Stop Making Sense | ||||
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Live album by Talking Heads | ||||
Released | September 1984 | |||
Recorded | December 1983 | |||
Venue | The Pantages Theatre, Hollywood | |||
Genre | New wave, post-punk | |||
Length |
39:37 (LP) 46:29 (CD/Cassette) 74:16 ('Special New Edition' CD) |
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Label | Sire/Warner Bros. | |||
Producer | Talking Heads, Gary Goetzman | |||
Talking Heads chronology | ||||
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Singles from Stop Making Sense | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
The Austin Chronicle | |
Chicago Tribune | |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
Q | |
Rolling Stone | |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
The Village Voice | B+ |
Stop Making Sense is a live 1984 album by Talking Heads, the soundtrack to the film of the same name. The original release of the album features only nine of the songs from the movie, many of them heavily edited. The album spent more than two years (118 weeks) on the Billboard 200 chart. In 1999, a 16-track re-release coincided with the concert's 15th anniversary.
Byrne's intention was not to make a traditional soundtrack album, but to have it be a separate experience. 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.
In 2003, the album was ranked number 345 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2012 Slant Magazine listed the album at #61 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s".
"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," agreed Q. "From its stripped-down intro ... to the nine-piece finale, Stop Making Sense remains heady, stirring stuff."
All songs written by David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth except as noted.
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.