Stop Making Sense (album)

Infobox Album
Name = Stop Making Sense
Type = soundtrack
Artist = Talking Heads


Released = start date|1984|10|15
Recorded = start date|1983|12 at The Pantages Theatre, Hollywood
Genre = Soundtrack
Length = 39:37 (original)
46:27 (cassette and CD)
74:27 (1999 "Special New Edition")
Label = Sire
Producer = Gary Goetzman
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:ycc1z85ajyv1 link]
* Allmusic Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:aq8zefrk1gf6 link] (Special Edition re-release)
* Robert Christgau (B+) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=talking+heads link]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|4|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/talkingheads/albums/album/101184/review/5940320/stop_making_sense link]
Last album = "Speaking in Tongues" (1983)
This album = Stop Making Sense (1984)
Next album = "Little Creatures" (1985)
Misc = Singles
Name = Stop Making Sense
Type = soundtrack
Single 1 = Once in a Lifetime
Single 1 date = start date|1984|2
Single 2 = Slippery People
Single 2 date = start date|1984|10
Single 3 = Girlfriend Is Better
Single 3 date = start date|1984|12 Extra album cover 2
Upper caption = 1999 Re-release cover
Type = soundtrack


Lower caption = "Special New Edition"

The soundtrack album to the motion picture "Stop Making Sense" was released in 1984 which featured only nine of the songs from the movie, many of them heavily edited. The album spent over two years (118 weeks) on the Billboard 200 chart.

Byrne's intention was not to make a traditional soundtrack album, but to have it be a separate experience. The most noticeable difference is that all of Chris Frantz's acoustic drumming is replaced with synthesized drum sounds, most likely triggered samples. Limited pressings of the original LP version featured a full color picture book wrapped around the album jacket. Regular versions had many of the pictures and captions on the album's inner sleeve. In 1999, to correspond with the theatrical re-release of the movie, the album was extended and remastered, restoring all of the songs from the movie with only very minor edits. The newly included tracks feature Frantz's original drumming from the concert recordings. RS500|345

Track listing

All songs written by David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth except as noted. Talking Heads. "Stop Making Sense" (Sire Records, 1984).]

ide one

# "Psycho Killer" (Byrne, Frantz, Weymouth) – 4:28
# "Swamp" – 3:50 (LP) 4:28 (cassette, CD)
# "Slippery People" – 3:35 (LP) 4:13 (different mix; cassette, CD)
# "Burning Down the House" – 4:14
# "Girlfriend Is Better" – 3:32 (LP) 5:07 (cassette, CD)

ide two

# "Once in a Lifetime" (Byrne, Brian Eno, Frantz, Harrison, Weymouth) – 4:34 (LP) 5:34 (cassette, CD)
# "What a Day That Was" (Byrne) – 5:08 (LP) 6:30 (cassette, CD)
# "Life During Wartime" – 4:52 (LP) 5:52 (cassette, CD)
# "Take Me to the River" (Al Green, Teenie Hodges) – 5:59

Film/Special New Edition Soundtrack

Bonus live tracks "Heaven" and "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" were available as B-sides on various US 7" and UK 12" singles during the album's original release. These versions were released on the Special Edition soundtrack.

# "Psycho Killer" (Byrne, Frantz, Weymouth) – 4:24
# "Heaven" (Byrne, Harrison) – 3:41
# "Thank You for Sending Me an Angel" (Byrne) – 2:09
# "Found a Job" (Byrne) – 3:15
# "Slippery People" – 4:00
# "Burning Down the House" – 4:06
# "Life During Wartime" – 5:51
# "Making Flippy Floppy" – 4:40
# "Swamp" – 4:30
# "What a Day That Was" (Byrne) – 6:00
# "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" – 4:57
# "Once in a Lifetime" (Byrne, Eno, Frantz, Harrison, Weymouth) – 5:25
# "Genius of Love" (Weymouth, Frantz, Adrian Belew, Steven Stanley) (performed by Tom Tom Club) – 4:30
# "Girlfriend Is Better" – 5:06
# "Take Me to the River" (Green, Hodges) – 5:32
# "Crosseyed and Painless" (Byrne, Eno, Frantz, Harrison, Weymouth) – 6:11

Personnel

*David Byrne – guitar, vocals
*Chris Frantz – drums, vocals
*Jerry Harrison – guitar, keyboards, vocals
*Tina Weymouth – bass, keyboards, vocals

Additional personnel

*Bernie Worrell – keyboards
*Alex Weir – guitar, vocals
*Steve Scales – percussion
*Ednah Holt – backing vocals
*Lynn Mabry – backing vocals

Charts

Album

Certifications

References