Can you think of any bands you don't listen to because they just sound way too much like the band they are? Do you know what I mean by that? I'm sure it's the reason people don't like Peter Gabriel a lot of the time, even if they can't really articulate it in those terms.

It's like: I can't listen to Belle and Sebastian, because when I listen to them I just find myself going, "Jesus, I wish they sounded less like Belle and Sebastian, are they parodying themselves or what?" It's an interesting thing, because it's not like I particularly dislike Belle and Sebastian, it's just that... well, I don't know.

Arcade Fire have released three albums now that, for the most part, sound pretty different from each other. At the heart there is the warmth that radiates from within every Arcade Fire song, that thing you feel within their music more than you hear it distinctly, but the actual music surrounding it doesn't sound like every other song by them.

It's probably rose-tinted glasses. We like what we are most used to, and when struck in the face with something we aren't used to, we recoil in horror and pick out all the differences, declare them as dislikes.

I'd say Talking Heads are one of the best examples of this. There is no band that sounds more like Talking Heads than Talking Heads. What do you even say to someone who asks you what Talking Heads sound like? Well, they sound like Oingo Boingo, but not insane---but then what is left after you remove the insanity from Oingo Boingo? How about, imagine if during Peter Gabriel's initial World Music binge, instead of going in the direction of melodrama, sexual innuendo, and theatrics, he instead applied a punk aesthetic to his music and wrote obtuse songs about the human condition? Can't imagine that? OK, me neither, but I think it would sound a bit like Talking Heads.

That ended up being my barrier for entry to Talking Heads. Every time I thought about listening to them I kept thinking about all the times I heard "Once in a Lifetime" and "Burning Down The House" on JackFM and figured, well, I've probably heard all that is worth hearing if those are really their best songs. I never heard anything from anyone indicating that there is much more to Talking Heads besides the music video for "Once in a Lifetime" being great.

But I gave them a chance, and it turns out that Talking Heads do sound too much like Talking Heads for me to stomach, even if I try. I enjoy "Stop Making Sense" a whole lot. It is a fantastic live album, probably more solidly entertaining than any other live album I've heard, and a fantastic concert film.

Even without a giant inflatable ball rolling around the stage threatening to crush his band mates (like in Peter Gabriel's delightfully over-the-top Growing Up tour), David Byrne has a commanding, inspiring presence on the stage. Bassist Tina Weymouth looks like she's having such a good time every second she's on stage that you can't help but feel a little giddy yourself about what you're witnessing. To imagine yourself taking part in it, well, that's just over the top. I enjoyed every moment.

That said, I moved on to "Remain In Light"---I think because the gist on the internet is that it's their first real breakthrough album---and I just couldn't get through all of it. I even got all the way up to track 10, but I just didn't have the patience for it. The whole World Music thing is just so incredibly cheesy, and they're wrapping these overly long, abstract songs in multiple layers of it, and loudly, too.

That's why "Stop Making Sense" seems to work so well, even when they go into World Music mode it still doesn't sound as over the top as it does in the recorded versions. There's something about the way they mix their albums, a lack of expansive reverb maybe, that makes it feel like every single instrument is directly in your face, playing at full volume, each one competing for your attention. In a live setting, every instrument sounds settled into a natural place on the stage. There's a comfortable amount of reverb (listen to that guitar ring out on this song, it's absolutely gorgeous). Everything just sounds nice and clear.

So, for my Talking Heads fix, I'll stick to "Stop Making Sense" and not branch out much further. It was fun, trying to fall in love with Talking Heads (the same way I tried, and mostly failed, with Daft Punk), and now I don't have to have people go "You've never listened to Talking Heads?!" in my face anymore. Also, I more clearly understand where Dirty Projectors gets a lot of their shtick from.

Oh, and if I wasn't clear: man this song is so good.