Track Listing

1. Burning Down The House
2. Making Flippy Floppy
3. Girlfriend Is Better
4. Slippery People
5. I Get Wild/Wild Gravity
6. Swamp
7. Moon Rocks
8. Pull Up The Roots
9. This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1371 in Music
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 1

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

Customer Reviews

#1
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
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.
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.