Stop Making Sense (album)


Stop Making Sense is a live album by Talking Heads, the soundtrack to the film of the same name. It was released in September 1984 and features nine tracks from the movie, albeit with treatment and editing. The album spent over two years on the Billboard 200 chart. It was their first album to be distributed by EMI outside North America.
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. The CD release of the album includes the full-color book, though rearranges the layout to conform to the dimensions of a square CD booklet. In 1999, a 16-track re-release—with content and sound closely matching those of the movie—coincided with the 15th anniversary of the concert filming.
The album was ranked number 345 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2000 it was voted number 394 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums. In 2012 Slant Magazine listed the album at #61 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s".

Background and recording

Frantz stated in the liner notes of , "When was originally recorded on Speaking in Tongues, it had a funky and compact sound. This Stop Making Sense version is funky and big as a house. "

Reception

"A bona fide classic," opined Neil Jeffries in a five-star review of the reissue for Empire, "a perfectly measured snapshot of a widely loved and respected band playing at the height of their powers ... No other band could do this. No other music movie soundtrack sounds this good." "A timely reminder of the achievements of perhaps the most underrated band of the post-punk age," concurred Q. "From its stripped-down intro ... to the nine-piece finale, Stop Making Sense remains heady, stirring stuff."

Track listing

All songs written by David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth except as noted.

Side one

  1. "Psycho Killer" – 4:28
  2. "Swamp" – 3:50 4:28
  3. "Slippery People" – 3:35 4:13
  4. "Burning Down the House" – 4:14
  5. "Girlfriend Is Better" – 3:32 5:07

    Side two

  6. "Once in a Lifetime" – 4:34 5:34
  7. "What a Day That Was" – 5:08 6:30
  8. "Life During Wartime" – 4:52 5:52
  9. "Take Me to the River" – 6:00

    Film/Special New Edition Soundtrack

Bonus live tracks "Heaven" and "This Must Be the Place " 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.
  1. "Psycho Killer" – 4:24
  2. "Heaven" – 3:41
  3. "Thank You for Sending Me an Angel" – 2:09
  4. "Found a Job" – 3:15
  5. "Slippery People" – 4:00
  6. "Burning Down the House" – 4:06
  7. "Life During Wartime" – 5:51
  8. "Making Flippy Floppy" – 4:40
  9. "Swamp" – 4:30
  10. "What a Day That Was" – 6:00
  11. "This Must Be the Place " – 4:57
  12. "Once in a Lifetime" – 5:25
  13. "Genius of Love" – 4:30
  14. "Girlfriend Is Better" – 5:06
  15. "Take Me to the River" – 5:32
  16. "Crosseyed and Painless" – 6:11

    Personnel

Chart Position
Australian Album Chart 10

Certifications and sales