The 16 song version is the best live album ever made period, not one dud all great songs, original and unique(with the exception of take me to the river if memory serves me correctly)
Probably the only album I would give a 10/10 for.
Genius.
Edit I would give substance 1987 a 10 if compilations were allowed. The songs on both were reworked i believe and sent them from good/very good to perfection.
Except the fact that imo honest opinion it isnt really "live" Ive watched the BluRay of this album and although I know were not reviewing the the film here, the two are intertwined.
Dare I say that it's almost
too good. How can David Byrne do a 5 minutes jog around the stage and then continue to sing without sounding out of breath? Was he just in great shape? Likewise the bass and one of the guitars: is it easy to play while running in place like that?
While watching the current DVD release, I was watching / listening to "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)", and he's still monkeying with the mike stand when (audio) his vocal comes back on full volume even though (video) the mike is away from his mouth at that time.
The part where the band does Tom Tom Club Genius of Love, track 13...mid way through the track;
@ 1hr 27 min and 42 seconds - Tina Weymouth (bass player) appears to me NOT playing the bass track anymore. Up to that point it was very much her but after her dancing around the stage a bit, clearly to me thats not her playing bass, it does not sync whats so ever.
Actually, it was filmed over three nights. I believe it went like this: they chose one audio performance for each song but the first night they filmed straight ahead, the second night they filmed from the left, the third from the right. Or similar. So there are a lot of parts out of sync. There WERE overdubs, and maybe even an above average number compared to most live LPs.
However I really like the album, its a very nice listen and some nice quirky and catchy songs.
I dont consider David in any way a great singer, in fact this album loses points because his voice gets monotone and slightly boring. Yes there's quite a few fillers. But some great Toones also !
I never got really into TH as much as The Police in the New Wave genre but I did enjoy their singles.
Its not a classic imo but I do like it. And I enjoyed listening again AND watching the film. In defense of TH I dont know of any unedited or re-recorded parts on "Live" albums, unless they are Bootlegs or old Jazz recordings. (of which there are hundreds) My favourite Live albums are, Yessongs and Weather Reports, Live In Tokyo... they were also edited.
Im giving it 6/10