History Music / SpeakingInTongues

On a more trivial note, this album was one of the first to take advantage of the larger capacity and rising sales of the Compact Cassette format, with cassette releases of the album featuring extended versions of the tracks "Making Flippy Floppy", "Girlfriend is Better", "Slippery People", "I Get Wild/Wild Gravity", and "Moon Rocks", resulting in this version running approximately 6 minutes longer than the LP release. Curiously, the shorter version of the album would also be used for initial UsefulNotes/CompactDisc releases of the album despite the CD having an even greater capacity than the Compact Cassette (Creator/WarnerMusicGroup in general seemed to have cold feet towards [=CDs=] for a good chunk of the 80's), with the full version not arriving on the format until 1990 (albeit only in North America); this longer version would also be used for the 2005 remaster campaign of Talking Heads' back-catalog in all regions, which would also carry over to digital versions.

''Speaking in Tongues'', released in 1983, is the fifth album by American PostPunk[=/=]NewWaveMusic band Music/TalkingHeads. Their follow up to the massively-acclaimed ''Music/RemainInLight'', the album continues its direct predecessor's blend of PostPunk and NewWaveMusic rhythms and {{Afrobeat}} riffs, orienting them in a more electronic, mainstream-friendly direction while still remaining decidedly weird. It was also both the band's first self-produced album and their first since ''Music/TalkingHeads77'' to not be produced by Music/BrianEno, who had ceased working with Talking Heads after the TroubledProduction of ''Remain in Light'' in 1980. Still, several members of the touring band for the previous album returned for ''Speaking in Tongues'' and its associated tour, including [[Music/GeorgeClinton Parliament-Funkadelic]] keyboardist Bernie Worrell, backing vocalists Dollette [=McDonald=] and Nona Hendryx (album only), and percussionist Steve Scales.

** 8-track releases reshuffle the tracklist to account for the limitations of the four-program configuration. In such versions, "I Get Wild/Wild Gravity" is moved to track two and "Making Flippy-Floppy" is moved to track four. Additionally, "Girlfriend is Better" is split into two parts thanks to it overlapping with the changeover between programs one and two.

* WordSaladLyrics: Done intentionally on "Burning Down the House"; David Byrne didn't really care whether or not the lyrics made sense, and simply put in loosely-connected phrases that fit the rhythm of the song. The same can be said of the rest of the album as well, if the blurb on the back of the CD case is any indication. This is also {{lampshade}}d by the album title.

* ReCut: The cassette release featured longer versions of "Making Flippy Floppy", "Girlfriend is Better", "Slippery People", "I get Wild/Wild Gravity", and "Moon Rocks", expanding the album by six minutes compared to LP and CD releases. US [=CDs=] would switch over to the longer version from 1990 onward, with this configuration also being used for the 2005 remasters worldwide.

** "Burning Down the House" came from a phrase shouted at a [[Music/GeorgeClinton Parliament-Funkadelic]] concert Chris Frantz attended. As was previously the case with ''Music/RemainInLight'', members of Parliament Funkadelic would be featured as guest musicians on this album and as part of Talking Heads' backing band on the ''Speaking in Tongues'' tour, as captured in ''Film/StopMakingSense''.

* ReCut: ''Speaking in Tongues'' has two different versions: a 41-minute cut released on LP and a 47-minute cut released on cassette. The 47-minute version includes extended versions of the tracks "Making Flippy Floppy", "Girlfriend Is Better", "Slippery People", "I Get Wild/Wild Gravity" and "Moon Rocks", included to capitalize on the greater storage capacity of and growing market for tapes at the time. The 41-minute version is used for early US CD releases, international CD releases prior to the 2005 remaster, and non-remastered digital releases, while the extended version appears on US [=CDs=] from 1990 onwards and on the 2005 remaster (on both physical and digital formats).

* CutAndPasteTranslation: The LP edit of "Girlfriend is Better" shortens the song's runtime by jumping from the first half of the first verse to the second half of the second verse, and not exactly seamlessly either. Curiously, the lyrics from the cut portion are still present in the liner notes, indicating that this was probably a last-minute edit compared to the more planned-out and seamless edits on the other four songs cut down on the LP release.

* NewSoundAlbum: Sorta. While furthering ''Music/RemainInLight''[='s=] blend of PostPunk[=/=]NewWaveMusic and {{Afrobeat}}, the album is poppier, less musically dense, and features greater use of synthesizer embellishments, somewhat evocative of the Minneapolis sound popularized by artists such as Music/{{Prince}}. The blurb on the back of the CD case acknowledges these differences, summarizing them as follows:

* VariantCover: Three different versions of the album cover officially exist.
** The first cover designed, a collaboration between David Byrne and modern artist Robert Rauschenberg, was an elaborate clear plastic case housing three rotatable transparent discs inside; printed on each disc was a cyan, magenta, and yellow component of an urban-themed collage of photographs. Rotating the discs would allow one to adjust the way the collages blend into one another, but the three prints differ just enough to prevent one from recompiling the original full-color collage. Because of the expenses involved in manufacturing these cases, they were relegated to a limited-edition release during the album's first print run.
** The second cover, used for the wider general release and most reissues, was an abstract reinterpretation of the Byrne/Rauschenberg cover painted by Byrne himself.
** The third cover, exclusive to some European CD releases of the album, was simply a color-inverted version of the general release cover. There's no real indication as to why this cover was put out aside from it [[RuleOfCool looking cool.]]
** The CD booklet in both the 41-minute and 47-minute editions used a different design for the lyric sheet and credits than the LP sleeve, with printed text rather than the handwritten notes for the LP, while using the standard cover design. The 2005 remaster would switch over to the LP liner notes.

* AtomicHate: "Swamp" obliquely refers to the development of the atomic bomb.

* ReCut: ''Speaking in Tongues'' has two different versions: a 41-minute cut released on LP and a 47-minute cut released on cassette. The 47-minute version includes extended versions of the tracks "Making Flippy Floppy", "Girlfriend Is Better", "Slippery People", "I Get Wild/Wild Gravity" and "Moon Rocks", included to capitalize on the greater storage capacity of and growing market for tapes at the time. Early CD releases used the LP edit, while ones from 1990 onwards and digital releases use the extended version.

** North American CD releases of the album from 1990-onwards include the 47-minute version of the album that had previously been exclusive to cassette releases; prior CD releases used the same 41-minute master as the LP release. These releases also source the audio from earlier-generation tapes, and as a result sound noticeably clearer compared to pre-1990 [=CDs=] and international CD releases (barring the 2005 remaster, which uses the 47-minute version of the album in all regions).

* WordSaladLyrics: Done intentionally on "Burning Down the House"; David Byrne didn't really care whether or not the lyrics made sense, and simply put in loosely-connected phrases that fit the rhythm of the song. The same can be said of the rest of the album as well, if the blurb on the back of the CD case is any indication. This is also {{lampshade}}d by the album title.

** The CD booklet of the original editions used a different design for the lyric sheet and credits than the LP sleeve, with printed text rather than the handwritten notes for the LP, while using the standard cover design.

On a more trivial note, this album was one of the first to take advantage of the larger capacity and rising sales of the Compact Cassette format, with cassette releases of the album featuring extended versions of the tracks "Making Flippy Floppy", "Girlfriend is Better", "Slippery People", "I Get Wild/Wild Gravity", and "Moon Rocks", resulting in this version running approximately 6 minutes longer than the LP release. Curiously, the shorter version of the album would also be used for initial UsefulNotes/CompactDisc releases of the album despite the CD having an even greater capacity than the Compact Cassette (Creator/WarnerMusicGroup in general seemed to have cold feet towards [=CDs=] for a good chunk of the 80's), with the full version not arriving on the format until 1990 (albeit only in North America); this longer version would also be used for the 2005 remaster campaign of Talking Heads' back-catalog in all regions.

The album marked something of a turning point for Talking Heads. Previously, their albums had gotten progressively more experimental, in no small part due to Eno's production work; somewhat telling is the fact that Eno had just gotten back from working with Music/DavidBowie on ''Music/HeroesDavidBowieAlbum'' when he met Talking Heads, and the emphasis on artsy, ProgressiveRock-tinged experimentation that permeated Bowie's work in the late 70's carried over heavily into Talking Head's second, third, and fourth albums. While ''Speaking in Tongues'' carried on with the funky worldbeat style of ''Remain in Light'', it instigated a shift to a more accessible direction that would continue with the band's later output, a trend that wouldn't be broken until the band's final album, ''Music/{{Naked}}''. Despite this, the band wouldn't outright abandon the weirdness that made them stand out, but later albums would definitely be a world away from their work with Eno.

''Speaking in Tongues'' was another critical and commercial success for Talking Heads, with critics and fans alike considering it a worthy successor to ''Remain in Light''; both albums are nowadays considered the band's creative peak. As of 2020, the albums sits at No. 1136 on ''WebSite/AcclaimedMusic''[='s=] [[UsefulNotes/AcclaimedMusicAllTimeTopAlbums dynamic list]] of the 3000 most critically praised albums. ''Speaking in Tongues'' was also the band's highest-charting album on the U.S. Billboard 200, peaking at number 15, and their fastest-selling, going double-platinum in the United States in just three years; it was also certified platinum in Canada and New Zealand. Lead single "Burning Down the House", meanwhile, was the band's biggest commercial hit: peaking at number 9, it was their only single to reach the U.S. Billboard Top Ten. The tour conducted to support the album, a tour which turned out to be their last, was also a massive critical and commercial success, being immortalized in the now-iconic concert film ''Film/StopMakingSense'' in 1984.

* BilingualBonus: "Swamp" contains the Japanese onomatopoeia ''pikapika'', which refers to brilliant light. Combined with the prior mentions of how "when they split those atoms, it's hotter than the sun," it acts as a subtle reference to the UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki.

* BilingualBonus: "Swamp" contains the Japanese word ''pikapika'', which refers to brilliant light, a reference to the flash of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

On a more trivial note, this album was one of the first to take advantage of the larger capacity of the Compact Cassette format, with cassette releases of the album featuring extended versions of the tracks "Making Flippy Floppy", "Girlfriend is Better", "Slippery People", "I Get Wild/Wild Gravity", and "Moon Rocks", resulting in this version running approximately 6 minutes longer than the LP release. The reason for doing this was to give cassette buyers a little something extra, as the J-cards, this album included, were typically bare-bones affairs, though with the rise in the popularity of the format, record companies were starting to include the same information like artist photos, lyrics and liner notes that would typically be on an LP. This shows how the industry was starting to focus less on the LP in favor of the cassette and CD, the latter of which was introduced in North America and Europe the year of the album's release. Around the same time, cassettes were overtaking LP sales due to the popularity of portable cassette players like the Sony Walkman combined with the longer running time of the format over a standard LP. Curiously, the shorter version of the album would also be used for initial UsefulNotes/CompactDisc releases of the album despite the CD having an even greater capacity than the Compact Cassette (Creator/WarnerMusicGroup in general seemed to have cold feet towards [=CDs=] for a good chunk of the 80's), with the full version not arriving on the format until 1990 (albeit only in North America); this longer version would also be used for the 2005 remaster campaign of Talking Heads' back-catalog in all regions.

On a more trivial note, this album was one of the first to take advantage of the larger capacity of the Compact Cassette format, with cassette releases of the album featuring extended versions of the tracks "Making Flippy Floppy", "Girlfriend is Better", "Slippery People", "I Get Wild/Wild Gravity", and "Moon Rocks", resulting in this version running approximately 6 minutes longer than the LP release. This shows how the industry was starting to focus less on the LP in favor of the cassette and CD, the latter of which was introduced in North America and Europe the year of the album's release. Around the same time, cassettes were overtaking LP sales due to the popularity of portable cassette players like the Sony Walkman combined with the longer running time of the format over a standard LP. Curiously, the shorter version of the album would also be used for initial UsefulNotes/CompactDisc releases of the album despite the CD having an even greater capacity than the Compact Cassette (Creator/WarnerMusicGroup in general seemed to have cold feet towards [=CDs=] for a good chunk of the 80's), with the full version not arriving on the format until 1990 (albeit only in North America); this longer version would also be used for the 2005 remaster campaign of Talking Heads' back-catalog in all regions.

On a more trivial note, this album was one of the first to take advantage of the larger capacity of the Compact Cassette format, with cassette releases of the album featuring extended versions of the tracks "Making Flippy Floppy", "Girlfriend is Better", "Slippery People", "I Get Wild/Wild Gravity", and "Moon Rocks", resulting in this version running approximately 6 minutes longer than the LP release. This shows how the industry was starting to focus less on the LP in favor of the cassette and CD, the latter of which was introduced in North America and Europe the year of the album's release. Curiously, the shorter version of the album would also be used for initial UsefulNotes/CompactDisc releases of the album despite the CD having an even greater capacity than the Compact Cassette (Creator/WarnerMusicGroup in general seemed to have cold feet towards [=CDs=] for a good chunk of the 80's), with the full version not arriving on the format until 1990 (albeit only in North America); this longer version would also be used for the 2005 remaster campaign of Talking Heads' back-catalog in all regions.

* ReCut: ''Speaking in Tongues'' has two different versions: a 41-minute cut released on LP and a 47-minute cut released on cassette. The 47-minute version includes extended versions of the tracks "Making Flippy Floppy", "Girlfriend Is Better", "Slippery People", "I Get Wild/Wild Gravity" and "Moon Rocks", likely included over the LP edits to capitalize on the Compact Cassette's status in the public consciousness at the time as ''the'' medium for extended versions of albums due to its longer playing time compared to [=LPs=]. Peculiarly, despite having an even longer maximum playing time than cassettes, early CD releases of ''Speaking in Tongues'' used the 41-minute version of the album; pressings from 1990 onwards use the 47-minute version, as by then, the CD had become a more widely-accepted medium for extended versions of albums. Given that the added verses in the extended version of "Girlfriend is Better" were included in live performances (as documented in ''Film/StopMakingSense''), not to mention how the audio is sourced directly from the original master rather than a multi-generation safety tape, fans generally consider the 47-minute version of ''Speaking in Tongues'' to be the definitive one. Oddly enough, the full version is only still in print in North America; all repressings in Europe are of the truncated LP edit. The longer cut is still available online, as digital music distribution has become the format for extended albums in the 21st century.

On a more trivial note, this album was one of the first to take advantage of the larger capacity of the Compact Cassette format, with cassette releases of the album featuring extended versions of the tracks "Making Flippy Floppy", "Girlfriend is Better", "Slippery People", "I Get Wild/Wild Gravity", and "Moon Rocks", resulting in this version running approximately 6 minutes longer than the LP release. Curiously, the shorter version of the album would also be used for initial UsefulNotes/CompactDisc releases of the album despite the CD having an even greater capacity than the Compact Cassette (Creator/WarnerMusicGroup in general seemed to have cold feet towards [=CDs=] for a good chunk of the 80's), with the full version not arriving on the format until 1990 (albeit only in North America); this longer version would also be used for the 2005 remaster campaign of Talking Heads' back-catalog in all regions.