Live in Rome (1980)

“December 18, 1980; Palazzo dello Sport (PalaEUR), Rome, Italy. Look, I love Stop Making Sense as much as the next guy, but it's time we start talking more about Live in Rome. This is a spikier, meaner, messier, jammier Talking Heads with the same musical dexterity as the band in 1983 but with the rough edges of their CBGB salad days still on display. Mutant art punk-funk with a big emphasis on the boom (Busta Jones is here on bass alongside Tina Weymouth, and lemme tell you, his playing adds a ton to this concert, and the tone he uses on his guitar is gloriously filthy). Compared to SMS, it's not better, it's not worse, just different (on a performance level, I mean--the cinematography of the Rome show is not meant to be what Demme was looking to accomplish, so it's not worth comparing). Lovers of Remain in Light (and aren't we all) will delight in having sweet, sweet performances of "Houses in Motion," "Born Under Punches" and "The Great Curve" all lined up at the end*, and Adrian Belew is still around at this point to serve up some of his elastic-bombastic guitar alchemy to keep things strange. Special shoutouts to "Drugs" (peak evil Talking Heads) and Weymouth's outfit, specifically when she walks on stage wearing the RiL bombers bomber jacket. *They weren't actually played in that order. When cutting the video for this performance, songs were rearranged and, alas, just like SMS, some songs were dropped. I enjoy streaming concert recordings on my TV at home for either active viewing or invigorating the room while I do chores. I'll periodically share more live performances that I've treated my ears & eyes to for these purposes.”

“You haven't lived until you've heard a vibey version of "Houses in Motion" live”