Stop Making Sense
What makes the Talking Heads and Jonathan Demme’s 1984 classic the best concert film ever? First, there’s the show’s striking performance-art sensibility, with David Byrne entering a blank stage with only a boom box, and band members joining him one by one as the set progresses. Second, there’s the hot-shit band, with the Heads foursome joined by P-Funk’s Bernie Worrell and Lynn Mabry. Finally, there’s the set list, featuring many of Talking Heads’ greatest songs—“Psycho Killer,” “Once in a Lifetime,” “This Must Be the Place,” “Life During Wartime”—in sharply theatrical performances.
by David Schmader