Friday, August 12, 2011

An ode to live performances

So here's what's what. Sometimes the live version just blows the album out of the water. That's the case with many songs performed in the Talking Heads documentary Stop Making Sense, which, dare I say, is the best "rock n' roll" documentary I've ever watched. I saw it at the Bloor Cinema a few years ago and it turned me from a flakey, occasional listener into a full fledged Talking Heads fan.

Here's why I love this part of the movie that I've provided for your viewing pleasure. It gave Talking Heads lead singer David Byrne the opportunity to go backstage and change into his infamous "Big Suit", while showcasing the talents of bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer/husband Chris Frantz as they play a song from their side-project band Tom Tom Club. Also it made me realize that I wanted to be Tina Weymouth, mostly because she's gorgeous, talented, and married to a hot man, but even more so because I want her outfit. Unfortunately I found out that it's on display at "The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" in Cleveland, Ohio, which is sort of a waste of an awesome outfit if you ask me.

Apparently Weymouth was told by the director that this song was not going to be featured in the final cut of the film, but that they were just performing to keep the audience happy. She was apparently a little angry when it did end up in the movie, but I think she's crazy because like I said at the beginning of this rambling post, sometimes the live performance is just better than the album.

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