(TV) This Will probably Just Throw Gasoline On the Fire[?] / Who Plays What When / Tom's vs Richard's Style

["Casey, Leo J" <Leo.J.Casey@Volpe.dot.gov>]

I totally agree with the head vs heart analogy.

But be careful:  a important distinction is that 
I said Tom could play just as good a solo in that 
same slot in the song (albeit most likely 
different) but I never said he could or would 
play the *same* solo that Richard chose or 
would chose. 

IMHO,Richard is probably more technically precise, 
knows more about guitar theory, etc., whereas 
Verlaine is more of a 'feel' player, and most 
important (to me at least) his style involves 
more improvisation---he never ever plays the 
exact same solo twice--something you can't claim 
about Richard. Whenever I go to NYC I always 
make sure I catch both shows if they play on 
consecutive nights, and on several of these 
pairings of shows, Richard's solos, although 
impressive, were almost exactly the same both 
nights, whereas Tom's were very different.

But replication and exactness have their own 
virtues---you're just about guaranteed to hear 
great stuff from Richard on any given every night, 
as you get solos that don't vary very much from 
night to night (if at all), whereas with Tom it's 
more risky--some nights his more improvisational 
approach fails him---his inspiration or creativity or 
magic is off that particular night for whatever  
reason (woman troubles? someone plagiarized a line 
from one of his songs, out of smokes :>)  ), but 
despite that I much prefer his style for the very 
reason he takes more risks and improvises a great 
deal more than Richard.

I saw this recently (don't understand why I didn't 
see it long time ago;  it was uncanny--it even 
scared me a little because it seemed like the writer 
could read my mind----in that it's exactly the way 
I feel about some of Richard's live performances in 
Television (Apologizes to the person Mr. J.,  
who I'm stealing this from--(sue me!), and I have to 
qualify it: the writer was talking about just one 
specific show):

"Consider the style of Lloyd's guitar playing in contrast 
to Verlaine's; before there was a telepathy between them 
which often seems missing here. It's now a band with two 
great guitarists with very different approaches and 
fifteen[written for 1992] years of history of doing 
very different things. Whereas in the past the contrast 
in their styles often resulted in a tension that produced 
some unexpected wonders, here there is an air 
of... politeness, if you like, as if they were 
trying to avoid stepping on each others' toes."

"...But, just to get my main problem out of the way, 
1880 or So is a perfect example of what I mean. Lloyd 
and Verlaine both take solos; Verlaine's ****fits in with 
the tone of the song and Lloyd's just doesn't - it's a 
great "rock" guitar solo but it sounds like Richard Lloyd 
guesting at a Tom Verlaine concert. Again, in "Beauty 
Trip", there's a Lloyd solo which is, in the end, just too 
predictable; there's nothing wrong with it - in fact 
a great heavy metal guitar solo - but it just doesn't 
seem to belong....." *****

By the way, who ever equated faster with quality---- by 
that yardstick Alvin Lee or Van Halen would be tops! 
And besides, who says Verlaine can't play fast (if he 
wanted to)? IMHO, he's more concerned and interested in 
nuance, emotional effect; will he be able to negotiate 
his high wire act without a net; will he be able to 
successfully extricate himself from a potential dead-end 
[e.g., listen to the ending solo on Dreamtime's 
"Without A Word", albeit not live]; can he pull-off 
something different and creative; whether the tone 
or essence of a solo is appropriate or fits the 
song-----but not in Olympian showing off with 
sheer speed.  I'm not claiming Tom is explicitly 
thinking analyzing any of this as he's playing. 
Richard is more mechanical an incredible, well oiled, 
impressive machine [not meant as a putdown]; Tom's 
playing is more out of 'left field' . 

Moreover, rgarding: 'faster': listen to 'Live at The 
Academy, Dec. 4, 1992', on "1880 Or So" he's 
like freakin' Ravi Shankar on methedrine!; or listen to 
1987 April 26[?], at The Ritz for his super sped-up, 
mad 4-minute dash on the end of Glory, or better yet, 
what about those versions of MM Richard and he did a 
lot of in 2004-2005---the rave-up, frenzied, version 
(the ones with lots of false endings)? 

I don't want to insult anyone, least of all Richard's 
playing.  We're not going to change anyone's opinion on 
who's a better player, who can play what that the other 
guy can't, etc.,  It's all subjective. It's all a matter 
of taste; it's all about what you prefer. (Although I've 
always found that somewhat troubling, in the sense that 
from that it necessarily follows that The Eagles are 
just as good a band as Television.)
	Leo
 

PS: Just for the record though--IMHO, I believe Tom could 
replicate note for note any solo Richard does/did (at 
whatever speed you choose (as long as it's not before 2pm). 
But that's not Verlaine, he' be bored to death with that; 
he'd think, so what, what's the point?. (Ut oH! maybe I 
should have said that in private?)
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