For me, seeing a band play live has this investigative edge to it: figuring out how, exactly, a band makes their particular aggregate noise is its own sort of joy beyond simply enjoying music as a presented whole.
Along those lines, more often than not, the Talking Heads escape easy dissection. Trying to pin down some musical element as a traditional guitar/bass/drum, some kind of keyboard, a nutty, left-field world-beat instrument, or simple studio magic is tough.
But that’s mostly boring precursor for this live video of them performing “Born Under Punches” in Rome. The song features, at various points: 3 different guitars (one of whom is Adrian Belew, who went on to front King Crimson), 2 different basses (who does that?!), 2 drummers, and that one spooky-looking lady who plays the shaker and sings backup harmony.
So, uh, yeah. Wasn’t gonna guess that without looking in the back of the book.
