Re: (TV) Clarification / Fixated on a Tree / The MM List Blues / Past

[Maurice Rickard <maurice@mac.com>]

At 4:00 PM -0500 1/8/02, Casey, Leo J wrote:

> OK, I admit it, I was more than a
> little disappointed at the reaction
> to my last post

Leo--

I owe you more acknowledgement than I gave you.  As someone who just 
posted an off-the-cuff response to the thread, I'd meant to respond 
in detail at a later time.  So...now is that later time.  First off, 
thanks for going to the trouble of finding those articles and typing 
them up--I know I'd never seen them before.

I'll also say that for all of its perceived flaws, I'm kind of fond 
of "Travelling"--there's a great guitar tone, and it's got a groove. 
So lyrically it might be a bit dodgy, but it's one of those tunes I'm 
willing to forgive.  I dunno, it just hit me right when I first heard 
it, and I'm ok with that.  (Not that I'd want Tom's *whole output* to 
mirror it, but...I like it.  Tomatoes and brickbats may be sent to 
this address.)  OTOH, "Rotation"'s one-note bassline seems like a 
waste of Bill Laswell...but even so, I can get into the tune in a 
way.  Or maybe I'm just a sucker for certain tunes that have reached 
me at a certain time and place, as are we all.  (Film analogy: a 
director friend of mine *loves* _Days of Heaven_, which I admit is 
exquisitely shot, but I will insist is terribly acted and anemically 
plotted, and vice versa.  But it reached him at a time when he was 
really receptive to cinematography, and he's willing to forgive what 
I see as its many flaws.)  Oh, and in addition to "O Foolish Heart" 
being a classic song, the solo is just perfect.

I should also mention regarding _Cover_ that I think its high drum 
machine quotient may well have been an artifact of how Tom worked on 
it.  I think he said in the 1987 Musician interview that he knew 
studios that weren't busy, and when he had a song ready, he'd call 
them up, book some time, and work on it.  Since it was done in 
pieces, I'd think he'd use musicians who were available--but if no 
one were available, or not everyone, he'd opt for the drum machine or 
to play the part himself.  (Like the bass on "Swim.")  IIRC, he said 
in the interview that this was a fun way to work.

To address your theory that this was the closest he ever came to 
writing "commercially," I'd say that it might be possible, but I 
always thought that the Dave Bascome tracks and _the Wonder_ struck 
me at the time as being commercial gambits, if perhaps undercut by 
Tom's sensibilities, or perhaps a misunderstanding of what 
"commercial" is.  Not to denigrate it at all, because I think that 
some very interesting stuff can happen when someone *thinks* they're 
writing a pop song, but...isn't.  (That said, I generally don't 
listen much to the Bascome B-sides or _The Wonder_, but I will say 
that there's some very good songs in there, like the amazingly 
delicate and beautiful "Pillow." And "Call Me The" kicks major ass, 
d0o0oD!)

As for your point about TV's live song selection, I'd have to agree 
in theory based on the Chicago show.  I think we all agreed that 
there were more third album tracks than we would have preferred, 
taking up space that could have been given to certain old favorites. 
As for "Days," that's another one I'm unjustifiably okay with.

> Maybe I'm just suffering from the post
> Holidays and winter blues and my expectations
> for this list are too high.

I think everyone may still be getting back into the work routine 
after the holiday break.

> One: Could it be that
> a lot of people are satiated---they've
> finally OD-ed on TV.

I don't know if I'd call it an OD, but I certainly think that we had 
more traffic out of anticipation of the shows, and then the following 
show reports.  You'd certainly have some tapering off after that. 
Way back when, the list was indeed pretty infrequent and low-volume. 
Conversations ebb and flow...

> Two: Tom Verlaine has no confidence in
> himself.

Maybe.  Who knows?  Perhaps he has too much, and is waiting around 
for a fat contract or something...but what I know about it and $5 
will get you a soy mocha latte at the mega-coffee chain.  It _would_ 
be nice if some indie determined that they could sell X number of 
those three albums he has in the can.  And from Dan's review of the 
benefit show in September (re-read the Wire article the other 
evening; good job Dan), it would appear that Tom's still writing good 
tunes.  Of course, if he doesn't want to play the Music Industry 
game, it's his choice...but I _would_ like to hear those tunes.

> Three: "The past is not dead; in truth the
> past is not even past."

Been reading Faulkner again, have you?  Of course, this is true, 
particularly in a world with recordings.

I do have some other partly-formed thoughts about the articles, but 
I'll hold off clogging people's mailboxes for the moment.

Cheers,
Maurice
--
Maurice Rickard
http://mauricerickard.com/
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