Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (the movie) Thoughts?

Haven't seen it in years, loved it back then though. The version of "Heaven" has really strong emotional resonance for me, so much so that it's difficult to listen to.

Actually it's great. I saw it in the theater when it came out, at a time when the Heads were over-hyped. It looked fabulous on the big screen.

It's a really good post-Xmas pick me up. Must be incredible in a movie theater with good sound...

Cliched shit.

Cliched shit.

― Domnesty International (Noodle Vague)

Our first contrarian appears! Merry Christmas, sunshine...tell us how you REALLY feel though?

Saw it in a theater when it came out. Great film, just wish it featured a band that I liked better. Right now I'm trying to imagine the same thing done with Prince...

Loved it as well, in fact I have it queued up because I believe there's a track unique to the DVD.

Naive Melody = 1000000x better than on record (synth bass iirc?)
Genius Of Love - Destroy. Almost made me disown my <3 4 it.

Good film, but not the best document of them in concert.

First time I saw it, everyone in the room was applauding after every tune by the third song, and we were all dancing by the end. The Tom Tom Club bit just kills the momentum, though, doesn't it?

i have somehow blocked out "genius of love" from my memory of the movie. maybe i went to the bathroom then or something.

Loved it when it came out, still liked it a lot on a subsequent viewing a couple years later, was much less enamoured when I watched it a third time approx a dozen years later. Byrne seemed funny and interesting initially, distracting and annoying later down the road. Oddly, this is pretty much what I say now about virtually all Talking Heads music after Remain in Light also -- can only take so much of the singer.

Still think Bernie Worrell sounds amazing in the movie, as do the band generally, and "Naive Melody" really is pretty great (it's the only song from that album I still listen to also).

I LOVE the Tom Tom Club but I don't think they really worked as a live entity. Otherwise this film rules.

Found a Job is awesome in the film.

love the film. divorced of the visuals it's the live talking heads record that works best to sing along to emptyheadedly, which is admittedly not really what i want out of the talking heads nine/ten times i listen to them

Right now I'm trying to imagine the same thing done with Prince...

xpost: there is one called Prince - Sign o' the times that i have on vhs and it's outrageous!

i'm not a huge fan of the Heads' big band sound, so i guess i prefer the first half of stop making sense

The instrumental interplay in the last forty seconds of "Found a Job" -- the first and only time the original quartet play in the film -- is the definition of a confident groove.

Yeah, musically I prefer the Adrian Belew-era Heads, but Stop Making Sense is still one of the best concert films ever ... I think it captures perfectly the interplay of a great group of musicians -- not as easy a task as it might seem. You can't just point the camera and hit record. And I always find Byrne's lamp dance on This Must Be The Place weirdly touching.

I remember once seeing an interview with David Byrne talking about the film, and he mentioned specifically wanting black backing singers for it, and I thought "can you legally specify that you want backing singers of a particular ethnicity?".

Went to a screening of it once, everybody took a bathroom break at the same time. Poor Tom Tom Club!

gr8

It's super good (minus the TTC). I have a great DVD of the Heads live in Rome, with Belew, a TV broadcast, but it has this annoying habit of zooming in on, like, the vibrating bass drum head while Belew is soloing.

The only bitch about the DVD is that it doesn't include (as the VHS copy I still own does) "Cities" and "Big Business/I Zimbra" in their proper sequence.

but it has this annoying habit of zooming in on, like, the vibrating bass drum head
or zooming in on weymouth's ass

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51IZG6Ryeis

but it has this annoying habit of zooming in on, like, the vibrating bass drum head
or zooming in on weymouth's ass

I think Berlusconi shot this one

Yeah, that clip is a perfect example! It's almost as if Belew had it in his contract that they weren't allowed to depict any Belewtronics in action. And when in doubt, pan for flesh.

coupla months ago i was in a coffee shop next to zion np and there was a photocopy flyer for an adrian belew show somewhere near the middle of nowhere. rei style dude in front of me says "adrian blew is playing" answered by clone of guy "who the hell is adrian blew?" "no idea, sounds familiar tho." i then asked a friend of mine if he knew who adrian belew was and he said "no." ;_;

that clip is great! i think i have the audio of that show. man, what a fun band.

This movie is a prime example of the good influence of performance art on 1980s pop culture. The "Once in a Lifetime" chopping gestures are pure Robert Wilson; the whole night has such a deliberate structure, from solo to full band; the multimedia, especially the triptychs with "Naive Melody (This Must Be The Place)" reflect Laurie Anderson's United States Live.

My senior year of high school, the Uptown in Minneapolis showed this on Friday nights at midnight for a few months, and everyone was welcome to dance.

I was lucky enough to be in the audience when this was filmed at the Pantages. (I also saw them at the Pacific Amp. on this tour). A blue-ray version of the movie was just released in October and this might just push me into getting one.

The song 'Big Business', is there a studio recording of it?

It's on Byrne's score for The Catherine Wheel, his first (and best) solo album.

Didn't Toni Basil choreograph and co-direct the "Once in a Lifetime" video? Who choreographed/staged "Stop Making Sense?" It's all too rare when a major act actually stages (with a capital "S") a show. Peter Gabriel had Robert Lepage do it for him in '93, and that show sure looked cool.

thanks xp

http://www.youtube.com/v/dE-mxVxFXLg

hmm dunno why that didn't embed correctly...?

it is amazing

yeah i love it.

also great, from 2 years previous:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JswceATzBHU

for anyone who cares the whole never-repeated-and-unavailable-on-dvd-or-vhs film 'once in a lifetime' made for channel 4 UK telly is also up on You Tube in full.
from user http://www.youtube.com/user/33threekings

much as i love them i never quite understand how they got so big so fast, like i mean WEMBLEY big.

whoah totally don't recognize that song - was there ever a studio version of that?

It's on The Catherine Wheel, which you should really buy, Shakey; it's Byrne's best solo album. The home of "Big Business" and "What A Day That Was."

much as i love them i never quite understand how they got so big so fast, like i mean WEMBLEY big.

The old-fashioned way: each album outsold its predecessor, until they scored a top ten single in 1983 and boom.

oh right! shit I have been on a huge Byrne/TH kick lately and completely forgot to dig that one up - thx for the reminder

this is my favourite movie i own. i think i've almost wept whilst watching it at points. it's when you realise that there are 9 people playing the most awesomahj, funkiest, tightest, most powerful music of the 80s AND dancing choreographically AND singing AND probably all high on all kinds of chalky substances. The bit when Byrne takes off and runs full pelt round the stage during the breakdown of (I think it's "Life During Wartime"), and just manages to get back and catch his breath before the big finale. The bit where he looks like Dracula waking up in "Swamp". The incredible mic-stand tricks. The jerky dance during "Psycho Killer". Fucking "Cross-Eyed And Painless".

Lots of people tell me that it's a flawed film because, I don't know, they say parts of it might be dubbed or edited. I don't listen to em.

btw, piscesx whatever you linked to, it wasn't "Once In A Lifetime", it was some house music

Lots of people tell me that it's a flawed film because, I don't know, they say parts of it might be dubbed or edited.

So how are other films made then?

this is my favourite movie i own. i think i've almost wept whilst watching it at points. it's when you realise that there are 9 people playing the most awesomahj, funkiest, tightest, most powerful music of the 80s AND dancing choreographically AND singing AND probably all high on all kinds of chalky substances.

I won't say it's my favorite movie, but when it's on it feels like my favorite movie.

it's definitely one of my favorite live movies.

even though it contains legwarmers

dog latin, the doc clips are in that users videos. scroll down.

btw, piscesx whatever you linked to, it wasn't "Once In A Lifetime", it was some house music

― village idiot (dog latin), Wednesday, 19 May 2010 22:37 (29 minutes ago) Bookmark

no that's the user who has the movie. u gotta search his files in the bit that says 'search' on the right then they all come up neatly.
or alternatively just search Talking Heads Wembley on You Tube.

Getting ready to see this at a free screening in a city park amphitheater!

have the best time! seeing this at the bagdad, dancing in the aisles and down at the front etc, was a high point of my portland tenure. unspeakably beautiful movie.

Best film of '84.

I saw this for the hundredth time 11 years ago at a beach screening. People took their shoes off and danced on the sand.

It was wonderful! The venue also hosts live music fairly often (the Lowrider Band--aka 4/5s of the surviving members of War--is appearing tomorrow) so got the audio pumped through a full concert P.A. which is really the only way to fly with something like this.

would love to see it through a concert PA, sounds amazing.

the Laserdisc is meant to have the best version of the soundtrack. anyone ever hear that?

any uk screenings we know of?

seems Leeds is the only one so far. check this

The Victoria Hall’s normal stall seating will be replaced with new festival-style seating especially for the occasion, to create a relaxed and celebratory atmosphere, and there will be a range of drinks from different vendors to choose from. Once in a Lifetime will feature the UK Premiere of a brand new digital print of the legendary Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense (1984)

http://www.leedsfilm.com/news/liff28-presents-lifetime/

sounds absolutely lovely although Leeds is a bit of a trek from where I'm standing. Hopefully they'll do something a bit further down south.

They've been screening this at SIFF Uptown in Seattle. Wife and I took a friend of ours to see it for the first time. Took about four songs until everyone was clapping and hollering, though the TTC sure put a temporary stop to things. Seeing this through a concert PA must be a revelation.

I would love to see a double feature with True Stories.

rewatched last night

big suit was not as big as i thought

DB apologises for wearing blackface in the self-interview on the DVD

https://www.stereogum.com/2096802/david-byrne-blackface-apology-stop-making-sense-promo-video/news/

I wonder what the clip was actually used for. EPKs? Maybe broadcast on MTV one night? I know I’d never heard of the clip before the DVD reissue of the film in the late 90s.

If the suit still fits… This year, we’re bringing Jonathan Demme’s groundbreaking 1984 Talking Heads concert film STOP MAKING SENSE (newly remastered in 4K!) back to theaters worldwide. #StopMakingSense2023 pic.twitter.com/Kh2Nevaf2X

— A24 (@A24) March 16, 2023