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Hope a few of my readers got it from the title of this blog post.

And maybe many others didn't. So let's talk about "Stop Making Sense".

You're warned: nothing to do with free software...or running, this time. This is all about music.

Music from the 80's.

"Stop Making Sense" is indeed, in my opinion, one of the best achieved musical movie. It is simple: it features a gig by the Talking Heads, back in 1983, when this band was among the most innovative ones that ever appeared in the late 70's.

And I finally managed to take time to actually buy the DVD and see it again as I didn't see it since 1985.

For many people, Talking Heads is the incredible person that's David Byrne. That's certainly true for some parts (and this is what lead to their split in 1991), but the movie really gives credit to all members of the band, either the "regular" ones (Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison) or the tour musicians (Bernie Worrell, Alex Weir, Steven Scales, Lynn Mabry, Edna Holt).

The construction of the movie is simple: it just starts with Byrne bringing a music box on an empty stage, with his acoustic guitar and playing an incredible tense "Psycho Killer" (there are so many different version of that mythical piece but this one is among the best). Then Tina joins for a not-so-often played "Heaven" and brings her so inimitable bass line (I count Tina among my very favourite bass player, immediately after Tony Levin). At the end of the piece, the crew quietly brings a full drum set, then Chris Frantz joins, smiling as ever, and the rhythm increases with "Thank you for sending me an angel".

Then Jerry Harrison joins, to make the original Heads line-up for a really funky "Found a Job", where Jerry shows that he was THE Heads lead guitar (and Tina is still keeping the foundations so strong).

Continuing the increasing tension, the rest of the musicians join for Slippery People, then Burning Down the House ("Who's got a match?"). All this culmminates in a crazy joggin on stage during "Life During Wartime" and Byrne performing incredible and stellar movements on stage. THis one surely makes the band entirely exhausted. How can they survive this?

The few next songs are a little bit less stunning (oh, well, "Making Flippy Floppy" still features a dream bass line)...until a really special "Once in a Lifetime" that...has just to be seen (SAME AS IT EVER WAS), then a break where....the Tom Tom Club (namely Chris, Tina and the rest of the band) perform a giant "Genius of Love", so funky.

All this is indeed meant for Byrne to prepare for his top appearance, in "Girlfriend is Better", in a giant suit, that makes his head over his long neck yet more...strange. This leads to a crazy "Take me to the River" which has always been the top of the Heads shows during the 80's and a tireless encore on "Crosseyed and Painless".

The movie ends up and you nearly never had a breath. So, yes, if you think you enjoy the Heads music and have never seen that movie, just try doing it once. That's how music was in the 80's..and, doh, these folks were so good! By the way, all parts of the movie can be seen on YouTube in case you just want to see what *I* enjoy.

Ah, and yes I share the love of the Heads with Danese "we never meet often enough" Cooper, by the way. We once made a promise ourselves to sing Psycho Killer in karaoke if we're happy (and drunk) enough to meet again before we're too old for this..:-).