Remain in Light
TALKING HEADS
Sire
With Remain in Light, Talking Heads established themselves as the most musically ambitious of the bands that emerged from the CBGB punk scene. Influenced by Fela and other African acts, as well as Jamaican dub and world-music in general, the Heads adopt a groove-first aesthetic, driven by funky, syncopated drums, punchy bass vamps and interlocking guitars. David Byrne's jittery vocals and mock-paranoid non sequiturs prove both funny and unsettling, and the choruses — oft-times patterned after African call-and-response chants — only add to the album's anxious otherworldliness. Includes the studio version of "Once in Lifetime."
