Talking Heads - Speaking In Tongues (180 Gram) (LP)

On REMAIN IN LIGHT, the Heads fused their twitchy, intellectual geek-rock sensibilities with an organic, spiritual funkiness that catapulted them into a new artistic realm, virtually unfettered by the shackles of their "new wave" past. SPEAKING IN TONGUES picks up where that album left off, expanding on the band's newfound funk aesthetic and even upping the danceability quotient a notch or two. The Heads let their hair down a bit more here than on REMAIN IN LIGHT, but while the tone is a bit less serious (as on the party-starting "Burning Down The House,") the highly developed conceptual sensibilites of Byrne and company are still at work, even without the assistance of former producer Brian Eno.

Some of the previous album's airy abstractions are stripped away here, to make more room on the dance floor. Tunes like "Girlfriend is Better" attack both the feet and the mind, in typically quirky Talking Heads style. "This Must Be the Place/Naive Melody" stands out as a pretty, affecting ballad about finding a sense of belonging (it's melodic charms were so pervasive it was eventually covered by folk-rocker Shawn Colvin).

• Format: Vinyl
• Genre: Rock 

Limited 180gm vinyl LP repressing of the New Wave band’s 1983 album.

The Heads released Speaking in Tongues, the first album of new material in three years, in 1983. (A limited edition release of 50,000 copies featured a complex cover designed by artist Robert Rauschenberg. Subsequent copies boasted a simpler design by Byrne.) It was their highest-charting album ever (Number 15, 1983) and yielded their biggest hit single, “Burning Down the House” (Number Nine, 1983), which was also featured in an eye-catching video that MTV had in heavy rotation. They toured with an expanded band including Alex Weir, a guitarist with the Brothers Johnson. The tour was documented in the acclaimed movie Stop Making Sense, directed by Jonathan Demme. The soundtrack (Number 41, 1984) spent nearly two years on the pop albums chart. –Rolling Stone

Talking Heads: David Byrne (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion); Tina Weymouth (guitar, keyboards, bass, background vocals); Jerry Harrison (guitar, keyboards, background vocals); Chris Frantz (drums, keyboards, background vocals).

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