Stop Making Sense

Stop Making Sense
Soundtrack by Talking Heads
Released	October 15, 1984 (1984-10-15)
Recorded	December 1983 (1983-12) at The Pantages Theatre, Hollywood
Genre	Post-punk, New wave
Length	39:37 (original) 46:27 (cassette and CD) 74:27 (1999 "Special New Edition")
Label	Sire
Producer	Gary Goetzman
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Allmusic link (Special Edition re-release) Robert Christgau (B+) link Rolling Stone link
Talking Heads chronology
Speaking in Tongues (1983) Stop Making Sense (1984) Little Creatures (1985)
Singles from Stop Making Sense
"Once in a Lifetime" Released: February 1984 (1984-02) "Slippery People" Released: October 1984 (1984-10) "Girlfriend Is Better" Released: December 1984 (1984-12)
1999 Re-release cover
"Special New Edition"

Stop Making Sense is a live 1984 album by Talking Heads, the soundtrack to the film of the same name. The album features only nine of the songs from the movie, many of them heavily edited. The album spent over two years (118 weeks) on the Billboard 200 chart.

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. The newly included tracks feature Frantz's original drumming from the concert recordings. In 2003, the album was ranked number 345 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Track listing

All songs written by David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth except as noted.^[1]

Side one

1. "Psycho Killer" (Byrne, Frantz, Weymouth) – 4:28
2. "Swamp" – 3:50 (LP) 4:28 (cassette, CD)
3. "Slippery People" – 3:35 (LP) 4:13 (different mix; cassette, CD)
4. "Burning Down the House" – 4:14
5. "Girlfriend Is Better" – 3:32 (LP) 5:07 (cassette, CD)

Side two

1. "Once in a Lifetime" (Byrne, Brian Eno, Frantz, Harrison, Weymouth) – 4:34 (LP) 5:34 (cassette, CD)
2. "What a Day That Was" (Byrne) – 5:08 (LP) 6:30 (cassette, CD)
3. "Life During Wartime" – 4:52 (LP) 5:52 (cassette, CD)
4. "Take Me to the River" (Al Green, Teenie Hodges) – 5:59

Film/Special New Edition Soundtrack

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.

1. "Psycho Killer" (Byrne, Frantz, Weymouth) – 4:24
2. "Heaven" (Byrne, Harrison) – 3:41
3. "Thank You for Sending Me an Angel" (Byrne) – 2:09
4. "Found a Job" (Byrne) – 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" (Byrne) – 6:00
11. "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" – 4:57
12. "Once in a Lifetime" (Byrne, Eno, Frantz, Harrison, Weymouth) – 5:25
13. "Genius of Love" (Weymouth, Frantz, Adrian Belew, Steven Stanley) (performed by Tom Tom Club) – 4:30
14. "Girlfriend Is Better" – 5:06
15. "Take Me to the River" (Green, Hodges) – 5:32
16. "Crosseyed and Painless" (Byrne, Eno, Frantz, Harrison, Weymouth) – 6:11

Personnel

• David Byrne – guitar, vocals
• Chris Frantz – drums, vocals
• Jerry Harrison – guitar, keyboards, vocals
• Tina Weymouth – bass, keyboards, vocals

Additional personnel

• Bernie Worrell – keyboards
• Alex Weir – guitar, vocals
• Steve Scales – percussion
• Ednah Holt – backing vocals
• Lynn Mabry – backing vocals

Charts

Album

Certifications

References