Critics' Choice 1980

1. Talking Heads Remain In Light [Sire]
The first album in which David Byrne, presaging his My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts collaboration with Brian Eno the following year, extended the Heads remit from Norman Bates-y Noo Wave to include Afro-beats and urban funk. The upshot of it all? Tracks like the gleefully deranged ‘Once In A Lifetime’ and the sweltering ‘Born Under Punches’, which single-handedly introduced the CBGBs generation to World Music and paved the way for the Ze label.
2. U2 – Boy [CBS]
3. Joy Division – Closer [Factory]
4. Captain Beefheart – Doc At The Radar Station [Virgin]
5. Ry Cooder – Borderline [Warner Brothers]