Remain In Light - Talking Heads
Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 1:14 amWhen people talk of the great punk bands they usually come up with a pretty much bog standard list of names: The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ramones, Blondie. Some people will even come up with some of the lesser known luminaries such as The Buzzcocks or Television. However there was one punk band that went through the stage of being a Quite Good New York New Wave act and became something altogether more, but so different that musical history often overlooks their mercurial talents and timeless albums. I am, of course, talking about the weird, wonderful and downright groovy Talking Heads, a band who started out as a bit of bog-standard punk group who didn't seem out of place in CBGBs and subsequently incorporated tribal rhythms, funk and dance sensibilities into their music and became something altogether more than their contemporaries.
Remain In Light, released in 1980, is the central of their trio of rump-shaking, rhythm driven albums and is, undoubtedly, their masterwork. It takes the ideas from the previous album, Fear Of Music, and then turns up the dance beats to incessant level and produces perhaps one of the weirdest rock albums ever made. The music is strange and altogether different to anything before and since, producing some kind of weird, wired punk-funk-world music fusion. Add on top of this David Byrne's often biting social satires of early Reaganomics and usually totally random stream of conscious ramblings and you a have a cult hit par excellence. To top it all off it's got the hugely famous hit single, Once In A Lifetime on it, the most singular sounding single that has ever been produced by anyone ever.
Once In A Lifetime is probably the best place to start the dissection, mainly because of the familiarity of this song. If you don't know it you've presumably hid your head in a pink day-glo cloud of Britney 'n' Justin or maybe you only ever listen to music that dates from before the war, but this song is so idiosyncratic that you'd be pretty ill-informed not to recognise it. It's the one where David Byrne speaks monologues over the verses such as "You might find yourself in a beautiful house with a beautiful wife / And you may ask yourself - Well how did I get here?" To say this song is addictive is an understatement as a shimmering synth line like a curtain of rain plays over an edgy bassline while those tribal, dancey beats play in the background with Byrne's spoken word verses over everything spilling the tale of superficial, mundane middle American life. Then the chorus hits in a mass of spiky chords joined by the unforgettable hook ("Letting the days go by / Water flowing underground") and you can't but help dancing along and waving your arms into time with music. It all ends in a maelstrom of jarring, swirling guitar noise.
Of course, Once In A Lifetime isn't really that representative of the album as a whole, and much of the rest of the record is more determinedly uncommercial and uncompromising, and even a little dark. The album begins in true style with Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) a dark, sweaty, funky song with cryptic lyrics about being "A tumbler." The music is dense with spiky, scratching guitars, impressive funky, bouncy slap bass (presumably from Tina Weymouth although a lot of extra musicians were draughted in for this album and instruments are played by different members of the band) and the occasional bizarre computer noises while David Byrne half shouts, half sings and occasionally makes silly squeaking noises. This is post-punk music at its skewed, strangest best, and proved Talking Heads to be truly unique. And very strange...
The album continues from here on its dynamic, densely layered course with Crosseyed And Painless and The Great Curve, two fast paced, spiky funk tracks which continue the humid feel of the opener. The Great Curve manages to sound just like world music played by a competent rock band (Rather than Blur) with its layers of vocals, screaming solos and full trumpet arrangement. It sounds a bit like a cross between a samba band and a gospel choir actually, which proves once more the genius of the Talking Heads as for any other band this would probably sound totally sh*t.
After Once In A Lifetime, things take a bit more of a downbeat turn with the mumbled lyrics, squelchy bass and dark tribal beats of Houses In Motion. This time the lyrics are more than a little incomprehensible and the vocals are serving more to create a mood, in much the same way as early Michael Stipe efforts. However odd that may seem, Seen And Not Seen trumps it in spades by being a song about a man who, wait for it, decides that by keeping in mind his perfect ideal for a face he can mould his own facial features to correspond with his own ideal over a period of time. I guess it must be about how people strive to look similar to the famous people they idolise, but whatever the explanation it's more than a little bit unsettling and above all, bizarre. Everything is overlaid by those ubiquitous tribal rhythms, this time with added handclaps, paranoid squealing noises and mumbled vocals. Strange is not a good enough word to describe this song.
The album ends in even darker tones however, starting with the melancholy, drifting dub vibe of The Listening Wind. This one is much more political being about the plight of the native Americans, following a young man named Mojique calling on the wind to drive away the settlers. It's moody and atmospheric with a chanted chorus and slow, spooky synths. The final track however is the most jaw-droppingly atmospheric and is very reminiscent of much of Closer by moody Mancunians Joy Division. The Overload is a bleak, stark, paranoid funeral march, slowed down to barely a crawl, which speaks of unstoppable entropy and decay. Byrne's voice recalls Ian Curtis with its deep baritone and the music lacks any actual tune instead creating an ambience of paranoia, death and despair. This is little surprise and the producer on this album was the king of ambient mood music himself, Brian Eno, and his influence is probably at its most obvious on this track.
Although the Talking Heads aren't spoke of that much these days, their legacy is still an excellent one as they were among the first groups to mix the simplicity of punk with dance beats and in doing so created one of the most unique sounds of the late seventies and early eighties. Even if you can't through their obtuseness, you can at least bask in the warm glow of Once In A Lifetime, although that's only scratching the surface and then you'll find yourself in a shotgun shack and you'll ask yourself: Well? How did I get here?
Remain In Light, released in 1980, is the central of their trio of rump-shaking, rhythm driven albums and is, undoubtedly, their masterwork. It takes the ideas from the previous album, Fear Of Music, and then turns up the dance beats to incessant level and produces perhaps one of the weirdest rock albums ever made. The music is strange and altogether different to anything before and since, producing some kind of weird, wired punk-funk-world music fusion. Add on top of this David Byrne's often biting social satires of early Reaganomics and usually totally random stream of conscious ramblings and you a have a cult hit par excellence. To top it all off it's got the hugely famous hit single, Once In A Lifetime on it, the most singular sounding single that has ever been produced by anyone ever.
Once In A Lifetime is probably the best place to start the dissection, mainly because of the familiarity of this song. If you don't know it you've presumably hid your head in a pink day-glo cloud of Britney 'n' Justin or maybe you only ever listen to music that dates from before the war, but this song is so idiosyncratic that you'd be pretty ill-informed not to recognise it. It's the one where David Byrne speaks monologues over the verses such as "You might find yourself in a beautiful house with a beautiful wife / And you may ask yourself - Well how did I get here?" To say this song is addictive is an understatement as a shimmering synth line like a curtain of rain plays over an edgy bassline while those tribal, dancey beats play in the background with Byrne's spoken word verses over everything spilling the tale of superficial, mundane middle American life. Then the chorus hits in a mass of spiky chords joined by the unforgettable hook ("Letting the days go by / Water flowing underground") and you can't but help dancing along and waving your arms into time with music. It all ends in a maelstrom of jarring, swirling guitar noise.
Of course, Once In A Lifetime isn't really that representative of the album as a whole, and much of the rest of the record is more determinedly uncommercial and uncompromising, and even a little dark. The album begins in true style with Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) a dark, sweaty, funky song with cryptic lyrics about being "A tumbler." The music is dense with spiky, scratching guitars, impressive funky, bouncy slap bass (presumably from Tina Weymouth although a lot of extra musicians were draughted in for this album and instruments are played by different members of the band) and the occasional bizarre computer noises while David Byrne half shouts, half sings and occasionally makes silly squeaking noises. This is post-punk music at its skewed, strangest best, and proved Talking Heads to be truly unique. And very strange...
The album continues from here on its dynamic, densely layered course with Crosseyed And Painless and The Great Curve, two fast paced, spiky funk tracks which continue the humid feel of the opener. The Great Curve manages to sound just like world music played by a competent rock band (Rather than Blur) with its layers of vocals, screaming solos and full trumpet arrangement. It sounds a bit like a cross between a samba band and a gospel choir actually, which proves once more the genius of the Talking Heads as for any other band this would probably sound totally sh*t.
After Once In A Lifetime, things take a bit more of a downbeat turn with the mumbled lyrics, squelchy bass and dark tribal beats of Houses In Motion. This time the lyrics are more than a little incomprehensible and the vocals are serving more to create a mood, in much the same way as early Michael Stipe efforts. However odd that may seem, Seen And Not Seen trumps it in spades by being a song about a man who, wait for it, decides that by keeping in mind his perfect ideal for a face he can mould his own facial features to correspond with his own ideal over a period of time. I guess it must be about how people strive to look similar to the famous people they idolise, but whatever the explanation it's more than a little bit unsettling and above all, bizarre. Everything is overlaid by those ubiquitous tribal rhythms, this time with added handclaps, paranoid squealing noises and mumbled vocals. Strange is not a good enough word to describe this song.
The album ends in even darker tones however, starting with the melancholy, drifting dub vibe of The Listening Wind. This one is much more political being about the plight of the native Americans, following a young man named Mojique calling on the wind to drive away the settlers. It's moody and atmospheric with a chanted chorus and slow, spooky synths. The final track however is the most jaw-droppingly atmospheric and is very reminiscent of much of Closer by moody Mancunians Joy Division. The Overload is a bleak, stark, paranoid funeral march, slowed down to barely a crawl, which speaks of unstoppable entropy and decay. Byrne's voice recalls Ian Curtis with its deep baritone and the music lacks any actual tune instead creating an ambience of paranoia, death and despair. This is little surprise and the producer on this album was the king of ambient mood music himself, Brian Eno, and his influence is probably at its most obvious on this track.
Although the Talking Heads aren't spoke of that much these days, their legacy is still an excellent one as they were among the first groups to mix the simplicity of punk with dance beats and in doing so created one of the most unique sounds of the late seventies and early eighties. Even if you can't through their obtuseness, you can at least bask in the warm glow of Once In A Lifetime, although that's only scratching the surface and then you'll find yourself in a shotgun shack and you'll ask yourself: Well? How did I get here?