Record Rebound: Talking Heads reissue the soundtrack album ‘Stop Making Sense’
In 1984, Talking Heads made history with their landmark concert film, Stop Making Sense. Directed by Jonathan Demme, the movie was filmed across three evenings of live performance at the Pantages Theatre, Hollywood, in December 1983. At the time, the band was on the road, touring in support of their latest studio album, Stop Making Sense. The film derived its name from the lyrics of one of the album’s popular tracks, ‘Girlfriend is Better’.
The performances were spliced into one seamless show of lavish design. David Byrne, Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz appeared on stage backed by an extended cast of musicians, backing singers and choreographers through a blazing, energetic set packed with hits old and new.
While the movie didn’t contain a narrative as such, it began with frontman Byrne stepping onto a bare stage for a stripped-back, acoustic rendition of the 1977 single ‘Psycho Killer’ over a beat created by a Roland TR-808 drum machine. With each successive song, Byrne is accompanied on-stage by another band member, enriching the sound: first, Weymouth joins to play bass on ‘Heaven’, then Chris Frantz joins in, drumming on ‘Thank You for Sending Me an Angel’ before Jerry Harrison completes the square in ‘Found a Job’.
As the performance reaches a climax, ‘Burning Down the House’ marks the first song to feature the entire extended line-up. Following a blistering performance of the Remain in Light single ‘Once in a Lifetime’, Byrne exits the stage as power couple Weymouth and Frantz steal the show with a rendition of ‘Genius of Love’. The couple released the hit in 1981 as the second single for the debut album of Tom Tom Club, their funk-inspired side project.
As Byrne returns for ‘Girlfriend is Better’, he’s seen to be wearing his iconic “big suit”. The suit, inspired by Noh theatre styles, has since become emblematic of the band and is featured on the live album’s cover art.
“I was in Japan in between tours, and I was checking out traditional Japanese theatre – Kabuki, Noh, Bunraku – and I was wondering what to wear on our upcoming tour,” Byrne told Time in 2014. “A fashion designer friend [Jurgen Lehl] said in his typically droll manner, ‘Well, David, everything is bigger on stage.’ He was referring to gestures and all that, but I applied the idea to a businessman’s suit.”
Stop Making Sense has gone down in history as one of the finest live concert films of all time. From the energetic and skilful performances to the subtle set design and costume features, Talking Heads made it a tour to remember. However, the movie was sadly intended as the band’s emphatic farewell to the road.
“Making that [film] was a great, great time,” Weymouth reflected in a 2022 interview with Far Out. “That was a wonderful band. It was just the travelling and the work were exhausting. But every time we got on stage, we were so energised. And we were young, you know, so we could do it, we could really go there. But it was great fun. I actually think – this is kind of a fantasy – but I felt that I was watching the show. I had a prime position to be able to watch and enjoy the show, and I was just awed by everyone.”
“And I just love the fans,” she continued. “I actually believed that we were doing something good. I thought, ‘This is really spiritual; we’re really communicating some love here.’ So that was my feeling about it at the time. I couldn’t believe it when David said to us, ‘Oh, well, we’re not going to tour anymore because the movie’s gonna tour for us.’ I just scratched my head. Like, ‘What? That’s not the same!'”
Despite the controversial decision to retire from the road, Stop Making Sense served as an arresting show-stopper, a perfect summary of Talking Heads’ success to date. On Friday, August 18th, Talking Heads will release a deluxe vinyl edition of the Stop Making Sense soundtrack via Rhino in conjunction with the movie’s 4K restoration, which will hit cinemas later in 2023.
The two-LP set includes a 28-page booklet with previously unpublished photos and new liner notes from all four band members. For the first time ever, the entire concert film will be unveiled with the inclusion of previously omitted tracks, ‘Cities’ and ‘Big Business / I Zimbra’. See the full tracklist below and preorder the album here.
Stop Making Sense (Deluxe Edition) tracklist:
Side One
- ‘Psycho Killer’
- ‘Heaven’
- ‘Thank You For Sending Me An Angel’
- ‘Found A Job’
- ‘Slippery People’
- ‘Cities’ *
Side Two
- ‘Burning Down The House’
- ‘Life During Wartime’
- ‘Making Flippy Floppy’
- ‘Swamp’
Side Three
- ‘What a Day That Was’
- ‘This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)’
- ‘Once In A Lifetime’
- ‘Big Business / I Zimbra’ *
Side Four
- ‘Genius Of Love’
- ‘Girlfriend Is Better’
- ‘Take Me To The River’
- ‘Crosseyed And Painless’
* Previously Unreleased
