(TV) Christgau on Television

["stephen wilson" <stephen_nehpets@hotmail.com>]

Pardon me if this has already been posted; I found it at Robt. Christgau's 
website.
(These are they" - what a card!)

> > > > TELEVISION
Marquee Moon
Elektra/Rhino

TELEVISION
Adventure
Elektra Rhino

TELEVISION
Live at the Old Waldorf 1978
Rhino Handmade


Once upon a time, Television seemed like a band that might make it, because 
with their reasonable tempos and long guitar solos they resembled other 
bands--more than the rest of CBGB's protopunk riff-raff, anyway. In 
retrospect, however, Television seem like a band that could never have made 
it, because they actually resemble no one before or since. Utterly dominated 
by the strangulated vocals and self-taught guitar of Tom Verlaine ne Miller, 
who never came up with such compelling music during a productive solo career 
that lasted twice as long as the group's, they are the very model of the 
world-historic cult band. Although their studio albums have been findable on 
CD, this reissue is a boon. Incredibly, the expanded Marquee Moon and 
Adventure each include a bonus track you should own--the debut single 
"Little Johnny Jewel" and the lost title track "Adventure." And the punchy 
new live set dwarfs ROIR's renowned The Blow-Up on audio alone.

Television didn't last because Verlaine couldn't tolerate junkies--bassist 
Richard Hell, whose sense of style defined punk with the Heartbreakers and 
his own Voidoids after Verlaine replaced him with Fred Smith, and then 
guitarist Richard Lloyd, whose choppy rhythm riffs and poppy solos were the 
essential foil to Verlaine's hand-looped excursions. These now recall Neil 
Young and even Jerry Garcia more than nascent new wavers would have dreamed 
at the time, only Verlaine got an unfashionably mellow sound out of the 
Jazzcaster and other Fender classics he favored--Young's was rawer, Garcia's 
cleaner. But with Lloyd countering him, Smith supporting him, and 
mysteriously obscure drummer Billy Ficca driving him, the band's dynamic 
tension epitomized nerve-wracking excitement.

But it wasn't all guitars. Mewl about image all you want--CBGB was a song 
scene, and Television wrote great songs. Verlaine's solos didn't generate 
much melody, but his hooks were dynamite, and though he named himself after 
a poet he wasn't just an metaphor-slinger--in among the seductive 
obscurities are demotic gems like "I fell right into the arms of Venus de 
Milo." Marquee Moon is the must-have--one of the great debut albums, period. 
But collect the whole set. Like the man says, "Prove it, just the facts." 
These are they.

Tracks, Jan. 2004

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