TALKING HEADS

Remain in Light is a long way off from typical musical preferences of a prog listener and moi is no exception. While I don't insist on it, I like melodic and harmonic exploration and development and some amount of structural complexity. And while I can handle any amount of rasp, grit or fry in vocals, I have never been particularly fond of spoken word/rapping styles. Remain in Light does not answer to the former qualities and does instead possess a good amount of the latter; it is essentially rhythm music. And yet I love it!

Brian Eno seems to have exerted a powerful influence over the band and set them free to improvise and experiment. And it works because what this album has going for it is loads and loads of energy. It is more an exploration of sounds than of music in the conventional Western sense. That, and I repeat myself, may not be particularly appealing to all palates but it's not for want of trying. Talking Heads commit themselves firmly to their choices and go the whole hog. Rather than half baked attempts to mimic black music, Talking Heads explore the African way with a lot of sincerity. I cannot make out much of an attempt to appropriate African influences within the European norm though it does utilise a funk base in the first half and favours meandering psychedelia in the second.

Their energy especially helps in setting up an invigorating first half of funk rock in a new light (pun intended). From opener Born Under Punches to Once in a Lifetime, there is no let up at all as the music gets progressively faster up to The Great Curve. Adrian Belew plays guitar on the last mentioned track and 'echoes' of Discipline can quite clearly be heard. But the thrust of Talking Heads is more towards expression than complexity, so the results are somewhat different while equally engaging.

Houses in Motion acts as a bridge between the contrasting approach of the (literally) two sides of this album. It slows down the tempo but what an interesting beat that is! I am piqued by how similar the rhythm is to Carnatic music (while there is no hint of any melodic exposition in the track). Did this music inspire one A R Rahman to fuse Afro with Indian a decade later? Maybe!

Thereafter, the music slows right down and the optimism too begins to fade. I have tried listening to the last three tracks standalone and, barring Listening Wind, can barely make it through. But it works beautifully as the complement to the vibrant first half as the mood gets sinister and tense. As you'd imagine, there are some similarities to Peter Gabriel's work from roughly the same time (especially on Seen and Not Seen) and, once again, King Crimson (Sheltering Sky). Overload lives up to its name and gets a bit taxing but I am all ears anyway.

The recording sounds at once crisp enough for the rocking side of the album to make a dent and also lush enough to do justice to the wide array of sounds used on this album. The only thing that doesn't particularly appeal to me is Byrne's approach to the vocals but it seems mostly appropriate for the music and I will let it pass.

This music did not get me to like hip hop and maybe it won't in future either. But even though it is not exactly right up my alley, it speaks to me. Every time I listen afresh to Once in a Lifetime, it's like getting drenched in the rains for the first time in the season. No more words to waste, five stars for this New Wave masterpiece.

Crisp, informative, rocking, no rubbish

"A magical marriage of diametric poles - abandon and inhibition, freedom and impingement unto paralysis, lush growth and foregone atrophy, life and death, male and female...always all in the same irrevocably human body." -Lester Bangs

While their music may be thought provoking (thanks Lester), there is no need to over-think this DVD. This release is an outstanding document of the band in their prime embryonic years. Direct and to-the-point with none of the annoying typical fluff structure of many a documentary these days. You get vintage live cuts and television appearances from the mid 70s to early 80s, with the emphasis on early, vital material. This is the genesis of Talking Heads, the time for which they should be revered, not the later stuff which crossed over into the mainstream. This was the band at their artiest and most edgy.

The bonus features are formidable for a change. You get a 35 minute South Bank Show episode from 1979 which is so different than the band documentaries of today. With no narration or sensationalist crap, we get the band jamming on really incredible, fresh music interspersed with the members telling their story. And this isn't just members recalling their bio again. Instead they sit and wax poetic about art and philosophy, they provide a truly intimate and rare look at the inner workings of a band not yet over-the-hill as a truly creative force. We get an authentic sense of their youth and unguarded personality, and unintentionally perhaps we get a case made for introversion and actually thinking before one opens one's mouth.

So much of what passes for popular music today consists of kids who think their rehash is almost as cool as they are personally, or, over-the-hill farts trying to squeeze a few more bucks peddling rock star myths. The Talking Heads:Chronology is what rock documentary should be. Finding a band with a story worth covering, presenting them at their artistic peak with great live footage and period interview segments, and without "critics" babbling over it. In this case such a documentary has met a band who actually have something worthwhile to say. No "rebels without a clue" this time around.

The deluxe edition comes in a nice book form with a long, interesting Lester Bangs piece. If you're a fan or just someone who wants to learn about great rock music, swoop on this release without further delay.

For a New Wave album from 1980, REMAIN IN LIGHT actually sounds fresh in the 2010's. It's because the New Wave approach uses guitars that sound less punk and more funk, and it's near null in the keyboard/synth department. REMAIN IN LIGHT is a collective hybrid of styles from funk to Eno-esque soundscapes to their own brand of art-punk they had developed earlier in their career. The end result is what many critics have claimed is the Heads' critical peak, and the output here makes it easy to understand why.

REMAIN IN LIGHT is completely rhythm-based; it's all in establishing a groovy rhythm that is both complex and simple. The initial beat established early on in each song is rather simple and easy to dance to, but (especially on the A Side) there are melodies, instrumental themes, and such that are layered on top to give a building effect to the song without changing the rhythm in any way. But it all still revolves around the, ''if the first rhythm doesn't really sink in, then you're lost'' style of writing.

The instrumentation mostly zooms in on interlocking, contrasting guitar phrases (can't really call these things ''riffs'') and almost constant drum and percussion patterns. The actual use of keyboards are minimalist (as are most of the basslines), and the few euphoric guitar moments really are that thanks to Adrian Belew's well-timed squeals at peak moments in songs like ''The Great Curve''.

Sometimes, the band relies on false tension to grip the listener. ''Seen and Not Seen'' and ''The Overload'' have a climactic tension to them despite staying relatively constant for their respective durations. It's about keeping the listener intrigued as to what's going to happen later in the song since the rhythm is so interesting. It helps when two of the first three songs (''The Great Curve'', ''Born Under Punches'') take their last moments to interlock contrasting vocal melodies. There really isn't any obvious pop song in terms of structure other than ''Once in a Lifetime''. Songs like ''Houses in Motion'' and ''Crosseyed and Painless'' are great in terms of getting their respective choruses to incorporate so smoothly into the song that the listener is barely aware there's supposed to be a chorus happening.

REMAIN IN LIGHT has an old-fashioned Broadway style of writing to it in the way of making nearly every vocal line a memorable melody. The vocal parts that are more or less spaced out are extremely catchy and irresistible to sing along to. Try listening to ''The Great Curve'' again, and you'll have trouble deciding which harmony to take at the end of the song. Other than a slight clunker in ''Listening Wind'', REMAIN IN LIGHT really does hold true to being one of the best critically acclaimed albums in recorded history. One album worth figuring out what all the hype is about.

3.5 stars really!!

This is a compilation of various concert footage and a few TV show appearances throughout their prime from 73 until 83. You'll find some really early CBGB club B&W footage of their infancy days, plus some of theior classioc tracks featured in various TV shows like Saturday Night Live or David Letterman Talk Show, or still yet their Montreux Jazz Festival or veven their RnR HoF induction. Of most interest for the progheads is their extended line-up including the excellent Crosseyed and Painless with Adrian Belew in the line-up. As for this writer, I find that only the last third of the DVD is really of interest (starting with Take Me To The River), including the excellent Burning Down The House, which still featured that special lineup (albeit slightly abridged: they were only 6) on Letterman. As for the lengthy booklet, it's a related text, that doesn't really relate to the band's history. Rather it appears like a loosely related essay that I couldn't managed to read past the second page, just browsing the pictures.

Rather interesting a product, but progheads are advised to find and check the awesome Stop Making Sense concedrt and movie, even if Belew had left the band for King Crimson by then.

— First review of this album —

Probably one of the main factors that made Talking Heads a commercial success was the videos. Back when eMTyV actually played videos this got them a lot more exposure than they might ordinarily have had. You won't find their most progressive material on this tape. Apparently there was a DVD version with extra tracks but it appears to be out of print but VHS copies are still to be had.

It is a set of ten videos in non-chronological order mixed with video segments of real people telling stories unrelated to the songs but that seem to relate to the songs that they precede or follow for glue. The people were shot in front of green screen so they could put them in front of odd backgrounds. It doesn't say so on the box but most of the stories seem to be of dreams they had.

The music video set spans ten years of the band, so nothing from their first three albums or the final one. If you do consider these in chronological order they started out a little cheesy (Toni Basil of Mickey fame collaborated on the directing and choreography) on the two from Remain In Light, they did get a little more sophisticated with the videos for their next two albums. The most recent two are basically modification of two scenes/songs from the True Stories music video movie thingy. Once In A Lifetime, weird, just weird, same as it ever was. In Wild Wild Life the band plays dress up as various music talent show contestants. Stay Up Late has the band in jump suits messing around acting like babies while hanging from wires. Crosseyed And Painless is devoid of band members doing a sort of ghetto story and dance thing with a couple of black guys and a hot Puerto Rican chick (I hope none of that was offensive, it's just the facts). Burning Down The House is rather hard to explain, the band performing, replaced by a substitute band in the same outfits, images projected on the side of a house including flames, but no houses actually being burnt, whaaa???? And She Was is an animation video where we never get to actually see any of her but her feet and hands. What was she was floating away. This Must Be The Place has members of the expanded band (the one for the Stop Making Sense tour) watching fake home movies before going down in the basement to carry on performing the song. The Lady Don't Mind is a mostly black and white affair with weird washes of colored things. Partly performance video, the best parts are the bits where one of the band is standing still while the other three spin around while standing in place on the floor. Love For Sale is sort of a dissection of TV commercials with scenes from real and fake ones. Road To Nowhere makes a nice wrap up for the set and a bookend to Once In A Lifetime. Life in a nutshell.

In 1980, Talking Heads were on the rise. With two fairly successful albums already out, they released thier third album, "Fear of Music". It was even more creative and innovative than the last album, and is also thier second with producer Brain Eno. The album begins with "I Zimbra", which is heavily infulenced by African music, and foreshadows thier next album, "Remain in Light", which is just full of african-inspired rhythms. The rest of the album is full of extremely quirky, creative, smart, and well written songs. Some songs, like "Cities", and "Life During Wartime", are very funky, and "Memories Can't Wait"'s intro sounds like something you'd hear from an Alternative rock band in the 90s. The majority of the songs take place in dystopian worlds/societies, with increasing panic and war. The album ends with "Electric Guitar", where the characters in the song finally make a move, start a revolution, and then the spooky and somewhat ambient "Drugs". Really, every song on here is a masterpiece. Go out and buy it, now! It's a masterpiece. 5/5

Talking Head's live album Stop Making Sense is a very good album for Talking Heads enthusiasts. Talking Heads cover their best known songs here, but what makes this such a worthwhile investment is that Talking Heads don't try to play them exactly as they sound in studio, like Pink Floyd. Instead Talking Heads take a sort of 'stripped down', or minamalistic approach to them, where as before the studio versions of these songs used electric guitars and synths, there is a ton of acoustic guitar in place of a lot of the guitar and synth parts. Some may think this detracts from this live performance, but I disagree, as it gives a much more interesting listen to the live performance.

However, this live album is rendered somewhat pointless by the dvd of this performance, where you are treated to David Byrne's spastic on-stage antics in his oversized suit, which is a big appeal, I think, of this band.

So this really is quite a pointless spend of money for anyone but a collector of Talking heads, even though it has superb qualities and has Talking Heads playing at their best. Two stars is what this release comes to.

I really don't know how long it would take an album to grow completely on me, and I don't want that to be the reason why I would never write a review. This is why the response you are reading right now is actually its most recent update. At this point the most important thing you need to know is that this album deserves a 4.5, not a 4.

There are some weaknesses visible to me. For about a week I used to think of this album as the most adequate of the first four efforts by this group. I really don't know how absent-minded I was when I thought that. It's not that adequate, really. It's somewhat inconsistent, compared to its notorious 1980 successor. Kind of like what "Nursery Cryme" is to "Selling England By The Pound" for me. Or almost like Nick Drake's "Five Leaves Left" to "Pink Moon."

Okay, the crenellations I wish the band could fill in: 'Mind' is monotonous (unless you dig that kind of insanity with a little play around the meters of the song), but the ending is real tight. The music on 'Heaven' is flat-out dull, but that's good only if the message is worth the user's focus. But that's not the case with this song. A couple of lines are pretty weak, the message is ambiguous (which is OK), though the meaning of it that I figured is commonsensical: we all have things that we prefer to keep as secrets, no matter how "happy" we are. However, that's pretty good for a little cryptic lyricism exercise, but I still deem that kind of approach as extraneous and mind-tampering. Basically, I just don't like the song. Also, the second half of 'Animals' sounds too idiosyncratic to be taken seriously; just heed the way Byrne sings and what he sings: "They say animals don't worry, they are living on nuts and berries." What?! ... What?! ... I know, bizarre, huh?! In other news, 'Life During Wartime' is slightly better than 'Heaven.' I think this would be a good introduction for my mother to the concept of identity crisis and being left behind. But then again, maybe not. A little humanitarian and educational, but only a diminutive bit. And I don't like the mundane main melody. It's not compelling in any way. To sum up, the song is worthless. At least it has a story and a catchy rhythm guitar "solo" in the middle. Hence the second star.

But hey, look on the bright side. 'I Zimbra' is simply tight, with nonsensical lyrics (which is OK), and it features Bobby Fripp himself on the guitar. I thought: "Wow, that's really weird - Robert Fripp running some excerpts for a post-punk group making a weird, "out-there" post-punk record with a black front cover. This babka will try just about anything." Of all the short, adequate songs on this slice of cheesecake, 'Paper' is the hottest spot. Please, don't snooze over the chorus. In the case of this group it seems that this is right where their rock-n'-roll lifeblood flows. It just gives me that impression that this is all rock-n'-roll really needs: a dumb muted rhythm executed on an electric guitar with a toxic tone. This is it! The tone of the guitar when it's muted. Two keywords: "tone" and "muted." That's it. A one-ingredient formula set to the chorus with Byrne's "desperate" vocal touches, and you got yourself a piece of art I would never sell if it was mine. Not even for the capital of the whole world. High five!

I did not like 'Memories Can't Wait' at first because it somehow reminded me of the contemporary alt-rock scene, and I'm allergic to almost anything contemporary. It sounded as if the band was trying to impress me with its intimidation without naturally being initimidating, using that corny dark chord progression for the first half of the chorus (oh yeah! The chorus is broken up musically into two, can you believe that? Art! Ask for more!) But then "disoriented" violins come in place, and it sounds almost like Faust's music. Over a certain period of time I've grown to appreciate the rhythm guitar work and the experimental-punky spirit of the song. And the point of the lyrics is crucial: about the awakening of conscience once the mistakes of the past come by.

Don't miss out on a couple more catchy songs here. 'Air' is Byrne's take on ecology, I suppose, which may be weird. But who cares? I like singing to it and I like the guitar solo at the end. My mother may call this kind of music unnatural, but it's OK with me as long as it sounds good. No trash here whatsoever. Oh, and 'Electric Guitar' is also something to salvage from public oblivion. I don't care what Byrne and other people may say about some of his lyrics being nonsensical; to me the lyrics of this ditty make sense to some extent. The guitar is probably a symbol for a voice of freedom or a handgun. Maybe it's a First-Amendment or anti-Second-Amendment song. So, the guitar is brought in to the court and "the judge and the jury, twelve members of the jury" inspect it and bring out the verdict: "Never listen to electric guitar" only to bring on later another verdict: "Someone controls the electric guitar." The line "Tune this electric guitar" totally makes sense in this context. And I like the way David sings the lyrics. I just like his voice in general, no matter how weird or mundane it might sound to you at first.

Last, but not least, 'Drugs' is an important and unique track on the album, almost completely on its own. Avantgarde that gets me. Visceral avantgarde, just mental avantgarde. Byrne wrote the words as if he actually had some personal drug abuse experiences. But it's not the words that are at my focal point every time I listen to the song. It's the music. The sounds. In the chorus it sounds as if the protagonist feels himself like in a jungle (think back to the intro of 'Close to the Edge', eh?), only without birds, but with a music that is usually used in Hollywood movies when a jungle scene pops up. But on 'Drugs' it's more than that. And it has a kind of an Oriental flavor to it. Weird, huh? But I dig that!

Oh, gees, the longest review I've written so far. Just keep in mind that this record helped me through college. (By the way, there is another guy on YouTube who had just the same college experience. And that guy is not me. Just a coincidence.) So, it's a kind of a mentally medical album. Or maybe it's a drug. But not a drag, that's for sure.

P.S. 'Cities' is good too. Not a "vital" track, but at least it's good for me having a party with myself ... you know, pacing back and forth, doing my air guitar bit and quietly imitating Byrne's singing ... as I almost always do.

'I Zimbra' - *****

'Mind' - ***

'Paper' - *****

'Cities' - ****

'Life During Wartime' - **

'Memories Can't Wait' - ****

'Air' - ****

'Heaven' - *

'Animals' - ***

'Electric Guitar' - ****

'Drugs' - *****

Bonus tracks:

'Dancing For Money (Unfinished Outtake)' - **** (who cares about the undeveloped lyrics anyway?)

'Cities' (alternate version) - ** (way too long)

Stamp: "Highly recommended" (it has been and it still is revolutionary and influential to me as a beginning musical artist in its few various ways.)

This is really good. Not groundbreaking though. "What?! Not groundbreaking?" You might have heard of Holger Czukay's "Movies" (1979), right? Now that one is truly original. "Remain in Light" sounds very similar to the former. It has the sonic experimentation and stylistic divesity, but in that range of diversity "Movies" does not have the Afro-beat, and it consists of only four tracks, two of each go well over ten minutes. Yay, the prog-rock spirit! Gosh, those two records are so similar!

Anyway, let's discuss "Remain in Light" alone. The reason why I gave this album a four is because it lacks the idea of novel insanity that was explored on the classic '72-'74 Yes albums. 'Crosseyed and Painless' and 'The Great Curve' do not raise the bar at all, although the latter's guitar solos are just nutty. But my intuition tells me it's just not enough. They just don't raise the bar Steve Howe had set. The record just doesn't get on my deepest senses. Maybe it's because the focus of the group, as well as Eno, was grooviness, not the economics and saturation of texture. I mean, the songs are groovy, but they do not sound intoxicating like, say, 'Paper' or 'I Zimbra' on "Fear of Music." And, as I have said before, it's not that original. Besides, there are a couple of simply decent songs and one 'braindead' song (that would be 'The Overload'), and I still can't remember what the latter sounds like. And now that I have remembered what it sounds like, at least it's moody a la Joy Division, which I don't mind much. But it still sounds like a throwaway. Like a duplicate (or brother, if you like) of 'Drugs', also from "Fear of Music." Oh, tread carefully: some of those ditties may be a bit too long for you.

But the experiments on this puppy are cool enough and the songs are really rhythmic. That's what makes most of the songs on this record so tacky. I caught 'Crosseyed and Painless' on Pandora and did some research on the record. It did take me quite a few listens before I started digging that style. 'Born Under Punches', 'The Great Curve', 'Once in a Lifetime' - they are all awesome. The thing that makes this album so interesting is the mastered mix of styles such as Afro-beat, funk, electronica (courtesy of Fela Kuti himself), experimental music, and pop. It seems like the group with Brian Eno had pinned down a kind of a distinctive formula for about six tracks on the album. It's actually funny: it is the very same mix that led my mother to believe that it sounds a lot like Jewish music. I don't know. Maybe. And she was fine with that kind of music. It's not weird that she was annoyed with that same band's pre-previous effort "More Songs About Buildings and Food" (unbeknownst of that.) Why it's not weird? Because "Remain in Light" marks the group's almost complete departure from rock-n'-roll (although there are some huge, but bizarre, rock slices on 'The Great Curve'.)

By the way, if you ask me what my biggest favorite track on the record is, I would say: "Well, it used to be 'Crosseyed and Painless.' Now it's 'Houses in Motion' (just ... nyah! ... catchy!)" Allow me to also note that for over a year I did not care much for the last four tracks of the album. Maybe because their production sounds so thin compared to the first four tracks of the record. But hey! Get over it! Give those songs as many chances as they need. After all, they need not be overlooked. That's good stuff!

Ratings/comments:

'Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)' - ****

'Crosseyed and Painless' - ****

'The Great Curve' - ****

'Once in a Lifetime' - ****

'Houses in Motion' - ****

'Seen and Not Seen' - ***

'Listening Wind' - ***

'The Overload' - **

Stamp: "I like it."

The third collaboration between Talking Heads and Brian Eno is a feast of polyrhythmic wonders, with world music influences (particularly derived from African music) prominent. At the same time as preparing this David Byrne and Eno had been working on their classic My Life In the Bush of Ghosts, and Byrne appears to have applied the rhythm experiments from that to this album, as well as developing a fascinating stream-of-consciousness, almost improvisational lyrical style reminiscent of similar lyric-writing approaches by Eno, David Bowie and Iggy Pop. The band themselves have never been tighter, with Adrian Belew's contributions providing a precedent for his future work with the reformed King Crimson. Plus this album has Once In a Lifetime, which has to be one of the best art rock singles of all time.