count off the rest of the band into
“Good Times, Bad Times.” At sixteen
songs and two hours, it’s all killer, no
filler. Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones
liked the performance so much they
wanted to launch a full tour, but Robert
Plant pointedly refused. He wisely
realized a performance like this wouldn’t
be as memorable or special if it was
mindlessly performed every night. In his
own words: “I’m not part of a juke box.”
STOP MAKING
SENSE
Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads
is the rare piece that works perfectly
as both concert and film. It’s so tightly
put together we could dedicate a whole
article to this film alone. Cobbled from
42
TONE TALK //
four concerts at the Pantages Theater
shot by Jonathan Demme, it starts
humbly with David Byrne performing
“Psycho Killer” via acoustic and builds
until the dozen strong band is jumping
and dancing to “Burning Down the
House.” Everything from the camera
placement to the lighting is immaculate,
particularly during the claustrophobic
shadow dance of “What a Day That
Was.” Not a frame of the film is wasted.
Revival screenings are guaranteed to
have people dancing in the aisles and
applauding between songs like an
actual concert. The guest musicians
from Parliament Funkadelic keep the
Heads loose, with their energy and joy
on stage becoming infectious. Sadly, the
Talking Heads never toured again after
this film, mostly because they felt they
couldn’t top it.
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