Speaking in Tongues | 
 enlarge | Artist: Talking Heads
Label: Warner Bros / Wea
Category: Music
List Price: $7.98
Buy New: $4.78
You Save: $3.20 (40%)
New (35) Used (25) Collectible (6) from $3.98
Rating:  44 reviews
Sales Rank: 1900
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 23883
UPC: 075992388320
EAN: 0075992388320
ASIN: B000002KZ6
Release Date: October 25, 1990
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Burning Down the House | | • | Making Flippy Floppy | | • | Girlfriend Is Better | | • | Slippery People | | • | I Get Wild/Wild Gravity | | • | Swamp | | • | Moon Rocks | | • | Pull up the Roots | | • | This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com essential recording
Observe as David Byrne finally learns to dance. Non-Western sounds and funky rhythms had infected Talking Heads music prior to this 1983 pop breakthrough, but Speaking in Tongues is where the beat truly gels. The band's quirky, nerdy persona somehow blends easily with music borrowed from the African Diaspora on "Stop Making Sense" and "Burning Down the House." The album also marks one of the last true band collaborations, before Byrne reduced his partners to mere sidemen. If their edgier early albums now sound more challenging and unique in hindsight, Speaking in Tongues at least documents the New York quartet's singular blend of World Beat, art school rock, and the always irresistible dancefloor. --Steve Appleford
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| Customer Reviews: Read 39 more reviews...
 Strange But Not A Stranger: The Talking Heads Are Burning Down The House October 27, 2008
Gary F. Taylor (Biloxi, MS USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Variously described as punk rock, art rock, alternative rock, and new wave, The Talking Heads originally formed in 1974 and became one of many cutting-edge bands to emerge from New York's legendary CBGB'S, the proving ground of such diverse acts as Patti Smith, Blondie, Television, and Mink DeVille. By 1977 the band had sufficient momentum to get a record deal and within a few years the band began to register on both sides of the Atlantic--but although they were well known to fans of alternative music, it wasn't really until 1983 that Talking Heads truly crashed the music charts. The release that did it was SPEAKING IN TONGUES.
According David Byrne, the lyrics were originally ad libbed nonsense phrases--but these ad libs gradually developed a life of their own, and while each phrase in each song doesn't necessarily make any sort of narrative sense they do make a sort of emotional and kinetic sense in tandem with the band's sonic extremes, which range from borderline out of control to meticulously detail work--and often within the same song.
It's an odd thing to say about an "art band," but most music by The Talking Heads is very danceable--and the selections from TONGUES is no exception. Everything has a strong beat, a solid drive, be it the opening and prickly-sounding "Burning Down The House" or the closing and surprisingly delicate "This Must Be The Place." But what really sets The Talking Heads apart from every other band of the era is the way it fiddles with musical ideas. You find a bit of everything here: African rythmns, pop riffs, growly rock vocals, sweet glosses.
"Burning Down The House" is the cut that everyone knows (it was the band's only top ten American hit), but this is a case where it's all good and personal favorites are simply that: personal favorites. Returning to the recording after some years, I did not necessarily link a title with a particular song... until I heard the first few notes and was instantly as into the piece as I was in 1983. It's hard to select a favorite, but if I had to do so I'd give to either "Swamp" or "This Must Be The Place."
Some Talking Heads fans dismiss SPEAKING IN TONGUES as a case of the band beginning to sell out to industry demands for a more pop-inflected, more radio-friendly sound. It is true that the album is more pop-inflected than most of the band's work, but the inflection is comparative; it's not anywhere within the mainstream of popular music. It was, however, the beginning of the end of the band, for it focused public attention on David Byrne who thereafter began an effort to artistically dominate bandmates Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, and Tina Weymouth--which effectively split the band after a few more releases. But whatever the case, they were on the cutting edge in their day and that edge hasn't dulled in over twenty years. Still unlike any other band, still same as it ever was. Recommended.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
#1 July 20, 2008
jake
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I second the pull up the roots comment! Might be my favorite song on the whole album. This entire album is awesome though, and its really good on a long drive in the summertime.
an intoxicatingly grooving, virtually flawless album April 18, 2007
Dave (United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Talking Heads' 1983 album "Speaking In Tongues" is a dazzling, groove-oriented collection. The music here is so impeccably crafted and paced that you're truly left in awe, that is if you're not busy simply dancing and/or singing along.
The album is remarkably cohesive, yet intriguingly varied at the same time. The massively funky "Girlfriend Is Better" has one of the most insanely catchy choruses ever, plus hilarious vocal asides from David Byrne. "Making Flippy Floppy" and the huge hit "Burning Down The House" are ultra-funky gems as well. "Slippery People" has an incredibly catchy gospel-ized call-and-response chorus, sumptuous bright keyboard textures, and a neatly 'off-the-beat' bass line. The swinging "Swamp" is fittingly titled, with a swampy New Orleans R&B groove, Byrne singing much lower than usual, and an amusingly growling singalong chorus. "I Get Wild/ Wild Gravity" has a light reggae feel and yet another irresistible chorus. The closing "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)", with its memorably looping guitar line, has a weirdly optimistic tone and is a wonderful way to end the record.
In short, "Speaking In Tongues" is a marvelous must-have record, from a terrific band, that any serious music fan will want to listen to over and over and over. One of my all-time personal favorites.
Best. Talking. Heads. Album. April 6, 2007
Stella (Tennessee, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have a special edition of this with a DVD side and I can listen to this in 5.1 surround sound. It is an earth movign experience. I love every song on this album. In fact, I think this is my favorite album ever by my favorite band ever and it includes my favorite song ever, This Must Be the Place.
Superb MASTERPIECE August 27, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I picked this album up used at an old record store. Popped it in my cd player and WOW! This is by far the greatest Talking Heads Album Making Flippy Floppy is a really well composed song. What is neat about this album is it has a sort of reggae funk to it with all kinds of random lyrics. YOU WILL ENJOY THIS IF YOU ARE A TALKING HEADS FAN OR ARE NEW TO THEM!
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