Stop Making Sense

This album was originally recorded for the movie. I have it on DVD and watched it many times as it is one of the greatest live registrations and an easy five star choice. But having only the audio, you are missing so much of the fun. The strange large suits of David Byrne, his absurd dancing and deliverance. That’s why live albums are not the best option (and these are also “kind of best of”-abums, so cheating). Speaking in Tongues or Little Ceatures would gave been a better choice.

Dang, I loved this! This is where you should start when listening to the Talking Heads.

Live Album and Movie Soundtrack. A double whammy in my book... but it's Talking Heads. If you haven't seen the movie, do yourself a favor.

live album.................

This is the epitome of a concert movie. I could even replace this with one of the studio albums on the regular list. And since there's live albums on the list, this deserves a spot. When I first watched this, I liked some Talking Heads hits, but wouldn't call myself a fan, and I was absolutely hooked through the whole movie.

Hmmm reading about this it sounds like there's a good case to be made to add this to the list. I’d agree with that. Terrific!

An amazing set of live recordings by a band I really love. Although it doesn't quite convey a single live performance (which I dont think is really its intention anyway), it has everything else I could hope for from a live album: true live performance energy, almost every version measuring up to the studio versions (or more), but with fresh perspective. Rare five star live album in my book.

Oh bless you, it's my favorite live album, from one of the best concert films ever made. Now, this is an album that listens beautifully on its own without your ever needing to see the film. There isn't a song on here for the most part that doesn't at least match the quality of the studio version, if not outshine it. This is all gold here. The sound is vibrant, funky, highly energetic, and effortlessly cool. If I could do without one song, it would be Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth's "Genius of Love," which is fun to watch in the film, but musically just sticks out like a sore thumb against the rest of the album. An aspect of this album I'd like to mention that is subtle if you're listening for the first time without seeing the film is how the band gradually comes to the stage over the first several songs - first David Byrne alone with a beatbox, then Tina Weymouth, then Chris Frantz, then Jerry Harrison, and so on. It's such a lovely metaphor for how each individual brings their own contributions to the totality of the sound, which the band assembles brick by brick with the addition of each performer. Although I love every song, I find my favorites are the ones where the whole band is together. If you haven't seen the film yet, you really need to. It's on YouTube, I mean it, go. Fave Songs (All songs, from most to least favorite, Film/Special New Edition): Girlfriend Is Better, Slippery People, Once in a Lifetime, Life During Wartime, Burning Down the House, Making Flippy Floppy, This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody), Take Me to the River, Crosseyed and Painless, What a Day That Was, Swamp, Thank You for Sending Me an Angel, Found a Job, Psycho Killer, Heaven

Perfect. No notes. One of Jonathan Demme's best films, to boot.

Greatest live album of all time? Yeah probably

I didn't relisten for this because I'd rather just watch the documentary again whenever I feel like it. I already know this is one of if not the best live album ever

The pinnacle of live albums. It loses a bit of its impact by being removed from the iconic visuals of Demme’s film, but it’s still a timeless classic. Not sure why anyone bothers playing live music after this

Cool live album

Hard to listen to.

Most live albums are bad, but some are great and this is definitely the later. Inevitably, the music on this album will be affected by the concert movie shot by Johnathon Demme. However, listening to it on it's own, it's really solid with a ton of great versions of songs from their incredibly deep catalogue 4/5

One of the great live albums of all time. Surprised this wasn't on the original list. 4 stars.

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Psycho killer, Burning down the house, Once in a lifetime, Girlfriend is better

OK, a friend of mine really loves this live record and for him it is THE essential Talking Heads album, and not any of the studio LPs. I get why this is the case for so many people, yet I suspect that it also allows the latter to have a "best of" record on their shelves which looks far cooler than that. And those fans are most often casual fans, are they not? Besides, and to put it in a nutshell, I have never found the versions of those famous songs from the NYC band's discography particularly mind-blowing in their arrangements and instrumentation -- at least generally speaking. It's still excellent material, of course, and it documents some live footage that is a must-see. But for me, it looks like *Stop Making Sense* rather belongs to a book named *The 1001 *musical DVDs /* You Must Watch Before You Die*. 3.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 4. 8.5/10 for more general purposes (5+3.5) Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 14 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 28 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 51 (including this one) ---- Émile ! J'ai répondu à ton message. Regarde environ douze reviews au dessus ! Pas de nouvelle réponse de ta part, mais c'est pas un souci, je compte juste vérifier toutes les deux semaines environ. On est pas aux pièces, comme on dit sur le vieux continent. 😀

Great document of what is generally considered to be one of the best live performances out there. Loses a bit of definition without having the visual element (the big suits are carrying a lot of the show on those shoulders), so it may feel a bit flat to those who have seen the movie first, but still an excellent Talking Heads introduction with some great cuts and amazing performances.

New wave, post-punk. Ni fu ni fa.

Talking Heads really were one of the coolest bands to ever do it. This live album is actually really great. Especially in a world where most live albums are usually sub par. This has so much electricity and sounds great. One of the few live albums I’d actually hear again. 7.2/10

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