Talking Heads - Remain In Light (1980)

Note: the CD I own is the 1989 reissue.

I've read quite a few books* concerning this band and the making of this particular album. I've come to the following two conclusions:

1. At the time of this album's production, there was quite a bit of tension between Brian Eno, David Byrne, and Tina Weymouth.
2. Nobody's personal account of that time comes close to agreeing with the recollections of others involved. In the words of movie producer Robert Evans: "There are three sides to every story: your side, my side, and the truth. And no one is lying. Memories shared serve each differently." Memories can't wait, maybe?

In any case, us kids don't like it when parents fight and the squabbling only detracts from the music here.

I somewhat disagree with the critics - I think it's a very good album, don't get me wrong, but I just don't understand all the hubbub. I'd rank this album in the middle of the band's releases. Maybe you just had to be there? There was a lot of talk surrounding this album using words like Afro-beat and polyrhythms. While those influences are there, the music is just another progression of the Talking Heads' funky art rock. From the May 1982 edition of Mother Jones magazine:

Some observers suggested they were ripping off African culture. But the objection doesn't hold. As Harrison puts it, "We're not going back to the source - we're meeting it halfway." (p. 39)

To my ears, Remain In Light is simply an extension of I Zimbra from the most excellent (and better) album, Fear Of Music. Take that extension, add an immersion into the music of Fela Kuti (particularly the 1973 album Afrodisiac), plus the Eno-Byrne collaboration, My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts and you've got the music heard here, for the most part. Ghosts was recorded in '79-'80 - before Remain in Light - but problems clearing the spoken word samples delayed its release.

I'm sure I'm just missing something and it wouldn't be the first time that's happened. The album placed at number #4 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of Top 100 Albums of the Eighties and the write-up contains conflicting recollections as mentioned above. Worth a look, though. Speaking of Rolling Stone, they ranked the album at number 39 in the 2020 edition of its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, writing "Just try not dancing to 'Once in a Lifetime.'" I haven't even bothered trying. Why would I want to?

Press of the time:

• Rolling Stone: "yields scary, funny music to which you can dance and think, think and dance, dance and think, ad infinitum."
• Robert Christgau (A): "In which David Byrne conquers his fear of music in a visionary Afrofunk synthesis--clear-eyed, detached, almost mystically optimistic."
• High Fidelity: "Not since the early Velvet Underground has an American band forged such an artful combination of breathtaking aesthetic exploration with straightforward pop culture awareness."
• Stereo Review: "an often arresting effort"
• Roadrunner: "Immense, gigantic, do yourself a favor..."
• Smash Hits (8 out of 10): "A great band."
• Trouser Press: "Their music gains in meaning with each listen."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #19
• CashBox: #32
• Rolling Stone: #10

Tracks: I like all of what was side one: Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On), Crosseyed And Painless, and The Great Curve. It plays like a great dance album should. Then we're treated to Once In A Lifetime which is easily my all-time favorite Talking Heads song. Even after all these years, I never tire of hearing it. The music, the lyrics, the preaching - it all works perfectly. Houses In Motion is next and is just ok, especially when compared to what precedes it. Then I lose interest.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: My first exposure to Talking Heads that I can recall was seeing the video to Once In A Lifetime on MTV at some point in 1982 or '83. My buddy Jim lent me his copy of the LP and, when the rest of the album didn't measure up to Once In A Lifetime upon first listen (how could it?), I quickly returned it without recording to a blank cassette and giving it a fair shot. Yet another folly of my youth.

Previously revisited for the blog:

The Best Of (2004)	Speaking In Tongues (1983)
Little Creatures (1985)	The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads (1982)
Stop Making Sense (1984)	Fear Of Music (1979)

*The best of these is This Must Be The Place: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the Twentieth Century by David Bowman (Harper Collins, 2001)