Stop Making Sense....

sirhrmechanic

sirhrmechanic

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Feb 23, 2010
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The Snobbiest Town in The Snobbiest State in the N
#1
So the classic Talking Heads concert film has been remastered... and is on cable or satellite or whatever!

It's amazing... as was the original. Probably the greatest 'rockumentary' or concert film ever made.

Wish I'd seen then in concert. By the time I 'discovered' Talking Heads in the late 1980's... they'd basically broken up.

If I had a time machine, one of the places I'd go is CBGB in the late 1970's.

If you are looking for a couple of hours of great music and videos... Stop Making Sense is awesome!

Big suit guy.... epic!

Cheers,

Sirhr
 
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#2
We watched it here, a few years ago. I've been to a number of concerts in my lifetime, but none started out quite like this one.

The stage is completely black.

David stands at the front/center/edge of the stage, sets down a ghetto-blaster, plugs in a cassette tape, starts playing a 'beat', and says "I have a song here that I'd like you to hear".

Alone, he plays/sings through the song. Then another band member comes out, and the two play a song.

At the end of each song, another band member comes out, and they just continue. Again and again.

This guy must use cocaine simply to slow down and take a breather.

Absolutely fabulous concert, done VERY well, and each song just gets better and better.

(edited to fix the name, I got them mixed up)
 
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#4
I never got to see them live either, but I was a music-head from about 15-35 or 40. I saw the original Stop Making Sense at a good theater in DC, don't recall which. But the sound in that theater was good and it was almost as good as being live.

The opener with Byrne, the Big Suit, the boombox is pretty good, especially when you know what a nervous shy geek Byrne is / was. Kind of hard to imagine him tolerating being up in front of crowds very often.

Adrian Belew, who played with T Heads in Remain in Light recording sessions, some of Fear of Music sessions too -- he's a wild guitarist. I saw King Crimson in '84 live, Belew was on fire at that show.

It's interesting to watch interviews with the T Heads people, from back then, and more currently -- see their personalities. Only Tina Weymouth, Washington Post heiress and prep school lassie, was a bit outgoing. The others were quiet nerds.

If I had a time machine, one of the places I'd go is CBGB in the late 1970's.

sirhrmechanic -- in the 2d half of the 1990s, I had a lousy work too much job and most of my weekends were organized around live music in NYC, small venues. I saw a lot of great shows at The Mercury Lounge in lower Manhattan/Battery Park (Alejandro Escovedo, Richard Buckner, Cheri Knight, Marah) and at Maxwell's in Hoboken NJ (too many to list). The late 90s was a good era in NYC. Early 90s I lived in Baltimore MD and saw a lot of good shows in Fells Point, at the 8x10 or at Max's on Broadway, and a few at 9:30 Club and The Black Cat in DC. Also saw some really good stuff at the Birchmere in Alexandria VA. 90s was pretty good, mid-Atlantic region.
 
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#5
Sean the Nailer said:
We watched it here, a few years ago. I've been to a number of concerts in my lifetime, but none started out quite like this one.

The stage is completely black.

Bryan stands at the front/center/edge of the stage, sets down a ghetto-blaster, plugs in a cassette tape, starts playing a 'beat', and says "I have a song here that I'd like you to hear".

Alone, he plays/sings through the song. Then another band member comes out, and the two play a song.

At the end of each song, another band member comes out, and they just continue. Again and again.

This guy must use cocaine simply to slow down and take a breather.

Absolutely fabulous concert, done VERY well, and each song just gets better and better.
Click to expand...
I need to try and see it.

On a similar note, but off topic artist, I saw “Rust Never Sleeps” movie in early ‘80s. Now, I realize that Neil is a flaming globalist, but from a production and musical standpoint, the movie is awesome. Similar concept to the Talking Heads concert, done well and well before them.
 
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#6
flogxal said:
I never got to see them live either, but I was a music-head from about 15-35 or 40. I saw the original Stop Making Sense at a good theater in DC, don't recall which. But the sound in that theater was good and it was almost as good as being live.

The opener with Byrne, the Big Suit, the boombox is pretty good, especially when you know what a nervous shy geek Byrne is / was. Kind of hard to imagine him tolerating being up in front of crowds very often.

Adrian Belew, who played with T Heads in Remain in Light recording sessions, some of Fear of Music sessions too -- he's a wild guitarist. I saw King Crimson in '84 live, Belew was on fire at that show.

It's interesting to watch interviews with the T Heads people, from back then, and more currently -- see their personalities. Only Tina Weymouth, Washington Post heiress and prep school lassie, was a bit outgoing. The others were quiet nerds.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I was a big fan of Adrian Belew back in the day and enjoyed reading interviews with him. TH sound is as much coming from him as it is from David's eclectic art sense.
 
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#7
sirhrmechanic said:
So the classic Talking Heads concert film has been remastered... and is on cable or satellite or whatever!

It's amazing... as was the original. Probably the greatest 'rockumentary' or concert film ever made.

Wish I'd seen then in concert. By the time I 'discovered' Talking Heads in the late 1980's... they'd basically broken up.

If I had a time machine, one of the places I'd go is CBGB in the late 1970's.

If you are looking for a couple of hours of great music and videos... Stop Making Sense is awesome!

Big suit guy.... epic!

Cheers,

Sirhr
Click to expand...
They were certainly cool but I think the very best rockumentary is The Last Waltz that Scorsese made. Check it out.
 
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#11
AmmoFort said:
I'm 46, and this is all kinda before my time. But this thread has got me wondering how many times I've started talking about something and a younger guy sits there thinking, "this must be some sort of old guy shit." :LOL: Carry on.
Click to expand...
Parents weren't into rock music? I knew what mine listened to and the ones with longer careers or airplay were artists I listened to or even saw live; The Who, Rolling Stones, ZZ Top as generational examples.
 
#12
slfig1.jpg
 
#13
6.5SH said:
Parents weren't into rock music? I knew what mine listened to and the ones with longer careers or airplay were artists I listened to or even saw live; The Who, Rolling Stones, ZZ Top as generational examples.
Click to expand...
Parents were divorced and I grew up with my Mom who was a self proclaimed hippie chick.
 
#16
Baron23 said:
They were certainly cool but I think the very best rockumentary is The Last Waltz that Scorsese made. Check it out.
Click to expand...
I've seen The Last Waltz many times... including on big screen at a repertory theater. It is amazing.

But it's also all about... Martin Scorsese. Yes, it's about The Band. Sort of. But really was Scorsese being Scorsese. The whole concert was so scripted to make a film epic that it was... really a film epic.

Good? Yeah. Great!

But Stop Making Sense was filmed over three nights and put together. It wasn't scripted beyond what The Talking Heads were doing in their concert. And is much more 'real' looking.

Whichever is 'first...' they are both in the top two! ;-) And don't count out "Woodstock" the movie. Yes, hippie trash everywhere. But damn that was some music.

And then there was Gimme Shelter... the Rolling Stones concert film that includes the killing of a spectator by the Hells Angels during the concert. IIRC, the Hells Angels were hired for security and paid in beer. And things got out of hand. It may have been urban legend, but supposedly Mick Jagger or some band member(s) had prices on their heads from the Angels after they got thrown under the bus.

If there is a top three... Gimme Shelter probably goes in that trio! I havent' seen it since the 1980's... but probably need to watch it again!

Cheers,

Sirhr
 
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#18
sirhrmechanic said:
I've seen The Last Waltz many times... including on big screen at a repertory theater. It is amazing.

But it's also all about... Martin Scorsese. Yes, it's about The Band. Sort of. But really was Scorsese being Scorsese. The whole concert was so scripted to make a film epic that it was... really a film epic.

Good? Yeah. Great!

But Stop Making Sense was filmed over three nights and put together. It wasn't scripted beyond what The Talking Heads were doing in their concert. And is much more 'real' looking.

Whichever is 'first...' they are both in the top two! ;-) And don't count out "Woodstock" the movie. Yes, hippie trash everywhere. But damn that was some music.

And then there was Gimme Shelter... the Rolling Stones concert film that includes the killing of a spectator by the Hells Angels during the concert. IIRC, the Hells Angels were hired for security and paid in beer. And things got out of hand. It may have been urban legend, but supposedly Mick Jagger or some band member(s) had prices on their heads from the Angels after they got thrown under the bus.

If there is a top three... Gimme Shelter probably goes in that trio! I havent' seen it since the 1980's... but probably need to watch it again!

Cheers,

Sirhr
Click to expand...
Love it. I’ve seen two out of three and will have to find the Talking Heads flick and watch it.

And yeah, Scorcesse. Lol. I love the scene with him taking to Levon Helms who really is just blowing him off. And the the sound stage, lip sync’d Evangaline and The Weight. Found that to be disappointing.

But I loved Mystery Train with Paul Butterfield and Joni Mitchell’s Coyote. I was never a Joni fan but loved that performance.

Cheers
 
#19
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot said:
And just because same era and same party
Click to expand...

What?
Not even in the same zip code, talent wise. No comparison.
I was at a party in college and hitting on this absolute stunner. Man, she was Penthouse material...beautiful and slutty at the same time. This song came on (I am not sure who or what was doing the DJ'ing)
She says, "Oh! The Beatles, I love those old Beatles songs."
I told her it was the Monkees and they probably didn't even write that song. I compared them to the Banana Splits. Manufactured for Saturday morning TV and a bunch of latch key kids.
She looked at me sorta funny..."Monkees, Beatles...It doesn't really matter."
I looked at that beautiful slut and said, "It sure doesn't"
 
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#21
Will need to watch Stop Making Sense and always admired the creativity of David Byrne. Growing up in the late 60's early 70's I was exposed to what today would be called underground music. Had a table top FM radio in my room and would tune in to WNEW FM and listen to Alison Steele "The Nightbird" and Roscoe. Turned me on to alot of great music that wasn't played elsewhere mostly from the west coast. Can't count the numner of times I watched the Last Waltz and Van's Caravan is one of my favorites. Was fortunate enough to see the Band several times before they broke up. Saw Emmy Lou in 1980 when she was in her prime and backed up by the Hot Band and she was awesome.
 
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#22
theLBC said:
big fan of the band, but would be happy to never hear "love shack" again.

Click to expand...


You are SOOOO... right.

Except that Love Shack was the B52's! And I loved almost all their stuff. Except Love Shack. Which sucked!



But Rock Lobster, Planet Claire, Private Idaho, even Roam. But Love Shack SUCKS!!!!

Sirhr
 
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#23
Huge Heads fan here. I was a Stagehand/Soundman back in the late 70's/80's and always loved their shows. This is my favorite video of them (forgetting all about sean penn). You need to watch very closely. The "stagecraft" and rigging is amazing. If you watch closely enough, you'd swear it's magic..........

 
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#25
Aftermath said:
What?
Not even in the same zip code, talent wise. No comparison.
I was at a party in college and hitting on this absolute stunner. Man, she was Penthouse material...beautiful and slutty at the same time. This song came on (I am not sure who or what was doing the DJ'ing)
She says, "Oh! The Beatles, I love those old Beatles songs."
I told her it was the Monkees and they probably didn't even write that song. I compared them to the Banana Splits. Manufactured for Saturday morning TV and a bunch of latch key kids.
She looked at me sorta funny..."Monkees, Beatles...It doesn't really matter."
I looked at that beautiful slut and said, "It sure doesn't"
Click to expand...

A lot of history here........

tubitv.com

The Wrecking Crew (2008)

A look at the dedicated musicians who backed up American legends such as The Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Sonny & Cher, Elvis, and many more.
tubitv.com tubitv.com
 
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#27
sirhrmechanic said:
And then there was Gimme Shelter... the Rolling Stones concert film that includes the killing of a spectator by the Hells Angels during the concert. IIRC, the Hells Angels were hired for security and paid in beer. And things got out of hand. It may have been urban legend, but supposedly Mick Jagger or some band member(s) had prices on their heads from the Angels after they got thrown under the bus.

If there is a top three... Gimme Shelter probably goes in that trio! I havent' seen it since the 1980's... but probably need to watch it again!

Cheers,

SiR
Click to expand...
Dead guy pulled a gun on the Hells Angle and got stabbed. Biker got off on self defense.

Jagger did have a price on his head for tge Exile on Main St tour.
 
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#28
Threadcutter308 said:
A lot of history here........

tubitv.com

The Wrecking Crew (2008)

A look at the dedicated musicians who backed up American legends such as The Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Sonny & Cher, Elvis, and many more.
tubitv.com tubitv.com
Click to expand...
Just like The Eagles and Linda Rondstat (sp?)
Lots of folks don’t realize the bands that made the bands.
But that girl just didn’t comprehend the Beatles impact on Rock and Roll, let alone who the Monkees were. She was too young…but oh I loved that girl so. But she was a few years older than 16, thank goodness.
 
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#32
bark beetles and spider monkeys

I've seen both while in my own private Idaho. One was on a leash, though. What was funny about that one, I was with a friend that use to train police dogs when he was still on the top side of the grass. He had a Rottweiler, big male, aggressive, highly trained, sweet savage that liked to be petted and fed ice cream, on a leash also and that dog got behind him...HAHAHA!! He was like, WTF kind of dog is THAT?
 
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#33
ZiaHunter said:
Will need to watch Stop Making Sense and always admired the creativity of David Byrne. Growing up in the late 60's early 70's I was exposed to what today would be called underground music. Had a table top FM radio in my room and would tune in to WNEW FM and listen to Alison Steele "The Nightbird" and Roscoe. Turned me on to alot of great music that wasn't played elsewhere mostly from the west coast. Can't count the numner of times I watched the Last Waltz and Van's Caravan is one of my favorites. Was fortunate enough to see the Band several times before they broke up. Saw Emmy Lou in 1980 when she was in her prime and backed up by the Hot Band and she was awesome.
Click to expand...
When did WFMU at 91.1, Upsala College NJ come around? It was there late 80s at least. Lots of different DJs each with their own music flavor. Several of them also were musicians in NYC -- Eric Ambel ("Roscoe") and Laura Cantrell are two I remember. Laura had her own show "Truck Stop Tea Party" and Roscoe would often be a guest/sit-in when The Hound's show was on. Frank O'Toole, also a NJ/NYC musician, was a DJ there too.
 
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#34
flogxal said:
When did WFMU at 91.1, Upsala College NJ come around? It was there late 80s at least. Lots of different DJs each with their own music flavor. Several of them also were musicians in NYC -- Eric Ambel ("Roscoe") and Laura Cantrell are two I remember. Laura had her own show "Truck Stop Tea Party" and Roscoe would often be a guest/sit-in when The Hound's show was on. Frank O'Toole, also a NJ/NYC musician, was a DJ there too.
Click to expand...
I listened to WNEW in the late 60's up and until about 1973 when I moved out west. No internet radio back then.
 
#36
sirhrmechanic said:
So the classic Talking Heads concert film has been remastered... and is on cable or satellite or whatever!

It's amazing... as was the original. Probably the greatest 'rockumentary' or concert film ever made.

Wish I'd seen then in concert. By the time I 'discovered' Talking Heads in the late 1980's... they'd basically broken up.

If I had a time machine, one of the places I'd go is CBGB in the late 1970's.

If you are looking for a couple of hours of great music and videos... Stop Making Sense is awesome!

Big suit guy.... epic!

Cheers,

Sirhr
Click to expand...
One of my favorite bands ever. A couple of friends and I saw this show at the Pantages Theater on 12/13/83 right before our 1st year Graduate School finals. It was certainly worth it.

Will never forget the BIG SUIT and the rendition of Burning Down the House
 
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#37
sirhrmechanic said:
So the classic Talking Heads concert film has been remastered... and is on cable or satellite or whatever!

It's amazing... as was the original. Probably the greatest 'rockumentary' or concert film ever made.

Wish I'd seen then in concert. By the time I 'discovered' Talking Heads in the late 1980's... they'd basically broken up.

If I had a time machine, one of the places I'd go is CBGB in the late 1970's.

If you are looking for a couple of hours of great music and videos... Stop Making Sense is awesome!

Big suit guy.... epic!

Cheers,

Sirhr
Click to expand...
Had a few chances to see them, but did not, and Kicking myself in ass ever since for not going. Another one that also I passed on few times, and really fuckedup not seeing was Lou Reed. Both Byrne and Reed were unique talents. Opportunities I stupidly past by.
.
 
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#40
I was not really a TH listener BUT I recently got an original copy of this record and was blown away at the production quality and sound.

I so wish I would’ve went back in 1984.

Girlfriend is best. I can’t get that song out of my head.

Makes me wonder if the speaking in tongues regular album version is as good as this live record.
 
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