Stop Making Sense

Stop Making Sense is a concert film of the Talking Heads, directed by Jonathan Demme. It was recorded in 1983 on three nights during a promotional tour for the album Speaking in Tongues. The film was produced the first fully digital audio technology.

General

The film differs in several respects from other rock concert recordings

  • Until the last song ( Crosseyed and Painless ) there are no direct recordings from the audience; the audience can only be seen in some close-ups and shots from the rear stage. In the commentary on the DVD, David Byrne justified this by saying that it should allow the viewer to form his own opinion about the performance of the band. This should hopefully coincide with that of the audience shown at the end.
  • Byrne did not light by colored lights musicians. This resulted in some unusual light effects while the individual songs.
  • Byrne wanted to have as little "noise" as possible on the stage. Water bottles were not allowed, and most props were painted in matt black to prevent reflections.

The leader uses a similar style as Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. In both films, Pablo Ferro was the designer of the leader. Also the trailer of the film alludes to Dr. Strangelove.

End of the concert

Lead singer Byrne takes the stage with a cassette recorder and an acoustic guitar and announces his intention to play a tape. While it seems as would the rhythmic accompaniment to Psycho Killer by this band, it was actually played by a drum machine through the mixer.

One after another step on Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison. Talking Heads are supported in the sequence of other musicians: the background singers Ednah Holt and Lynn Mabry, keyboardist Bernie Worrell, percussionist Steve Scales, and guitarist Alex Weir. The first song that is played by all musicians, Burning Down The House. Byrne leaves the stage and the rest of the cast plays as Tom Tom Club Genius Of Love the song.

It is also noteworthy Byrnes "Big Suit", an absurdly oversized suit he wears in the later part of the concert. This suit is partly inspired by Japanese Noh theater and was not only for Byrne but for the entire film a trademark.

Awards

1985 Stop Making Sense was awarded the Award of the National Society of Film Critics Best Documentary.

Reviews

  • Der Spiegel, 46/1984: Apparently sober, without the usual intermediate sections on cheering audience without disturbing backstage sidelights and boring musician interviews, he is holding in the picture and sound firmly brilliant, what happens on stage.
  • Lexicon of international film: The live performance is captured sensitively and to the point and straightforward but technically perfect. The band offers exceptional musical range, sweeping dynamism and boisterous parody joke. For fans of rock music all around recommendable.

Publications

The version of Once in a Lifetime from the film was released as a single and used in the opening credits of Down and Out in Beverly Hills. In Europe, moreover, Slippery People was very successful and was released in 1991 on a Greatest Hits album.

For the first release on video, the song I Zimbra, Big Business and Cities have been restored and brought as a "Special Edition " on the market. In the edition of 1999, these songs were no longer included. Subsequent video and DVD release they contained again in unrestored version following the film.

In 2009 they had a " remastered " version in high definition ( Picture & Sound ) on Blu -ray.

Soundtrack album

The soundtrack album was originally released in 1984 and contained only 9, for some heavily treated, songs. In 1999, the album was released again, this time with all the songs and only low post.

Songs

(* On the album from 1984 is not included. )

1984 in film Screenplay Film score Jordan Cronenweth Once in a Lifetime (Talking Heads song) Married to the Mob Philadelphia (Film) Beloved (film) Rachel Getting Married
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