Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984) [Remastered 1999]

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Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984) [Remastered 1999]

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Jonathan Demme's creative direction and this group's brilliance make for an unusual live performance event. Starting solo with David Byrne, each song brings another band member to the stage until the full band kicks in. With Bernie Worrell on keyboards and a strong hit-filled set from the Speaking in Tongues tour, this is definitely worth checking out.

Review by Scott Bultman, Allmusic.com

Over the course of three nights at Hollywood's Pantages Theater in December 1983, filmmaker Jonathan Demme joined creative forces with cinematographer Jordan Cronenweth and Talking Heads… and miracles occurred. Following a staging concept by singer-guitarist David Byrne, this euphoric concert film transcends that all-too-limited genre to become the greatest film of its kind. A guaranteed cure for anyone's blues, it's a celebration of music that never grows old, fueled by the polyrhythmic pop-funk precision that was a Talking Heads trademark, and lit from within by the geeky supernova that is David Byrne.

The staging–and Demme's filming of it–builds toward an orgasmic release of music, rising from the bare-stage simplicity of Byrne, accompanied only by a boom box on "Psycho Killer," to the ecstatic crescendo of "Burning Down the House," by which time the Heads and additional personnel have all arrived on stage for a performance that seems channeled from heaven for the purpose of universal uplift. (God bless Demme for avoiding shots of the luckiest audience in '80s pop history; its presence is acknowledged, but not at the viewer's expense.) With the deliriously eccentric Byrne as ringleader (pausing mid-concert to emerge in his now-legendary oversized suit), this circus of musical pleasure defies the futility of reductive description; it begs to be experienced, felt in the heart, head, and bones, and held there the way we hold on to cherished memories. On those three nights in December 1983, Talking Heads gave love, life, and joy in generous amounts that years cannot erode, and Demme captured this act of creative goodwill on film with minimalist artistic perfection. Stop Making Sense is an invitation to pleasure that will never wear out its welcome.

Review by Jeff Shannon

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Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984) [Remastered 1999]

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Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984) [Remastered 1999]

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Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984) [Remastered 1999]

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Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984) [Remastered 1999]

Close

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Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984) [Remastered 1999]

Close

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Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984) [Remastered 1999]

Close

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Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984) [Remastered 1999]

Close

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Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984) [Remastered 1999]

Close

×

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984) [Remastered 1999]

Close

×

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984) [Remastered 1999]

Close

×

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984) [Remastered 1999]

Close

×

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984) [Remastered 1999]

Close

×

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984) [Remastered 1999]

Close

×

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984) [Remastered 1999]

Close

×

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984) [Remastered 1999]

Close

×

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984) [Remastered 1999]

Close