Speaking in Tongues (Talking Heads album)

Speaking in Tongues
Studio album by Talking Heads
Released June 1, 1983
Recorded July 1982–February 1983,
basic tracks recorded at
Blank Tape Studios[1] in NYC;
additional recording & mixing at
Compass Point Studios in Nassau
Sigma Sound Studios in Manhattan
Genre Funk
Length 40:50 LP
47:14 Cassette/CD
Label Sire
Producer Talking Heads
Talking Heads chronology
The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads
(1982)		 Speaking in Tongues
(1983)		 Stop Making Sense
(1984)
Singles from Speaking in Tongues
  1. "Burning Down the House"
    Released: 1983
  2. "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)"
    Released: 1983

Speaking in Tongues is the fifth studio album by the band Talking Heads, released in 1983. The album was a commercial breakthrough that produced the band's first (and only) American Top 10 hit, "Burning Down the House", which was accompanied by a promotional video.

The album's tour was documented in Jonathan Demme's film Stop Making Sense, which generated a live album of the same name. (The concert film and live album's title comes from the repeated phrase "Stop making sense!" during the song "Girlfriend Is Better".) In addition, the album crossed over to the dance charts where it peaked at number two for six weeks.[2] It is also the group's highest-charting album on the American Billboard 200.

Cover art

David Byrne designed the cover for the general release of the album. Artist Robert Rauschenberg won a Grammy Award for his work on the limited-edition LP version. This album featured a clear vinyl disc in clear plastic packaging along with three clear plastic discs printed with similar collages in three different colors.

Release

Original cassette and later CD copies of the album have "extended versions" of "Making Flippy Floppy", "Girlfriend Is Better", "Slippery People", "I Get Wild/Wild Gravity" and "Moon Rocks". The album was re-released in February 2006 as a remastered DualDisc. It contains the extended versions of the songs found on the original cassette, and includes two additional tracks ("Two Note Swivel" and an alternate mix of "Burning Down the House"). The DVD-A side includes both stereo and 5.1 surround high resolution (96 kHz/24bit) mixes, as well as a Dolby Digital 5.1 version of the album, a new alternate version of "Burning Down the House" with the emphasis on experimenting with the possibilities of surround sound, and videos for "Burning Down the House" and "This Must Be the Place" (videos are two-channel Dolby Digital only). In Europe it was released as a CD+DVDA two-disc set rather than a single DualDisc. The reissue was produced by Andy Zax with Talking Heads.

Byrne has said, as a partial explanation of the album's title, "I originally sang nonsense, and uh, made words to fit that. That worked out all right."[3]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Chicago Tribune[5]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[6]
Rolling Stone[7]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[8]
Smash Hits9/10[9]
The Village VoiceA−[10]

Rolling Stone's David Fricke lauded the album's crossover nature, calling it "the album that finally obliterates the thin line separating arty white pop music and deep black funk." He elaborated that the songs are all true art rock, with the complexity and sophistication of the genre, yet avoid art rock's characteristic pretensions with a laid-back attitude and compelling dance rhythms, making it an ideal party album.[7]

In 1989 the album was ranked number 54 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 best albums of the 1980s".[11] In 2012 Slant Magazine listed the album at number 89 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s".[12]

Track listing

All lyrics written by David Byrne, all music composed by Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison and Tina Weymouth.

Side one
  1. "Burning Down the House" – 4:01
  2. "Making Flippy Floppy" – 4:34
  3. "Girlfriend Is Better" – 4:22
  4. "Slippery People" – 3:31
  5. "I Get Wild/Wild Gravity" – 4:07
Side two
  1. "Swamp" – 5:12
  2. "Moon Rocks" – 5:03
  3. "Pull Up the Roots" – 5:08
  4. "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" – 4:53

Cassette/CD versions

  1. "Burning Down the House" – 4:01
  2. "Making Flippy Floppy" (extended version) – 5:54
  3. "Girlfriend Is Better" (extended version) – 5:44
  4. "Slippery People" (extended version) – 5:05
  5. "I Get Wild/Wild Gravity" (extended version) – 5:15
  6. "Swamp" – 5:12
  7. "Moon Rocks" (extended version) – 5:44
  8. "Pull Up the Roots" – 5:08
  9. "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" – 4:53

2006 DualDisc reissue bonus tracks

  1. "Two Note Swivel" (unfinished outtake) – 5:51
  2. "Burning Down the House" (alternate version) – 5:09

Personnel

Speaking in Tongues limited edition cover designed by Robert Rauschenberg

Talking Heads

Additional musicians

Recording personnel

Chart performance

Album
Year Chart Position
1983 Billboard 200 15
Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums 58
Billboard Club Play Singles (All LP Cuts) 2
UK Albums 21
Singles
Year Song Peak
US UK
1983 "Burning Down the House" 9 —
"This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" 62 51

References

  1. ↑ Discogs - Blank Tape Studios - profile and discography
  2. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco: 1974-2003. Record Research. p. 253.
  3. ↑ YouTube - David Byrne on Late Night with David Letterman (1983)
  4. ↑ Ruhlmann, William. "Speaking in Tongues – Talking Heads". AllMusic. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  5. ↑ Kot, Greg (May 6, 1990). "Talking Heads On The Record". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 8, 2015.
  6. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-857-12595-8.
  7. 1 2 Fricke, David (June 9, 1983). "Talking Heads' Arty Party". Rolling Stone (397): 53–54. Retrieved February 4, 2016. Note: The online version of the review retains most of the text of the original print edition, but omits the title.
  8. ↑ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-743-20169-8.
  9. ↑ Steels, Mark (23 June – 6 July 1983). "Talking Heads: Speaking In Tongues (Sire)". Smash Hits: 13.
  10. ↑ Christgau, Robert (September 27, 1983). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  11. ↑ "100 Best Albums of the Eighties". Rolling Stone. November 16, 1989.
  12. ↑ http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/feature/best-albums-of-the-1980s/308/page_2

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