Slightly overrated

It seems that most Talking Heads fans sight this set as the favorite. It is unique, challenging and well worth owning. I've always thought it somewhat overrated, though.

The first half is flawless. It truly is classic.

The last half of the album is just a let down, though. I like the last half, but it really isn't up to par with the first half. This really isn't a complaint, though.

It's almost like they set the standard so high at the beginning, that when the material settled down from breathtaking to simply excellent, the whole thing somehow seems incomplete.

Overall, one of their best, but I'd still have to go with Fear Of Music as the favorite....more consistent.

SEMINAL AND FUNKY at the same time, ONE OF THE BEST EVER!

I can't tell you how many nights I spent as a young teenager listening to REMAIN IN LIGHT over and over in the dark with my headphones on - this is truly the BEST album by the HEADS where it all came together and showed us all the way to the future - a HUGE leap forward from their earlier quirky/punky NYC art rock, REMAIN IN LIGHT can be seen as BRIAN ENO featuring TALKING HEADS, but no matter - the riffs, the grooves, the sheer mind-blowing, jaw-dropping brilliance of it all, both in content and executiion, makes this album peerless - one of the best albums of all time, no kidding - I happen to like the LP tracks (BORN UNDER PUNCHES, CROSSEYED AND PAINLESS, SEEN AND NOT SEEN, etc.) rather than the "hits" (ONCE IN A LIFETIME), but they're all keepers - I still think this was the Heads' true creative peak, although SPEAKING IN TONGUES ain't bad either, esp. NAIVE MELODY! I wish WB would see fit to re-issued REMAIN LP with BONUS material - c'mon, there MUST be some deleted ENO/BYRNE masterpieces that didn't make the cut? Pretty please with sugar on top?! Until then, we have this. p.s. I remember rocking to the early pre-MTV videos with TONI BASIL "Pop-Locking" dance moves - KILLER!!

Third World Vol. 1 : Possible Musics

Though the previous album FEAR OF MUSIC provided a bit of foreshadowing, Talking Heads fans could never have guessed what was in store for them with the release of REMAIN IN LIGHT. A visionary work of innovation and inspiration, it is unarguably one of the greatest albums of the 1980s. The band leaves behind the two-guitars-over-a-quirky-rock-beat ethic of their previous work, adoping a funky, modal approach. Abandoning traditional song form and chord progressions, the tunes here are built around layers of overdubbed keyboard, guitar and percussion parts that weave around each other in an almost fugue-like manner, relying on the adding and subtracting of elements in the mix for dynamics, instead of on chord changes and structural development. It was a radical approach for a rock band, and it's reflected in the lyrics as well. Byrne abandons his urban paranoia of old in favor of a more spiritual, third world-influenced style of writing. Adrian Belew injects some grit with his postpunk-psychedelia guitar work (suggestive of his upcoming work with King Crimson, as is the overall sound of REMAIN IN LIGHT). This one is for the ages.