Television!!!

[Big Al]

Yet another reason why Rhino is truly the greatest thing to happen to music since Al Lion landed on the shores.

I've always been curious about this group, but never had the nerve to actually plop down the money for their albums. I just figured that Marquee Moon was just another critics darling, overrated as most critical darling albums are.

I am happy to admit that, once again, I was wrong!

The Fort Worth public library inexplicably has the remastered versions of MM and Adventure, and I will be purchasing these albums posthaste (or at least asking them for my birthday coming up in a few weeks! ).

Now I understand where groups like Talking Heads, Sonic Youth, R.E.M., U2, etc got all their ideas. That guitar interplay is nothing short of telepathic. Plus, I love it that they originally wanted to record their first album at Van Gelder's studio. How cool is that?

Rhino Handmade is offering a live album by these guys that I'm contemplating getting. Figure if MM is any indication, these guys musta KILLED live! Anybody here remember when their albums came out? Or seen 'em live?

Ah, another happy discovery in the vast array of good undiscovered (by me, anyway) music!

[ghost of miles]

Hey Al, check out earlier Organissimo discussion of Television here. Believe it or not, Television--the original band--still gigs from time to time. What I wouldn't give to see that...

[ralphie_boy]

Marquee Moon is a landmark guitar album! For those players and guitar fans that have never heard Tom Verlaine's or Richard Lloyd's playing, I recommend running out and picking this up ASAP.

[Chrome]

Didn't Richard Lloyd also play on some Matthew Sweet discs?

[BruceH]

"Life in the hive puckered up my night--

The kiss of death the embrace of life--"

[Eric]

Big Al and BFrank,

I picked up the live album on Rhino on a lark and love it. They sound great - raw and in your face. Among other things, they play a wicked version of "Satisfaction". If you like MM, you will love this!

Eric

PS Lloyd did play on several M Sweet CDs ...

[Big Al]

Thanks for the link, Ghost! I feel kinda silly, getting all caught up in my excitement and not doing a search first. Oh well; guess you can't have too many Television threads.

Can't decide which album I like better: MM or Adventure. Each one has it's redeeming merits, but those vocal harmonies on "Glory" and "Days" just make me tingle! So sweet! But then, life doesn't get much better than when "Venus de Milo," "Friction," "Marquee Moon," and "Prove It" are blaring through the speakers (and for my money, "MM" could've gone on for another 60 minutes and I still woulda loved it!)

That live album keeps getting more appealing the more you guys talk about it!

[Joe]

Now all you need is to snag a copy of Richard Hell's BLANK GENERATION -- Robert Quine... -- and the live TV set THE BLOW-UP and you'll be in NYC scum-rock (a compliment, BTW) heaven!

[Brandon Burke]

Yes, Lloyd has done work outside of Television, too. I recommend his solo album "Alchemy". Slightly more "pop" than Television or Verlaine's solo work, but really good.

Lloyd was recently here in Austin touring with the reunited Rocket from the Tombs; takning the place of a now-deceased original member. RFTT was an Ohio band that never even made a legitimate album but split up into the Dead Boys and Pere Ubu. The set ended with "Sonic Reducer" as well as a number of Pere Ubu classics ("30 Seconds Over Tokyo", "Final Solution", "Heart of Darkness", "Life Stinks", etc).

[ghost of miles]

Lloyd was recently here in Austin touring with the reunited Rocket from the Tombs; takning the place of a now-deceased original member.

Peter Laughner?! Check out the essay on Laughner in Lester Bangs' PSYCHOTIC REACTIONS and posted here.

[Big Al]

I wish! I live in culturally-deprived DFW, TX! -_- Ah well, the records are good enough for now!

[Brandon Burke]

Lloyd was recently here in Austin touring with the reunited Rocket from the Tombs; takning the place of a now-deceased original member.

Peter Laughner?! Check out the essay on Laughner in Lester Bangs' PSYCHOTIC REACTIONS and posted here.

Yup. That's it.

[AmirBagachelles]

I thought it would be fun to revive this thread with an emphasis on Tom Verlaine. I played the instrumental album from last year, pretty dull, but then I went back to the live half of the Miller's Tale anthology and was re-blown away, so I have been trying to go back and find my old favorite tracks on the few solo records I own, Flashlight and TV s/t. Flash Lightning, Red Leaves, many great song grooves on s/t with subtle guitar noises, dynamics, excellent stuff. I remember now that I held Flashlight in highest regard, no point in ever playing it less than start-to-finish (much like Marquee Moon). TV is a master of mood, amazing capabilities, at age 47 I think I like listening to Adventure now more than Marquee Moon, which by my own reckless overuse is nearly consigned to the classic rock bin of my mind. I have Songs from last year, I will give that a listen for the first time today. I see a few other highly regarded titles are OOP or have been indifferently issued on CD, what a shame. Will we ever get a shot at new reissues of Dreamtime and The Wonder? This is great rock.

Edited July 8, 2007 by AmirBagachelles

[AmirBagachelles]

Sound is EXCELLENT on that '92 show, merely some club/crowd noise (try EQing it down). This was very well recorded, and the performance is GREAT. You can't pass this up if you like this band. I got it free with the trial subscription (along with a nice Robyn Hitchcock record), then cancelled out.