Remain In Light
| Talking Heads
Remain In Light
Remain in Light is the fourth studio album by American rock band Talking Heads, released on October 8, 1980 by Sire Records. It was recorded at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas and Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia between July and August 1980 and produced by longtime collaborator Brian Eno. Following the release of their previous album Fear of Music in 1979, the quartet and Eno sought to dispel notions of the band as a mere vehicle for frontman and lyricist David Byrne. Drawing on the influence of Nigerian musician Fela Kuti, the band experimented with African polyrhythms, funk, and electronics, recording instrumental tracks as a series of looping grooves. The sessions incorporated a variety of side musicians, including guitarist Adrian Belew, singer Nona Hendryx, and trumpet player Jon Hassell. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
an art-rock masterpiece, a thrilling synthesis of artifice and Afrobeat.
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Rolling Stone
Remain in Light is their brave, absorbing attempt to locate a common ground in today’s divergent, often hostile musical community.
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Billboard
the most strangely brilliant album from a band that did strange and brilliant better than anyone.
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All Music
Remain in Light was a hit, indicating that Talking Heads were connecting with an audience ready to follow their musical evolution, and the album was so inventive and influential, it was no wonder.
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Soundblab
Remain in Light changed music at the start of the new decade. It brought together the different tribes and laid the footprint of how to meld different genres together. It’s a footprint that is still followed to this day.
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BBC
This fourth album illustrates how keen ambition could gel with commercial nous, with results that dazzle. Even in its darker turns - closer The Overload the obvious example -these eight tracks continue to fascinate over 30 years after their creation.
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Slant
With Remain In Light, Talking Heads took what was being increasingly regarded as a generally cerebral extension of punk and turned it into something far more global in musical and lyrical scope.
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Classic Rock Review
Remain In Light is filled with experimental African polyrhythms along with a series of samples and loops, all performed by the four group members and additional session musicians.
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Pop Matters
Remain in Light is the point where all of the disparate elements come together in an album that is 100% impossible to dislike.
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The Vinyl District
Remain in Light is still a great LP, bold and avant garde, a stab in the dark by a band willing to take enormous risks. Only a fool would say it sucks.
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Sputnik Music
The eclectic feel of the album is one of the reasons it goes down 26 years later as genius. Each song on Remain In Light is different from any other, leaving the listener with a balanced and satisfying listen.
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Only Solitaire
I do believe that the album is a stunning achievement in the history of modern music - easily the best record of 1980 and, who knows, a good contender even for best album of a decade that had barely started when it came out.
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Audioxide
This is one for the audiophiles. Under the Midas wing of Brian Eno, Talking Heads juggle African genres with Western experimentation and innovative digital play, glazing the whole affair with almost delirious David Byrne lyrics and delivery.”
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Treble
we can always come back to the beginning of Remain in Light and bop and swivel and sway even in the face of a world of uncertainty. There will be heat still left to move these feet and, same as it ever was, the heat goes on.
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The New Yorker
A brilliant return for a Talking Heads album.
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COS
Remain in Light drew together influences from across the African diaspora and jolted them into synthesis with the Talking Heads’ signature take on nervy New York new wave.
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The Escapist
I don't know how exactly they came up with this album, but it's absolute genius. It's about terrorism, it's about the progression of a civilization, it's got more polyrhythms than a forgotten copy of Kidz Bop Gold has dust, it's got everything. Remain In Light is like a window to another universe.
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Getintothis
This innovative album remains a cornerstone of my record collection, and take a significant place on the shelves (virtual or otherwise) of anyone interested in music that merges influences from outside the traditional English and American sources.
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Spectrum Culture
Remain in Light is seen by many as the band’s masterpiece, and it’s often referred to it as a clear culmination of what Talking Heads had accomplished up to that point. Nonetheless, despite the fact it would be a touchstone and a source of inspiration for many other bands for years to come, for Talking Heads, Remain in Light was a culmination but also a dead end of sorts.
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Amino
They really seem to had come to their true form here, mixing post punk, ambient, Avant pop, new wave, world, and funk all into one corrherent and immensely satisfying listen.
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The Needle Drop
With Remain in Light, the Talking Heads released one of the funkiest and most essential albums of the '80s.
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Aphoristic Album Reviews
Remain in Light is continuously complex and intelligent as it travels through a coherent cycle of styles. It’s easily one of the best albums of the 1980s.
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Peek A Boo
no one can deny that Remain In Light is the best album the band ever made.
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Punk News
Talking Heads' Remain in Light is one of those albums that seems as brilliant and fresh today to my young ears as it did to my father's in 1980.
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Mark Prindle
Some folks swear by this album, and I'm proud to say that, this time, I'm one of 'em.
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Kentucky
What Talking Heads conjured in 1980 will forever remain its finest and most daring work.
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Jakob's Album Reviews
“Remain in Light,” a terrifying, hilarious, trippy sonic adventure with so many layers of instrumentation it’s hard to believe it’s been over 30 years since it was released. The production is excellent, the lyrics are excellent, the music is excellent, and no amount of mediocre releases afterwards could tarnish the legacy that this album cemented.
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Herald&Review
"With 'Remain In Light,' Talking Heads took what was being increasingly regarded as a generally cerebral extension of punk and turned it into something far more global in musical and lyrical scope." -- Slant Magazine
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Red Brick
‘Remain in Light’ is a cause for celebration; self-consciously weird without being self-indulgent; experimental without feeling labored; arty without the added pretension.
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The Eclipse
“Remain In Light” was decades ahead of its time. Despite the fact that the album came out in 1980, it sounds like it comes from 2080.
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