Speaking In Tongues
| Talking Heads
Speaking In Tongues
Speaking in Tongues is the fifth studio album by American rock band Talking Heads, released on June 1, 1983 by Sire Records. Following their split with producer Brian Eno and a short hiatus, which allowed the individual members to pursue side projects, recording began in 1982. It became the band's commercial breakthrough and produced the band's sole US top-ten hit, "Burning Down the House". -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Rolling Stone
The real art here is the incorporation of disparate elements from pop, punk and R&B into a coherent, celebratory dance ethic that dissolves notions of color and genre in smiles and sweat. A new model for great party albums to come. Speaking in Tongues is likely to leave you doing just that.
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The Quietus
after 47 minutes of making sense despite themselves, the Heads close the album with Byrne’s wordless wail of pain, ecstasy and dread - not glossolalia, but a single vocalisation that finally, after all that effort, transcends words.
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All Music
Despite their formal power, Talking Heads' preceding two albums seemed to have painted them into a corner, which may be why it took them three years to craft a follow-up, but on Speaking in Tongues, they found an open window and flew out of it.
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UCR
with Speaking in Tongues, they made pop's boundaries seem almost limitless.
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Pop Matters
I've been listening to Speaking in Tongues now off and on for over 30 years and let me tell you it is an out-and-out joy.
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Stereogum
Speaking In Tongues could not serve as a better bridge for their catalogue, while offering a massive trove of gems in its own right.
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Clash
Musically, ‘Speaking In Tongues’ takes the Heads’ love affair with funk to its orgasmic conclusion.
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Albumism
The subject matter behind the lyrics is still difficult to decipher, but the music is about as close to mainstream as they had ever approached at that point.
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Treble
Speaking in Tongues remains a singular Talking Heads album. Speaking in Tongues is the aesthetic opposite of the their sparse debut, Talking Heads: ’77, yet the core sound of the group is still there, proving that the Talking Heads most definitely deserve their exalted position.
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Sputnik Music
Speaking in Tongues is by no means the best Talking Heads album, but it does an excellent job at a band finding a new accidental pop sound, a sound which would take one track into the top ten in the U.S., and finally reach the pinnacle of respect by being covered by Tom Jones.
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Tiny Mixtapes
Between fits of ecstasy and moments of reflection, Speaking in Tongues lives up to its name. One can ruminate on the album’s lyrics, but ultimately the group matches mode and function to make an impression.
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Head Heritage
It can conjure up a certain feeling or smell 25 years later and make you feel like you have been transported back in time. This is one of those albums.
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Spectrum Culture
Not the raw funky rock of their first two albums, nor the rhythmic experiment of their Eno-produced work, this sees the Heads go slightly more pop than usual while still keeping things arty. The fruits of this labor would pay off, supplying the band with their highest charting album and the most successful single of their career.
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Puluche
The album is the definition of new wave music and one of the best of the ’80s. It combines elements of punk, pop, funk, rock and more, with lyrics ranging from nonsense that front man David Byrne thought up to lyrics that contain meaningful concepts and ideas. As a result of that nonsense that Byrne created, the album name, Speaking in Tongues, was generated.
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AOTY
I don't know, it's a good album, just not their best. They proved before this that they could do better with each new release, and while it would have been extremely hard for them to top such an album as Remain In Light within only a few years, the drop in quality is noticeable. Still a very good album though.
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Only Solitaire
Simplifying their approach - it's like the bottom is falling out of the band's insanity. But it's possible to survive without a bottom too.
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Mark Prindle
Eno's gone and taken his depressing new age with him, leaving the T. Heds with one heck of a kickass jungle disco album.
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GQ
Speaking In Tongues was the band’s biggest success: it was the closest they came to being comfortable in the fabric of popular culture, but they were still heavily based in urban-funk. You can’t help but (seriously) dance to this LP upon listening – stick on “This Must Be The Place” and you’ll understand why.
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Gigslutz
There’s a line in the middle of ‘Moon Rocks’ that rings, ‘get ready for heavy duty/go on, give it a chance’ – and that’s about as great an explanation as you’ll get for what this album and this extraordinary group was about: the palpable excitement of breaking the mould, and doing something that you’ve never done before.
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