So I bought this DVD today with high expectations, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. Audio was superb, and video was more than I could expect from 1983. Throughout the entire film, I was amazed at David Byrne’s stage presence. He didn’t stop moving for a second, for better or for worse. He was always communicating with his band members, spazzing out, or just having a good time in general. The band was fantastic as well. Each member had his or her individual style, and tried his or her best to entertain the audience.
While Talking Heads couldn’t mesmerize me with style, they certainly kept my attention from energy alone. I highly recommend this DVD to everyone.
This’ll probably find its way to Cafe Society before too long.
Yeah, definitely one of my favorite concert videos ever. I love the way in which the band and the set kind of grow from nothing but Byrne and a tape deck in the beginning, to the 9 (?) person ensemble at the end. Visually fascinating as well as great to listen to.
Yeah, that was great. It’s as if they said, "Hey, that whole rock band entrance with the screaming fans is kind of cliche. Let’s figure out how not to do that.
The mostly acoustic solo version of “Psycho Killer” makes a great opening song.
The anticipation of this movie coming on DVD is the reason that I first bought a DVD player to begin with. The sound is great, but there is one problem with the movie. On the VHS version Big Business/ I Zimbra (my favourite song in the movie) is positioned where it should be, but it was an extra track on the DVD.
I love this DVD. As said before, the version of Psycho Killer which starts with “I have a tape I want to play you”…or something like that, is wonderful. I’ll often put in the DVD just for that song. But the rest is great as well, David Byrne is amazing, as is there rest of the band.
I’ve been going through a Stop Making Sense phase lately, but I don’t have the DVD, just the special edition soundtrack with all of the songs in the movie in order (as opposed to the first release, which omitted “Heaven”, “This Must Be the Place”, “Crosseyed and Painless”, and a couple more songs). The DVD’s on my wish list, however.
But I think the point is that, in order to stay true to the theatrical version of the film (as is common with DVDs), those numbers were excised. In fact, you’ll notice that the aspect ratios are different–the two add-ons are in full screen, while the rest of the film has been letterboxed.
From an interview of him I saw (sorry, don’t remember when or where), he got the idea for the big suit from Kabuki theater. He thought that in a large concert with thousands of fans, everything had to be big to be significant.
I wore out two successive LPs of this concert way back in the '80s. It was definitely one of my all-time favourite concert albums. And yet I’d never had the opportunity to see the movie until a couple of years ago when the DVD was finally released.
I had no idea how much of a stage presence David Byrne was. Absolutely mesmerizing.
I can see where what I said is confusing. Yes, the aspect ratio is different, why is that? Presumably, everything was shot in the same manner for the 3 or 4 shows that were filmed. Is letterboxing done after the fact? I have no idea how that works. Perhaps the VHS version is more of a directors cut, it really flows a little better. If you look at the theatrical release as kind of a promo for Speaking in Tongues it starts making sense , since the other song removed was Cities which was sandwiched between two SiT songs; Slippery People and Burning Down the House.
Big Business / I Zimbra is a great number and when I first saw it on the VHS version I wondered how the left it out of the movie, that song just always gets me on my feet. I’m still pissed because it and Cities are the only songs missing from the re-release of the CD.
