Speaking In Tongues (studio album) by Talking Heads
Condition: Very Good
Talking Heads bestography
Speaking In Tongues is ranked 3rd best out of 15 albums by Talking Heads on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Talking Heads is Remain In Light which is ranked number 29 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 33,941.
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Speaking In Tongues track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 84 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Speaking In Tongues rankings
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Speaking In Tongues collection
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Speaking In Tongues ratings

where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
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Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 693 ratings for this album.
Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
---|---|---|---|---|
55/100 ![]() | 13 hours ago | ![]() | ![]() | 75/100 |
85/100 ![]() | 3 days ago | VintageVinyl | ![]() | 90/100 |
100/100 ![]() | 06/26/2022 06:47 | RemainInLight | ![]() | 41/100 |
90/100 ![]() | 06/26/2022 02:27 | Rm12398 | ![]() | 76/100 |
80/100 ![]() | 06/13/2022 19:05 | kriss2012 | ![]() | 70/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 80.6/100, a mean average of 80.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 80.7/100. The standard deviation for this album is 12.6.
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Speaking In Tongues comments
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This Must Be The Place is great and is my favourite Talking Heads song, Slippery People and Burning Down The House are good too, but I was a bit disappointed with the rest of the album.
This album does have some good moments but is let down by the production amongst other things. Most tracks on here are very easy to groove to and are also very easy listening so make a smooth album. The lyrics are also amazing pretty much the whole way through and are the crowning achievement for this record. The vocal is consistent as well and when you add all this together it creates a pretty decent listen. What holds it back is the production which doesn't let some of the instruments properly shine in moments when they are incredible. Also, it make the music feel less cohesive. Some tracks as well are a bit weaker than their usual standard and there is no song on here which truly stuns me away with the quality. Overall, the album is pretty good and I can see why this rougher style may appeal to other people but for me I prefer their more polished and complete work.
This album, front to back, is full of absolutely incredible songwriting. Every song on here SHOULD be an absolute banger. However, the production just sucks dookie. The opener and closer sound awesome, but everything else sounds so muffled and pathetic. It's a shame too, because "Making Flippy Floppy" has an incredible bass line, but you can barely hear it. If you want to hear better versions of most songs on this thing, listen to any of the Talking Head's live albums. Everything sounds much more powerful and fun on those albums.
Another great, funky record by Talking Heads. You can't help to AT LEAST bob your head along to most of the tracks here. I keep coming back to this one ever once in a while and always love it.
Favorite Tracks: This Must Be the Place, Girlfriend is Better, Burning Down the House

Favourite track: "This Must Be The Place"
Least-liked track: "Swamp"
The odd ball production and quietly paranoid lyrics really give this album a charm. The second half does have some hollow lyrics but is still catchy. And of course "This must be the place" may be the best love song ever written with a beautiful ending note.

Fantastically catchy and crazy album. Each track excels beyond belief and the synth work is stunning. Shows the incredible potential of an amazing band, even without the production of Brian Eno.

Great album, but many songs on this are far better on Stop Making Sense
For me, this is Talking Heads' crowning achievement. Every single groove is wonderful. Super catchy hooks and some masterful synth work. Remain In Light is fantastic but falls short of this in terms of consistency. Whenever I put this on, it's a real shame when it ends.
100/100

While I really enjoy Remain in Light, this is by far my favourite Talking Heads album I’ve heard so far and has spurred me on to explore the parts of their discography that I have yet to delve into.
The opener is amazing, actually the first three tracks are amazing, all very listenable. The rest of the album up until the penultimate track varies from good to great, and said penultimate track ‘Pull Up the Roots’ is another amazing one and the closer ‘This Must Be the Place’ is one of my favourite songs and is one of the best album closers of the 80s.
This album is one that I loved from the first listen, and I have found myself sticking it on more often than any of the other TH/David Byrne albums that I own.
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