(TV) Verlaine reissue reviews in NY Daily News

[Phil Obbard <pobbard@yahoo.com>]

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2008/08/22/2008-08-22_tom_verlaines_not_just_a_television_star.html


Tom Verlaine's not just a Television star

Friday, August 22nd 2008,  4:00 AM 

Everyone can name rock's guitar gods: Hendrix, Clapton, Page, Beck and their brilliant ilk.

Far fewer know the six-string magic of Tom Verlaine. At best, they recognize the name of his band Television, one of the mainstays of New York '70s punk and the first band ever to play original material at CBGB's. Television put out two sainted albums in their initial run ("Marquee Moon" and "Glory"). Then Verlaine moved on to a solo career with music that grew more languid, and commercially doomed, over time. 

His solo music started stronger than it has ended up. As luck would have it, Warner Bros. has just rereleased two of his catchiest and most creative works - his second and third solo albums, "Dreamtime" and "Words From the Front," respectively. 

"Dreamtime" is the more instantly embraceable work. It has all the fury and focus of TV's classic albums, starting with the first track, "There's a Reason," which re-creates the old band's bent for fierce, interlocking riffs.  Songs like
"Penetration" and "Fragile" feature singable pop choruses, a rarity in Verlaine's elliptical work. But they don't stint on the driving guitar riffs or lunar tone. There's a great variety in guitar sounds here, from the Byrds-like jangle of "Fragile" to the Stones-like cool of "A Future in Noise." 

The "Words" CD goes for something artier and more arid, especially in the opaque nine-minute closer, "Days on the
Mountain." But the disk also features some assertive riffs and, in its more luminescent sections, achieves a glow guitar fans dream of. 


--Phil
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