This album was the apotheosis of Talking Heads’ collaborative work with producer Brian Eno. The songs are long, groove-based, and impressionistic; the sound is spacious and wild. Remain in Light yielded one of the most enduring hits of Talking Heads’ career: “Once in a Lifetime” (buoyed to huge success by its heavy-rotation MTV video), but “Born under Punches” and the funky “Houses in Motion” were both just as good. The second side of the LP drooped a bit under the weight of some overlong and not-quite-fully realized tunes, but side one is one of the best albums of the 1980s.

– Rick Anderson