Full Concert on Deluxe Double Black Vinyl LP

The inspiration for Stop Making Sense came when director Jonathan Demme saw the Talking Heads on the band’s 1983 tour for Speaking In Tongues. Demme ultimately filmed three shows at Hollywood’s Pantages Theater in December 1983 to create the film, Stop Making Sense.

The concert film presents a retrospective of the band, with a performance that weaves together songs from all six of its studio albums. The show progresses methodically, opening with David Byrne onstage performing “Psycho Killer” alone with a drum machine. After each song, he’s joined by a new band member, continuing to grow until everyone is on stage. The band performs a total of 18 songs, including “Burning Down The House,” which was in heavy rotation on radio and MTV — helping the song become the band’s first top 10 hit in America.

A different song from Speaking In Tongues, however, was destined to deliver one of the film’s signature moments: Byrne performed “Girlfriend Is Better” wearing his now iconic, oversized business suit inspired by costumes worn in traditional Japanese theater. For good measure, a picture of him in the suit also graces the album cover.

Stop Making Sense focuses mainly on music by Talking Heads, but also includes a few songs recorded by others: “Genius Of Love” by Tom Tom Club (Weymouth and Frantz’s side-project), and “What A Day That Was” and “Big Business” from Byrne’s 1981 album, The Catherine Wheel.

While the film had people dancing in theatre aisles, the soundtrack sold over 2 million copies. In 2022, the Library of Congress added Stop Making Sense to the National Film Registry in recognition of its cultural, historical and aesthetic significance.

This new deluxe edition presents the Stop Making Sense full concert for the first time ever on vinyl. Includes a reproduction of the original booklet from the 1984 limited-edition pressing with additional pages and never before seen photos. Also includes brand new liner notes written by Chris, David, Jerry and Tina. The release includes previously unreleased tracks “Cities” and “Big Business/I Zimbra.”

Released: 8/18/23