Product Description
The Stop Making Sense full concert for the first time ever on vinyl. 2 LP with a reproduction of the original booklet from the 1984 limited edition pressing with additional pages and never before seen photos. Includes brand new notes written by Chris, David, Jerry and Tina. The track list includes previously unreleased tracks “Cities” and “Big Business/I Zimbra”.
The inspiration for Stop Making Sense came when director Jonathan Demme saw Talking Heads perform during the band’s 1983 tour for Speaking in Tongues. Afterward, he approached them with the idea of making the show into a concert film. They agreed and worked together over the next few months to finalize the details. Ultimately, Demme filmed three shows at Hollywood’s Pantages Theater in December 1983 to create Stop Making Sense.
The concert film presents a retrospective of the band up to that point, with a performance that weaves together songs from all six of its studio albums. The show progresses methodically, opening with Byrne onstage performing “Psycho Killer” alone with a drum machine. After each song, he’s joined by a new band member until Weymouth, Frantz, and Harrison are all on stage with him. The group continues to grow throughout the concert as members of the stellar touring band are added: keyboardist Bernie Worrell, percussionist Steve Scales, guitarist Alex Weir, and back-up singers Lynn Mabry and Ednah Holt.
The band performs 18 songs in Stop Making Sense, including its recent single at the time, “Burning Down The House.” That summer, the song was in heavy rotation on radio and MTV, helping the song become the band’s first top 10 hit in America. It was, however, a different song from Speaking in Tongues that was destined to deliver one of the film’s signature moments. Byrne would perform “Girlfriend Is Better” wearing his now iconic, oversized business suit inspired by costumes worn in traditional Japanese theater. For good measure, a picture of him in the suit also graces the album cover.
Stop Making Sense focuses mainly on music by Talking Heads but does include a few songs recorded outside the band: “Genius Of Love” by Tom Tom Club, Weymouth and Frantz’s side-project, and “What A Day That Was” and “Big Business” from Byrne’s 1981 album, The Catherine Wheel.
Stop Making Sense was an artistic and commercial triumph when it arrived in September 1984. The film had people dancing in theatre aisles while the soundtrack sold over two million copies. Just last year, the Library of Congress added Stop Making Sense to the National Film Registry in recognition of its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance.
Track listing:
A1 Psycho Killer
A2 Heaven
A3 Thank You For Sending Me An Angel
A4 Found A Job
A5 Slippery People
A6 Cities
B1 Burning Down The House
B2 Life During Wartime
B3 Making Flippy Floppy
B4 Swamp
C1 What A Day That Was
C2 This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody)
C3 Once In A Lifetime
C4 Big Business / I Zimbra
D1 Genius Of Love
D2 Girlfriend Is Better
D3 Take Me To The River
D4 Crosseyed And Painless
