Talking Heads - Remain In Light (LP) Vinyl

Remain in Light is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Talking Heads, released on 8 October 1980 by Sire Records. It was the band's third and final album produced by Brian Eno, and it is the record most often described as their masterpiece.

The Album

After touring in support of Fear of Music (1979), Talking Heads and Eno set out to dispel the notion that the band was merely a vehicle for frontman David Byrne. Sessions began at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, the Bahamas, in July 1980, with the group building the record from extended instrumental jams rather than writing music around finished lyrics. Drawing on the Afrobeat of Nigerian musician Fela Kuti, they blended African polyrhythms and funk with electronics, recording each section as a long loop, isolating the best parts and learning to play them repetitively. Byrne likened the method to sampling: "We were human samplers." Vocals and additional tracks were cut at Sigma Sound Studios in New York City, where guitarist Adrian Belew, singer Nona Hendryx and trumpeter Jon Hassell joined the sessions.

Byrne struggled with writer's block and adopted a scattered, stream of consciousness lyrical style drawn from early rap, preaching and academic writing on Africa. None of the eight compositions uses conventional chord changes, relying instead on harmonies and counter-melodies over pedal points. The first side carries the most rhythmic material, "Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)", "Crosseyed and Painless" and "The Great Curve", each with long instrumental interludes; the second side is more introspective, opening with "Once in a Lifetime" and closing with the industrial textures of "The Overload".

The album reached number 21 on the UK Albums Chart and number 19 on the US Billboard 200, and produced the singles "Once in a Lifetime" and "Houses in Motion". In 2017 the Library of Congress deemed it culturally, historically or aesthetically significant and selected it for preservation in the National Recording Registry.

The Artwork

Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz conceived the sleeve with Walter Bender and Scott Fisher of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Architecture Machine Group, producing one of the first computer-designed record jackets. The four band portraits on the front have their faces blotted out with blocks of red. The red warplanes flying in formation over a mountain range on the rear were the original front cover idea, held over when the working title Melody Attack was dropped in favour of Remain in Light. Graphic design is by Tibor Kalman's company M&Co., and the inverted letter A in the TALKINGHEADS logotype is Kalman's.

This Pressing

This is the Sire reissue, catalogue number 8122708021, pressed on 180 gram vinyl as a single LP and printed in the EU. The lacquers were cut by Kevin Gray at AcousTech Mastering, the same lacquers used for the 2006 Rhino Vinyl reissue, plated at Record Technology Incorporated and pressed by Optimal Media. The record is issued in a printed inner sleeve carrying the album credits. The lyrics insert supplied with the 2006 US pressing is not included with this edition.

Tracklist

Side One

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

Side Two

1. Once In A Lifetime (4:19)
2. Houses In Motion (4:30)
3. Seen And Not Seen (3:20)
4. Listening Wind (4:42)
5. The Overload (6:00)