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DaltonMaltz

Episode 99 - Sign o' the Times vs. Stop Making Sense

By DaltonMaltz, in The Canon

Sign o' the Times vs. Stop Making Sense  

58 members have voted

  1. 1. Which movie should be inducted into the Canon?

    • Sign o' the Times
      9
    • Stop Making Sense
      49

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sycasey 2.0    2301

sycasey 2.0
Posted

DUDE! not even joking- Maybe the next VS should be LOTR trilogy V the hours of The Making of footage.

 

Please don't make me watch all of that.

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Susan*    135

Susan*
Posted

Stop Making Sense should be viewed as a film. I happen to think it's one of Demme's 2-3 best films, and that's saying something. (I didn't like Philadelphia but that wasn't his fault.)

 

The fact that it's really, really hard to make a concert film that works brilliantly as a film supports how worthy Stop Making Sense is.

 

I'm a bit irritated at the comments re DVD extras. Maybe you didn't watch the film with good sound in the proper state of mind. It's fine if it's just not your thing. We've repeatedly explored the genre of movies that strongly appeal to teenage boys/young men. Giving one podcast slot out of 100 to a film that celebrates musicianship isn't a lot to ask. I'd like to advocate for more podcasts where we explore something different, even though I know we will get a lot more like Ghostbusters and Kahn.

 

I love music and especially live music. One of the reasons I spend so much time and money on live music is for those special moments that you can't get elsewhere. Sometimes it's something that happens between an artist and an audience. Rarely, it's something that happens within the audience itself. But usually my favorite moment will be a few seconds of something I notice between members of the band. I tend to like music made by bands rather than a solo artist. I've come to realize that many people either never have that love of live music or they outgrow it. I have friends who think it's crazy how much it matters to me. Anyhow ---- there are moments that Demme captured in Stop Making Sense that captured what I love. Amy mentioned the interplay between Byrne and the back up singers. For me it mostly comes from Alex Weir, and Steve Scales. It's a combination of musicianship and the complete enjoyment of the moment within that performance. Obviously this is just my opinion and it's personal to me.

 

While I think the versus episodes work best when we have advocates fighting opposite positions, I enjoyed the discussion in this episode. I don't have to agree -- taste in music (and film/art) is very personal. But I don't mind hearing from people I disagree with if their opinion is informed. It's clear that Armond knew what he was talking about, even though I disagree with his conclusion that Talking Heads peaked really early and that Parade is Prince's best album. But he did make me dig out my old Prince albums to consider which one I think is best.

 

None of this is intended to be critical of others. I'm just glad that the podcast is back and I hope there will be some room going forward for things that might not have obvious appeal to the broadest majority or the most vocal.

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Susan*    135

Susan*
Posted

Sign O the Times has been on cable recently, so I recorded it and was able to see it again for the first time in about ten years. Prince just makes me smile so hard. I wish they would run it as a midnight movie locally again, so I could see it with an audience. Even on TV, it's still a movie worth seeing, but I wouldn't change my vote for Stop Making Sense.

 

(I still don't like the Sheena Easton part -- Prince tended to have questionable taste when it came to the singers he featured/supported.)

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