Talking Heads - Remain In Light

I had two approaches I could have taken to discuss Chris Frantz*. I could have posted Talking Heads' first record, 77, one of my all time favorites, and I could have talked about his minimalist approach to rock drumming and how it changed a lot of the ways people thought of rock music. OR I could post Remain In Light and talk about Frantz going the complete other way, blending rock drumming with a more percussive African style and ending up with a developed, multi layered approach.

I chose the latter because it's easier to talk about a guy doing a bunch of stuff than consciously not doing much at all (I also have a couple other albums I could use to talk about minimalism, but there is only one Remain In Light).

While Frantz was the drummer, everyone contributed percussion to this album, so excuse me if logistically it is incorrect. I am sort of assuming that Frantz was at the helm (or at least had a larger say) in how the drums were arranged, but in reality I don't know. I am also not going to run through each song and analyze his playing (like I usually do) partly because there is a lot going on and partly because Remain In Light to me isn't an album of songs, it's one large piece of music split into tracks.

What's interesting is hearing how Frantz plays drums and seems to weave in between all the other percussive instruments, congos, cowbells, wood blocks, etc.. There is usually three or four things going on at once but they don't get in the way, as one instrument drops out others come in to take their place. The patterns are disjointed but it all feels very well connected.

Along with actual percussion instruments, the guitars, keyboards and vocals also maintain a very percussive quality, which instead of making Frantzs job easier makes it even more difficult to play the drums and have everything come across without feeling muddied.

Hell, he deserves credit just for finding a place within this album to be heard. He had to hold back on the kit and compliment his patterns in other ways, sometimes a light high hat trill or off time snare hit is the only thing driving the song. It's a hell of a piece of music and it came out at a time when rock bands were still allowed to be weird and wacky without taking too much flack from the mainstream.

Those must have been the days.


*It should also be noted that Frantz is 1/2 of Tom Tom Club, and that some of the things he does with them are equal to some of the things he has done with Talking Heads.


Audio/Visual Evidence : Born Under Punches, The Great Curve