grantss Brilliant - one of the greatest ever concert films.A Talking Heads concert from 1984, recorded at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. We have the band - David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Jerry Harrison and Chris Frantz - plus several very talented backing singers and musicians. The Talking Heads offshoot, the Tom Tom Club (Weymouth and Franz, plus backing musicians), also performs a few songs.This is Talking Heads at their peak, creativity-wise and popularity- wise. Incredible concert - the band seemed to be having a whole lot of fun and the music is fantastic. There is also the stage theatrics, largely by frontman David Byrne, and these amount to performance art.The only concert films that surpass this, I think, are The Band's The Last Waltz and the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration.

Richard_vmt I rented this disk from netflix by what process of selection I forgot and almost did not play it. I expected "talking head" interviews. I thought it would be a talking head film about the Talking Heads. I also do not readily mix with music videos. So I was pleasantly surprised when I played the disk I found it was all music, no talk. I suddenly realized what a huge Talking Heads fan I have been all along. Talking Heads came along for me mostly on radio and here I see that every single song which they sing here was a smash hit. It is wall to wall music. By "they" I am thinking mostly (exclusively) of the scrumptious Tina Wheymouth, everyone's perfect, clean and dainty high school crush. David Byrne alone by himself got me to thinking any natural singing talent must be inconsequential compared to the energy that goes into it. It is the drive to produce which is remarkable. The ectomorphic Byrne really puts his entire nervous system into the song and with video we see as well as hear it. The choreography is as amazing as the music. Byrne is a sort of magician.If you like Talking Heads music to start with, you will love this film. This will be a disk you wish to own as part of your music collection.As for making sense, it almost does, leaving me a bit worried about what I might be getting into, should the lights come up. Such are the dangers of listening to rock n roll.

miloc At the beginning of the greatest concert movie ever made, we follow a pair of sneakered feet to down center of an empty stage. A voice says "I've got a tape I want to play." We pan up to a thin, nervous-looking man with an acoustic guitar and a boom box. The box starts playing a beat. The man's hand hits a jangling chord. And for the next hour and a half, as the scenery slowly builds around this skinny misfit, we sit transported.Talking Heads were unquestionably a seminal band in the New York punk/new wave scene. Yet before seeing this film I had little idea of who they were, and even after seeing it I would not necessarily put them on a top ten list. Nonetheless, through a combination of front man David Byrne's charisma and stagecraft, Jonathan Demme's taut, precise filmmaking, and the infectious heat of the music, Stop Making Sense remains the most enthralling and sheerly entertaining rockshow ever. The keening melancholy of "Heaven", the stripped-down mystery of "Once in a Lifetime", the dark funk of "Girlfriend is Better" -- there's simply no duds here. And Byrne works his butt off. He seems to have energy to spare; during one number he simply jogs circles around the stage, as though he needs further exercise. His teammates Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, and (eventually) a host of backup singers and musicians click into that energy without a stumble.This isn't raw work-- clearly this is a conceived film, with defined emotional beats and even a sort of intuitive narrative. And like any band, Talking Heads have a specific sound and style that (I suppose) won't appeal to everyone. But who? I've shown this film to at least three people who never heard of the band before (except through dim memory of early MTV), and even claimed to hate concert movies-- and then they went and bought the soundtrack.What can I further say? This is a record of performance that cannot be matched. If you like music, at all, clear a little time and watch this movie. I can't promise you won't be disappointed, but I cannot easily imagine how.

terihu To be perfectly honest, I was not a Talking Heads fan before this I saw this. A friend had to drag me to see it when it came out. But it totally blew me away! I wound up being totally obsessed with TH after I saw Stop Making Sense, so I don't think it's just for fans at all, it made me a fan.The thing about SMS is that it's just pure music, and pure joy. No filler: interviews with the band members backstage, crowd shots, spliced segments of music videos, blah blah blah. If you love a band's music, why bother with the other crap? It's just drama (which there was plenty of on this tour, apparently, if you read the interviews).David Byrne is such a freak, and his unadulterated joy at being able to BE a freak on stage and get paid for it is infectious. This is a show for every self-conscious teen who felt like shrinking into his chair during class, but who busts out dancing in the privacy of his bedroom.