Of all the bands I like, I consider Talking Heads the most criminally under-appreciated.

Their influence on music can be heard perhaps now more than ever. Indie favorites like "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah" and "Arcade Fire" have vocalists doing their best to channel the style of Talking Heads vocalist David Byrne.

Elements of their brand of danceable rock can be heard in Franz Ferdinand and Modest Mouse (check out "The View"). Radiohead is even named after a Talking Heads song.

But despite the critical acclaim and influence, I don't know enough people who actually listen to Talking Heads.

The recent release of their re-mastered DualDisc albums (released before as a box and now available individually) provides the perfect opportunity to check them out.

There may be no better place to start than their masterpiece, 1980's Remain in Light, because it finds an amazingly talented and innovative band at the perfect time in its career. The band's ambitions had outgrown the initial four-member lineup, and several backup musicians had been added for the album.

The album simultaneously shows a band at its creative peak and at its most ambitious.

Remain in Light is also a reminder of when an album used to be an album, and not a collection of songs. Changing the order of the tracks would ruin the impact because the album has a distinct progression and flow.

The album draws in the band's interest in the influences of dance and African music, most apparent at the start of the album. The first three tracks are bursting at the seams with driving rhythms and dense arrangements.

That energy carries into "Once in a Lifetime," the album's centerpiece, and one of the group's most well-known songs. It also provides the emotional turning point. Beneath the upbeat exterior of the music, the uneasiness of the lyrics -- "And you may ask yourself/Am I right? Am I wrong?/And you may tell yourself/My God! What have I done?" -- begins to take over.

After that, the mood of the album grows somber, and the music gradually slows. "Seen and Not Seen" is contemplative, exploring how images from the media influence a person's self-image. "Listening Wind" takes the perspective of a Native American terrorist rebelling against the foreigners changing his homeland. By the time the album hits the closer, "The Overload," the manic energy from before seems to be spent. The album, which started 40 minutes ago with rapid drums, ends on a dark note.

As for the DualDisc itself, the sound is beautiful. The box set received four awards in the 2005 Surround Music Awards, including best of show.