Blast from the Past: Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense

Live albums are tricky a business. Whenever a band chooses to release one you have to really look and see why they are choosing to release a record recorded when they played one night. Most of the time these records are used as a bookmark between albums or to keep a band's momentum going while they write and record their next record. Some labels use them to generate cheap sources of cash, after all it doesn't cost much to record a show that was already going to happen. And still some bands, like Phish or Pearl Jam, use them as a kind of souvenir for their rabid fan bases. Every once in a while there is a live album that actually manages to trump the recorded output of a band, but it's so rare and so wonderful when it happens.

Listening to the Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense, it's hard to feel that this isn't one of those classic albums that helped defined who the band was. Then it's not a live album in the truest sense because it is also a soundtrack to the concert movie of the same name. Hmmm a fine line to walk indeed but one worth traipsing nonetheless, especially when you consider that the album only features 9-songs that also appear in the movie. The other seven are meant by David Byrne to be a separate experience from seeing the movie.

If you ever did see Stop Making Sense the movie you probably already know that it is one of the finest concert films ever made. It displayed a band that was in the prime of their creative talents, mixing so much more then just punk and New Wave music, and putting on a show that leaves their audience begging for more. With back up singers, an expanded band, and Byrne's simple but wonderful on-stage sight gimmicks it is one of those shows that people lie and say they were at all the time.

The album shows off most of that, minus the sight gimmicks obviously, but it also shows off a deeper catalog then most people realize the Talking Heads have. Everyone knows their "big" hits, songs like "Once In A Lifetime" and "Burning Down The House" have become standards of rock radio for years, but there's so many more layers to this band that are worthy of exploring. Their gospel and soul influences make an appearance on a slew of songs. It's these songs that really set their live shows apart from other what other band's do on stage.

As much as I love Stop Making Sense you have to know that Talking Heads were terribly close to going overboard on the live albums. This was their second live release in a four year span with only one studio album coming in that span of time, and while that kind of output would be prolific these days it was thought of as a cash making gimmick at the time of its release. A lot of folks would argue that The Name of this Band Is Talking Heads was a much better and exciting live release and I would probably agree, but the visual element of Stop Making Sense is what really sets it apart.

There have been a few other extremely good live albums released throughout the history of pop music, but for whatever reason most of them are more or less disposable - Stop Making Sense is not one of those records.
Talking Heads - "Found A Job"
Talking Heads - "Burning Down The House"
Talking Heads - "Once In A Lifetime"
Talking Heads - "Take Me To The River"
Talking Heads - "Crosseyed And Painless"