Speaking in Tongues (album)
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Speaking in Tongues | |||||
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Studio album by Talking Heads | |||||
Released | May 31, 1983 | ||||
Recorded | Blank Tapes, NY Compass Point Studios Sigma Sound July 1982-February 1983 |
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Genre | New Wave / Art punk | ||||
Length | 46:50 | ||||
Label | Sire | ||||
Producer | Talking Heads Reissue Producer: Andy Zax with Talking Heads |
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Professional reviews | |||||
Talking Heads chronology | |||||
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Speaking in Tongues is the fifth album released by the band Talking Heads; it was released in 1983.
The album was a commercial breakthrough that produced the band's first American Top 10 hit, "Burning Down the House". A striking video was frequently broadcast during the song's chart run. [1]The following tour was documented in Jonathan Demme's Stop Making Sense, which generated another live album of the same name.
The album was re-released in February 2006 as a remastered Dualdisc. The CD side 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 (96Khz/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 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.
David Byrne did the cover for the general release of the album. Artist Robert Rauschenberg won a Grammy Award for his work on the limited-edition album, which featured a clear disc along with three clear plastic discs printed with similar collages in three different colors.
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." [2]
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
All lyrics were written by David Byrne. All music by Talking Heads.
[edit] Side one
- "Burning Down the House" – 4:00
- "Making Flippy Floppy" – 4:36
- "Girlfriend Is Better" – 4:25
- "Slippery People" – 3:30
- "I Get Wild/Wild Gravity" – 4:06
[edit] Side two
- "Swamp" – 5:09
- "Moon Rocks" – 5:04
- "Pull Up the Roots" – 5:08
- "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" – 4:56
[edit] 2006 DualDisc reissue previously unreleased bonus tracks
- "Two Note Swivel" [unfinished outtake]
- "Burning Down the House (alternate version)"
[edit] Personnel
[edit] Talking Heads
- David Byrne – vocals, keyboards, guitars, bass, percussion
- Chris Frantz – drums, backing vocals, synthesizer
- Jerry Harrison – keyboards, guitar, backing vocals
- Tina Weymouth – synthesizer and string bass, backing vocals, guitar
[edit] Additional musicians
- Alex Weir – guitar
- Wally Badarou – synthesizer
- Raphael DeJesus – percussion
- Steve Scales – percussion
- David Van Tieghem – percussion
- Richard Landry – saxophone
- Nona Hendryx – backing vocals
- Dolette McDonald – backing vocals
- Bernie Worrell – synthesizer
- Shankar – violin
[edit] Recording personnel
- Butch Jones – engineer
- John Convertino – assistant engineer
- Alex Sadkin – overdubbing engineer, mixing
- Franklin Gibson and Jay Mark – assistant overdubbing engineers, mixing
- Ted Jensen – mastering
[edit] Chart performance
Album
Year | Chart | Position |
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1983 | Billboard 200 | 15 |
1983 | Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums | 58 |
1983 | UK Albums | 21 |
Single
Year | Single | Chart | Position |
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1980 | "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" | UK singles | 51 |
[edit] References
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