Album artwork for True Stories, A Film By David Byrne: The Complete Soundtrack by Talking Heads

David Byrne was inspired by tabloid headlines to make his sole foray into feature-film directing, an ode to the extraordinariness of ordinary American life and a distillation of what was in his own idiosyncratic mind. Byrne plays a visitor to Virgil, Texas, who introduces us to the citizens of the town during preparations for its Celebration of Specialness. As shot by cinematographer Ed Lachman, Texas becomes a hyper-realistic late-capitalist landscape of endless vistas, shopping malls, and prefab metal buildings. In True Stories, Byrne uses his songs to stitch together pop iconography, voodoo rituals, and a singular variety show.
Byrne calls the record “An immersive audio voyage into the little town of Virgil, Texas, in the mid-eighties.” He continues, “I always imagined that the music written for True Stories should be heard as it is in the film. It makes the most sense this way. Me singing the song that was written for John Goodman’s character, Louis Fine, always felt weird to me. It was written for that character, not for me.”
True Stories, A Film by David Byrne: The Complete Soundtrack includes twenty-three songs, many of which are on CD and digital formats for the first time:
one previously unreleased version of Talking Heads’ “Dream Operator,” from the film, with Annie McEnroe on lead vocals;
three songs from the film that have previously been released only on the Talking Heads sets Dual Brick or Bonus Rarities & Outtakes;
five songs from the companion 1986 Talking Heads studio album True Stories;
fourteen songs from the 1986 film soundtrack album Sounds from True Stories: Music for Activities Freaks—previously released only on LP and cassette—performed by a wide range of artists from Kronos Quartet to Meredith Monk to Pops Staples to John Goodman.
The full album track list is below. More information about the Criterion release—which features a new, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by director Byrne and cinematographer Ed Lachman, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, supervised by Byrne, along with several other rare items—is available at criterion.com.

LP - Standard Black Vinyl - 2 Discs

CD - Standard CD

Talking Heads

True Stories, A Film By David Byrne: The Complete Soundtrack

Nonesuch
Album artwork for True Stories, A Film By David Byrne: The Complete Soundtrack by Talking Heads
LPx2

$39.99

Released 11/23/2018Catalog Number

A 574181

Learn more
Talking Heads

True Stories, A Film By David Byrne: The Complete Soundtrack

Nonesuch
Album artwork for True Stories, A Film By David Byrne: The Complete Soundtrack by Talking Heads
LPx2

$39.99

Released 11/23/2018Catalog Number

A 574181

Learn more

David Byrne was inspired by tabloid headlines to make his sole foray into feature-film directing, an ode to the extraordinariness of ordinary American life and a distillation of what was in his own idiosyncratic mind. Byrne plays a visitor to Virgil, Texas, who introduces us to the citizens of the town during preparations for its Celebration of Specialness. As shot by cinematographer Ed Lachman, Texas becomes a hyper-realistic late-capitalist landscape of endless vistas, shopping malls, and prefab metal buildings. In True Stories, Byrne uses his songs to stitch together pop iconography, voodoo rituals, and a singular variety show.
Byrne calls the record “An immersive audio voyage into the little town of Virgil, Texas, in the mid-eighties.” He continues, “I always imagined that the music written for True Stories should be heard as it is in the film. It makes the most sense this way. Me singing the song that was written for John Goodman’s character, Louis Fine, always felt weird to me. It was written for that character, not for me.”
True Stories, A Film by David Byrne: The Complete Soundtrack includes twenty-three songs, many of which are on CD and digital formats for the first time:
one previously unreleased version of Talking Heads’ “Dream Operator,” from the film, with Annie McEnroe on lead vocals;
three songs from the film that have previously been released only on the Talking Heads sets Dual Brick or Bonus Rarities & Outtakes;
five songs from the companion 1986 Talking Heads studio album True Stories;
fourteen songs from the 1986 film soundtrack album Sounds from True Stories: Music for Activities Freaks—previously released only on LP and cassette—performed by a wide range of artists from Kronos Quartet to Meredith Monk to Pops Staples to John Goodman.
The full album track list is below. More information about the Criterion release—which features a new, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by director Byrne and cinematographer Ed Lachman, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, supervised by Byrne, along with several other rare items—is available at criterion.com.

LP - Standard Black Vinyl - 2 Discs

CD - Standard CD