that it has not been sampled more often. This album has "SAMPLE ME" written all over it!! Those who think this music is monotonous are not seeing the big picutre. I think it is harder to play the same part over and over because one slip and the whole track is wasted. The Talking Heads were all about precision and given time this records seeps in the your mind and body and it cannot be escaped. This is a must listen. If you are interested in the band this is the place to start. No one else was doing music like this back then and that is why it is considered a landmark. Talking Heads- One of my all-time favorite bands.

This has always been my favorite TALKING HEADS album, along with one of my favorite albums of all time. At the time this came out, I remember that most of us "punk-newwavers" were pretty amazed by their previous album FEAR OF MUSIC, and all the innovation and texture that was on that album. (Lyrics in Swahili, dense percussion, outrageous conceptual songs, etc.) It seemed that Eno and the Heads could go no further. But before REMAIN IN LIGHT was created, Eno and David Byrned did that MY LIFE IN THE BUSH OF GHOSTS album, where they investigated african rythyms, dense overlayed lyrics, and many other innovations that perhaps we take for granted now. Anyway, REMAIN IN LIGHT had the critics mouths hanging open. I remember in ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE, the review said that this album was so far ahead of its time, that the rest of the bands would take years to catch up. It was an accurate observation. In fact, this was as "arty" as the Heads ever got. Even tho the entire band is credited on each track, so is ENO. Apparently, the other Heads besides David Byrne, the head HEAD, felt that they were no longer a band for the people, or had become too esoteric, whatver. After this album, they moved back into a more direct, commercial sound with their next album, and Eno was not involved. So, that leaves us with this masterpiece of the NEW WAVE movement, and one of those great treasures that unfortunately, many people who didnt come up at that time, know not much about. After all, except for that cool cover that LIVING COLOR did from this album, not many bands followed this direction, except for the electronic bands. Maybe they felt it was too much like "ART ROCK". (except this is music, that hardly has more than one chord, or two, on any song.) The sad fact is, that this kind of music takes a lot of developement, and intellect, and education (they were all ex-art school students), and that is a path not taken by today's pop-punk bands, or computer generated mash ups, remixes, etc. If just as inspiration as to what is possible, this would be a fantastic album to study.

What is offered on this DUAL DISC is simply amazing. The Heads know that this is their best album, and they didnt want to disappoint. When they went to expand their mixes to 5.1, this was the first album they remixed. The reasoning is clear. So many layers and layers of sound lay buried in the old stereo mix, that hearing it for the first time in that 5.1 mix, is a revelation. The back speakers play the percussion parts, or sometimes four of the speakers will swirl the synth and guitar parts around your head, as in THE OVERLOAD. Even on the cheapest DVD home theater system, the sound and expanded clarity is astonding. Instruments are pulled out of the mix, that were only at best hinted at, when the old vinyl was spinning on the stereos. Plus, the regular stereo remastering has been greatly improved upon.

There are plenty of extras with this release, including four new studio outtakes, three of which have vocals. I dont mean to say lyrics. I suppose that an album with this much call and response, and triple layered vocal parts, etc, needed a lot of experimentation and trials, in order to find what it was that ENO and the Band were after. Now, these new songs are great to hear, and they are not demos, or early versions of other songs. They DO stand on their own, at least to me. (At the very least, they are as good as the "SONG" numbers from CATHERINE WHEEL, which the Talking Heads had incorperated into their live act.) The four new songs, help to deconstruct this recording and writing process. As far as I'm concerned, anything that helps to explain how this album came about, I want to hear.

Other extras include two live versions of the songs done on German TV, a booklet with the storyboard for the video of HOUSES IN MOTION. (One of the very first MTV videos that caught massive rotation, and helped to popularize this album.) ALso, there are David's hand written lyric drafts to two songs, one from the album and another that was not used, but perhaps were written for one of the unfinished instrumental with vocalizations. Again, fascinatning to study. IT shows how the lyrical ideas, of having three simultaneous vocal parts, came to be. Adrian Belew even puts a little quote in there, just in case you wanted to know the social impact this album had. It truely was the Sgt Pepper of the NEW WAVE generation. AND, if that were not enough, there are photos on the DVD side of the CD, so when you listen to the 5.1 mix, you can look at pictures as well.

I do want to address the negative remarks made about this edition. First, sure, some CD or DVD players cant play it. For those of you who don't hesitate to buy a new cell phone, so it can take photos, videos, surf the internet, text message, play MP3s, and cook dinner, I can't understand why you would NOT update your DVD player, if you have had it for 15 years, or your CD player. I would guess, that you would have to own an ancient DVD player, for this to be a problem. Also, what is the problem with the gatefold cover, instead of inserts in a CD plastic case? If you dont want the cover scratched up, buy those CD plastic slip covers. Problem solved, for 10 cents. (The real reason the industry is turning to this presentation of CDs, is to prevent cheap reproductions.) As for handling the CD/DVD, it takes no more care, than any CD. If you are hard on CDs, then copy the CD onto a CD-R, and carry that around with you. If it were on 2 CDs instead of just the one, people would have complained about the price. As for no lyrics, well, I'd rather have the reproductions of the original lyrical ideas. I think if you were to go to TALKING HEAD web sites, you could find lyrics. Personally, I think I have most of them memorized--they are not that hard to hear. So, should you update your old CD? I'm not sure about the other DUALDISC TALKING HEAD releases, but this one is well worth the money.

It may lack the lyrical coherence of "Talking Heads '77" or even "Fear of Music," and the tunes aren't as hummable as anything on "Speaking In Tounges." A bit of the music seems experimental for its own sake, and many may not find David Byrne's singing to their taste. Yet "Remain In Light," 20 years after its original release, remains the seminal Talking Heads album. It is funky, probing, brilliant, and stretches popular music's boundaries--it's dance music with very, very high I.Q.

I love most all of the Heads' music, but they peaked on "Remain in Light" and never quite climbed to the top of the mountain again. Songs on earlier records like "Cities" are taken to a new level. The T-Heads' use of African rhythms and the amazing conflation of guitar and keyboard produced a sound that has never quite been duplicated (think of the guitar at the end of "Once In A Lifetime."). Like the band itself, the record is an original; can anyone name anything that sounds like "Remain In Light"? I can think of few rock and roll songs more striking than "Crosseyed and Painless" or "The Great Curve," or anything quite as atmospheric as "Houses In Motion." Simply a great piece of work.

Talking Heads like their contemporaries XTC were never really part of the punk scene or new wave. Yes, they wore the sticker but David Bryne's ambitions for his band were much larger than the genre ghetto they were initially put into. Remain in Light stands as the band's masterpiece. The songs are overflowing with African rhythms, unusual melodies and song structures and melodic pop decorations. The only other albums I can compare it to are The Beatles' Revolver and Xtc's The Big Express. Both albums are genre breaking releases that incorporate music and sounds outside of mainstream rock adding them to its musical vocabulary.

The unusual guitar playing of Adrian Belew along with contributions from members of Paraliment and Eno himself helped the Heads to create their most exotic, beautiful album. The band made many fine albums after this and some that are almost its equal (Speaking in Tongues and Little Creatures both have their charms and feature top flight songwriting).

Clearly influenced by The Beatles, 1972-74 King Crimson, Roxy Music, David Bowie and Brian Eno (who co-produced and co-wrote many of the songs), Bryne manages to take rock conventions and turn them inside out. Along with Peter Gabriel's Melt album Remain in Light was the best album of 1980.