I'm with @englishbob on this LP release having a massive FOMO vibe. The more I read through all these posts, the more I realized I'm not such a huge fan to 'need' the extra tracks on vinyl. Perhaps a future hi-res download.... Otherwise, this has been and will always be a 'live-at-the-theater' experience for me. In college, we used to dance in the aisles at the fairly regular re-showings (in the beautiful Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, MI - mid-80's). I'll go with a someday 4K blu ray dance at home experience if I can. These expensive LP editions with materials I'll look at once and then put away for good make too much cents for me!
The BluRay is a good value step up from the DVD. I'm glad I got it. I don't have a 4k system (yet) but this would be on my wishlist if I did.
It's not uncommon considering that film archiving is notoriously labyrinthine; in the event that the master negative can't be located, a reissue will just use the best-quality source available, much like the process of audio remastering (case in point, every reissue of In the Court of the Crimson King prior to the Original Master Edition in 2004). To give an example that appears to parallel what's going on with Stop Making Sense, the Blu-ray release of Project A-ko was originally going to be a standard definition release taken from the videotape copies used for the prior LaserDisc release. However, partway through the production process, the restoration staff rediscovered the 35mm master negative, which had previously been misplaced due to a clerical error, and overhauled the project to instead be an HD restoration from that.
I just asked Chris on Facebook: Chris, does this mean A24's planned 4K re-release was not going to be from the original negative? And does this discovery change anything? And his reply was: No, our team and A24 have been working together to find it. So it sounds to me like they were going to re-release it one way or another and announced it in hopes of finding the original negative, which they did. I guess if they didn’t find it, the plan was to use a dupe negative, or an existing print, or tried to up-res and earlier transfer.
Any idea if the 4K rerelease will contain Cities and Big Business/I Zimbra …. Apologies if this has been answered before.
Has the original negative been used as source for any previous home releases? The BluRay was the first release I've seen where the main film was much better quality than the two extra tracks, but it sounds from this news that the negative wasn't the source for that release.
It will include Cities and Big Business/I Zimbra where they were supposed to be. That was in the press release.
The press release stated those songs would be included in the soundtrack release, but never stated whether or not they would be included in the film.
I grew up watching the VHS so for me it makes more sense with than without. To my then-5-year old perspective, those two songs were highlights. Plus, "Big Business" on SMS is far superior to and quite different from the slower solo version. In contrast I always thought "Genius of Love" messed up the flow (as much as I love the studio version, I still think this version was simply obnoxious.) Also never liked "Take Me to The River" or "Swamp." Definitely prefer "I Zimbra/Big Business" and "Cities" to any of those.
I think reunited bands who want to release new music should start with a song or e.p. and take critical reviews to heart. One bum reunion single wouldn't hurt their legacy, but when you get to the point you are releasing substantial amounts of new music that doesn't live up to your legacy (coughpixiescough) it hurts your legacy. If Pixies tour now, instead of hearing mostly what I want to hear, I assume I will hear a lot of new stuff I don't care about. If you want to record stuff, record away and generally keep it to yourselves, or release it under a different name unless you are certain it actually adds to your legacy. Comeback releases under the band name should be classic or nothing. In fact, I say the older a band gets the more important self editing should be but the less likely they are to do it because of mistaken overconfidence and a desire for financial capitalization. Finding awareness that the freshness of youth is gone and that maturing in ways that don't sound complacent or past expiration date is tough. Personally, I don't want Talking Heads to release new music, and the reason is because I don't even like most of Byrne's solo stuff, much less The Heads and Tom Tom Club after their debut. I don't think they've still "got it." Byrne's recent American Utopia live choreographed stuff was cringe and the music was not good. On the other hand, maybe the Heads (I'm guessing specifically Harrison, and certainly Eno) were what kept him grounded and gave him better editing so he could produce good art? Maybe he should just employ them as his backing band on a solo album?
A reunion tour would be very nice though, and would make them major bank. As someone said, a winking "Start Making Cents" cash in tour would be awesome. 50 year old bands where all the core members are still alive are rare. Life is short. Plus most all of both expanded band lineup members (Belew, Steve Scales, Alex Weir, Lynn Mabry, Ednah Holt, Nona Hendryx) except for Bernie Worrell and Busta Jones are still alive I think.
Agree on the ill conceived Frantz autobiography, it really made him look like a giant douche. I’m amazed no one close to him was smart enough to tell him how bad he looked after writing it. The half of it that isn’t devoted to bagging Byrne is spent listing what he had for dinner each night, what clothes he wore each day and what drugs he was taking as well as capturing in mind numbing detail only the obscure tidbits he added to the small handful of TH songs he had a vague involvement in writing. Anything Byrne contributed (ie the majority of the songwriting and artistic direction as TH matured) was routinely skipped over.
With Chris and Tina being married, I think it honestly made the band dynamics too complicated. They wanted it to be democratic and that means combined they already control half the vote and are prone to taking the same side. It also means you can't fire one without losing the other. I have to wonder if Byrne wanted to replace Tina with Busta Jones but couldn't do so without losing Chris too. The end of the expanded band, one of the greatest live groups ever, was because Tina and Chris thought they were lost in the mix. Seems like a pain to deal with people worried about personal ego in a group like that. I can understand them being bitter about Byrne getting all the credit, so go earn more acclaim with Tom Tom Club or some other project then? I don't think fans ever diminished their contributions to the band which were obvious. I have no doubt Byrne wanted to go solo and dumped them in the way he did because he was tired of dealing with their ego b.s. With Chris and Tina seemingly lacking self-reflection and blaming Byrne for everything, they shot their chances of an earlier reunion in the foot. If they reunite now it is because Byrne overlooked years of bitter talk and jealousy in order to cash in on their legacy.
This is my very favourite film, but I have to respectfully disagree. Stop Making Sense is the rare concert film that turns civilians INTO Talking Heads fans. The cut songs, although INCREDIBLE, mess with the overall timing and flow of the picture--the arc. Similarly, the inclusion of the Tom Tom Club song is essential to the reveal of the suit.