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One of the best concert films ever gets the Blu-Ray treatment. Shame I didn’t know it was one of the best before now.

I suppose I could be considered a fair-weather or bandwagon fan when it comes to the influential 1980s rock band the Talking Heads. Love their singles, love their videos, but I never bothered to buy an album or give a hoot otherwise about them. To me, they were just one of a zillion bands at the time that were flooding my senses with clever videos but there were just too many of these bands to keep up with. It didn’t help that my tastes skewed towards the Quiet Riots and Twisted Sisters of the era (yeah, yeah…shut up). So here we are, 25 years later and what do I get to watch as my first Blu-Ray experience? Why, none other than Stop Making Sense, a new edition celebrating the two and a half decades since the release of the original concert film.

To say this is a revelation is a bit of an understatement. The set-up, the music and most importantly the performances are something I have never quite witnessed before in such a film. Directed by Jonathan Demme and collecting footage shot over three days, the film could probably convert Fred Phelps into a Heads fan. It’s just that good.

The build-up is unique to the genre. Hell, it’s unique to concerts, period. Heads leader David Byrne takes the stage alone at the beginning, and as the songs progress, we are treated – one by one – to the additions of the other members and guest performers until they are one whole unit before the end. We get the singles that even non-Talking Heads fans will recognize (“Burning Down the House,” “Once in a Lifetime”) and a variety of other pieces from their catalog of songs.

But it’s not the songs alone that make the performance. Byrne and company know that the word “performance” is not all about strumming guitars and their on-stage act is something to behold. The bizarre dance moves (if they can even be called that), Byrne’s wild-eyed intensity at times…it’s all one big package that makes the whole even cooler.

Not that sound is forgettable; it isn’t by any means. In fact, from my understanding, the footage is some of the first to utilize digital audio and with Blu-Ray, it really stands out. Having never seen the original release of the film in theaters or on VHS, I have no idea what sort of improvement this makes in the Blu-Ray upgrade, but it’s a fantastic, crystal sound nonetheless.

Extras include storyboards (for a concert film? Yep. Byrne had this thing planned pretty meticulously), a press conference from the late ‘90s promoting the then-fifteenth anniversary of the movie (which feels really awkward, and totally makes sense – no pun intended – in light of the ugly break-up the band suffered beforehand), and best of all, an interview segment with Byrne in which he’s interviewed by several different people – all actually Byrne himself in various costumes and identities (including drag and a somewhat cringe-inducing blackface bit). Still, it’s a funny bit and I fully intend to find a way to incorporate “It’s like 60 Minutes on acid.” into my everyday vocabulary now after watching it.

Stop Making Sense is a very underrated concert film by my standards. The Blu-Ray edition is a great way to introduce unfamiliar viewers to the band and their style, and does it in a way that makes sense, whether they want to stop or not.

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