This raggedy audience recording finds the Crims on day 4 days of their first North American tour and the second of two nights in Montreal. You can definitely get a sense of just how shocking this lineup was at the time - especially Belew. Throughout the show, his guitar pushes into strange zones, oblique harmonies, weather fronts and disturbances, and all manner of industrial-sounding processes. While some in the crowd may have known of his work with Zappa, Bowie or the expanded Talking Heads, in this context he’s taking their ears into uncharted territories. However, he wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea at the time. The careful listener to this show will be able to hear snippets of snide commentary between songs from a couple of Belew-sceptics. Still, what do they know?
> His work in this and all of the other shows from this period remains outstanding representing a creative benchmark that, at the time of writing, resonates afresh despite the passing of 42 years.
