REMAIN IN LIGHT

1980! One of my favorite years in music with an impressive list of all time favorites such as Empires and Dance, Closer, 17 Seconds, Vienna, Gentlemen Take Polaroids, In The Flat Field and this Remain in Light. And then I'm even leaving out the NWOBHM side of the story and a couple of old goats like Hammill, Bowie, Sabbath and Rush that hit a new creative well. Really, what was going on in 1980?

Remain in Light is quite different from the preceding Tálking Heads albums. There were some tracks on Fear of Music that hinted at the new direction but things has come to full fruition here. With the help of long-term friend Eno and Adrian Belew, the mix of African rhythms, art rock, new electronic sounds and frenzied punk energy is rounded off with a progressive edge, apparent in the delicate arrangements and the loose and entrancing structure of the pieces. The obvious art rock roots of previous album have grown into something entirely new and unique, incorporating funk, kraut and new wave.

Best of all, the songwriting is superb throughout this album. The breeze of inspiration that hit similar-minded bands such as Japan, Ultravox and Simple Minds in the UK must have crossed the Atlantic and blessed the city of New York. The creative surge is also felt in the diversity of the album, that can be roughly split up in two halves, with very infectious art-funk-disco in the first half and gradually more introspective mood-pieces in the second half, culminating in the beautifully gothic Joy Division atmospheres of The Overload.

Nothing less then a musical masterpiece for me, not only recommended to the usual suspects of the Eno-Cale-Bowie-Roxy fan-club but to ... everybody really.