Remain in Light

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Remain in Light
Talking Heads studio album
Cover

Publication
(s)

October 8, 1980

Label (s) Sire Records

Format (s)

LP , CD , MC , DVD-A

Genre (s)

New Wave , Post-Punk , Worldbeat , Funk , Afrobeat

Title (number)

8th

running time

39:48

occupation
  • Chris Frantz - drums , keyboard, percussion, backing vocals
  • Brian Eno - bass, keyboard, percussion, backing vocals
  • Jose Rossy - percussion
  • Nona Hendryx - backing vocals

production

Brian Eno

Studio (s)

chronology
Fear of Music
(1979) 		Remain in Light The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads
(1982)

Remain in Light is the fourth studio album by the New York rock band Talking Heads . It was released on October 8, 1980 on the Sire Records label . Remain in Light is considered the Talking Heads' most important and best album.

background

Remain in Light was recorded between July and August 1980 in New York City and Nassau . It is the band's third and final album, which was created in collaboration with Brian Eno . From a stylistic point of view, Remain in Light moves in the genres of New Wave and Post-Punk that are typical for Talking Heads . However, since it brought completely new elements into these musical styles through the use of African polyrhythm , it is often attributed to Afro and world beats . In addition, radio-like rhythms were often incorporated into the music. The album also shows influences from hip-hop and electronic music .

The two singles that were released from the album had little success compared to the album. Once in a Lifetime was released in February 1981 and reached number 14 in the UK Top 40 , but did not appear on the Billboard Hot 100 in the States until 1986 , where the single peaked at number 91. The B-side contained lakes and not lakes . The second single was released in May 1981. It contained a remix of Houses in Motion , on the B-side was The Overload . She did not achieve any noteworthy chart success.

The cover artwork was created by Frantz and Weymouth on a mainframe computer from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . It is one of the earliest computer generated cover designs.

Track list

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Remain in Light
  UK 21st 11/01/1980 (21 weeks)
  US 19th December 06, 1980 (27 weeks)
Singles
Once in a Lifetime
  UK 14th 02/07/1981 (10 weeks)
  US 91 05/03/1986 (4 weeks)
Houses in Motion
  UK 50 05/09/1981 (3 weeks)

All songs were composed by David Byrne , Brian Eno , Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison and Tina Weymouth .

page 1

  1. Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) - 5:46
  2. Crosseyed and Painless - 4:45
  3. The Great Curve - 6:26

Page 2

  2. Once in a Lifetime - 4:19
  3. Houses in Motion - 4:30
  4. Seen and Not Seen - 3:20
  5. Listening Wind - 4:42
  6. The Overload - 6:00

Re-releases

On January 10, 2006, Rhino Records released Remain in Light on DualDisc with four bonus tracks on the CD side. The DVD side includes the album in 5.1 - surround sound , a photo gallery and videos Crosseyed and Painless and Once in a Lifetime .

CD bonus tracks
  2. Fela's Riff (Unfinished Outtake) - 5:19
  3. Unison (Unfinished Outtake) - 4:49
  4. Double Groove (Unfinished Outtake) - 4:27
  5. Right Start (Unfinished Outtake) - 4:07

On January 16, 2006, Sire released the Rhino version of Remain in Light listed above on CD with a separate DVD. The bonus material is identical to the hybrid edition.

reception

source rating
Allmusic
Rolling Stone
Pitchfork Media
Music Express

Remain in Light is considered to be one of the most influential albums of the 1980s due to the then unique fusion of pop with world music and appeared on the list of the 500 best albums of all time published by Rolling Stone in 2003. The magazine also selected the album at number 4 100 best albums of the 1980s. The music magazine New Musical Express leads Remain in Light at number 54 in the selection of the 500 best albums of all time. In the Guardian's list of 100 best albums, the album ranks 43rd. Pitchfork Media voted it number 2 of the 100 best albums of the 1980s. In addition, Remain in Light is one of the 1001 albums You Must Hear Before You Die .

In 2017, Remain in Light was added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress .

“A strange, synthetic, polyrhythmic work of art with African influences that confused me in every way. With good albums it is usually the case that at the beginning you don't know what you're actually dealing with. But you are fascinated by it and by about the sixth listen it slowly reveals itself to you. When you listen for the tenth time you are completely enthusiastic, but even when you listen for the 30th you still discover something new. Remain in Light taught me that. The record changed and enlightened me. She showed me what music can do, what song structures can look like, or how drum parts can interact with other parts. Since I started making music myself, this wonderful album has been something that I can always consult. The great thing is that you can still approach the record from so many different directions later without losing its riddle. "

- Trent Reznor

In 2018 the Benin - French singer Angélique Kidjo released a new recording of Remain in Light , in which she worked out the African roots of the Talkings Heads' music.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b National Recording Registry Picks Are "Over the Rainbow" on loc.gov (accessed February 27, 2019)
  2. ↑ Schütte, Uwe: Remain in Light, in: Basis-Diskothek Rock and Pop, Philipp Reclam jun. 2004 (Stuttgart), p. 182.
  3. ↑ a b Talking Heads: Full Official Chart History on officialcharts.com (accessed February 26, 2019)
  4. ↑ Talking Heads Remain In Light Chart History on billboard.com (accessed February 26, 2019)
  5. ↑ Talking Heads Once In A Lifetime Chart History on billboard.com (accessed February 26, 2019)
  6. ↑ Review by William Ruhlman on AllMusic (accessed on 22 February 2017)
  7. ↑ Review by Gavin Edwards on Rolling Stone (archived) (accessed March 23, 2017)
  8. ↑ Review by Dan Brooks on Pitchfork Media (accessed October 21, 2018)
  9. ↑ Review by Ingeborg Schober, in: Musikexpress 12/1980, edition 299, p. 52.
  10. ↑ Levy, Joe (Ed.): Rolling Stone. The 500 best albums of all time . (Original edition: Rolling Stone. The 500 Greatest Albums of all Time . Wenner Media 2005). Translation: Karin Hofmann. Wiesbaden: White Star Verlag, 2011, p. 116
  11. ↑ 100 Best Albums of the Eighties on RollingStone.com, accessed February 22, 2017
  12. ↑ The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time: 100-1 on NME.com, accessed February 22, 2017
  13. ↑ The Guardian 100 Best Albums Ever by The Guardian (1997) on besteveralbums.com, accessed on August 14, 2017
  14. ↑ Top 100 Albums of the 1980s on pitchfork.com, accessed August 19, 2017
  15. ↑ Reznor, Trent, in: Visions 250, 01/2014, p. 141.

Web links