gift of tongues

Speaking in Tongues
Studio album by Talking Heads
Released	May 31, 1983
Recorded	Blank Tapes, NY Compass Point Studios Sigma Sound July 1982–February 1983
Genre	New Wave / Art punk
Length	46:50
Label	Sire
Producer	Talking Heads
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Robert Christgau (A-) link Rolling Stone link
Talking Heads chronology
The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads (1982) Speaking in Tongues (1983) Stop Making Sense (1984)

Speaking in Tongues (rendered on the album cover as SP EAK IN GI N TO NGU ES) is the fifth studio album by the band Talking Heads, released in 1983.

The album was a commercial breakthrough that produced the band's first (and only) American Top 10 hit, "Burning Down the House". A striking video was frequently broadcast during the song's chart run. ^[1]The following tour was documented in Jonathan Demme's Stop Making Sense, which generated another live album of the same name. (The concert film and live album's title comes from the repeated phrase "Stop making sense!" during the song Girlfriend is Better.) In addition, all cuts on the "Speaking in Tongues" album crossed over to the dance charts, peaking at number two for six weeks ^[2].

The album was re-released in February 2006 as a remastered Dualdisc. The CD side includes two additional tracks ("Two Note Swivel" and an alternate mix of "Burning Down the House"). The DVD-A side includes both stereo and 5.1 surround high resolution (96 kHz/24bit) mixes, as well as a Dolby Digital 5.1 version of the album, a new alternate version of "Burning Down the House" with the emphasis on experimenting the possibilities of surround sound and videos for "Burning Down the House" and "This Must Be the Place" (videos are two channel Dolby Digital only). In Europe, it was released as a CD+DVDA two disc set rather than a single DualDisc. The reissue was produced by Andy Zax with Talking Heads.

David Byrne did the cover for the general release of the album. Artist Robert Rauschenberg won a Grammy Award for his work on the limited-edition album, which featured a clear disc along with three clear plastic discs printed with similar collages in three different colors.

Byrne has said, as a partial explanation of the album's title, "I originally sang nonsense, and uh, made words to fit that. That worked out all right." ^[3]

Track listing

All lyrics were written by David Byrne. All music by Talking Heads.

Side one

1. "Burning Down the House" – 4:00
2. "Making Flippy Floppy" – 4:36
3. "Girlfriend Is Better" – 4:25
4. "Slippery People" – 3:30
5. "I Get Wild/Wild Gravity" – 4:06

Side two

1. "Swamp" – 5:09
2. "Moon Rocks" – 5:04
3. "Pull Up the Roots" – 5:08
4. "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" – 4:56

2006 DualDisc reissue previously unreleased bonus tracks

10. "Two Note Swivel"
11. "Burning Down the House" (Alternate Version)

Personnel

Talking Heads

• David Byrne – vocals, keyboards, guitars, bass, percussion
• Chris Frantz – drums, backing vocals, synthesizer
• Jerry Harrison – keyboards, guitar, backing vocals
• Tina Weymouth – synthesizer and string bass, backing vocals, guitar

Additional musicians

• Wally Badarou – synthesizer
• Raphael DeJesus – percussion
• Nona Hendryx – backing vocals
• Richard Landry – saxophone
• Dolette McDonald – backing vocals
• Steve Scales – percussion
• Shankar – violin
• David Van Tieghem – percussion
• Alex Weir – guitar
• Bernie Worrell – synthesizer

Recording personnel

• John Convertino – assistant engineer
• Franklin Gibson – assistant overdubbing engineers, mixing
• Ted Jensen – mastering
• Butch Jones – engineer
• Jay Mark – assistant overdubbing engineers, mixing
• Alex Sadkin – overdubbing engineer, mixing

Chart performance

Album

Singles

References

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