Television

marquee moon was one of those instant classics that simply sounded fantastic on first listen (+put a lot of the contemporary stuff i was into at the time in its proper place) and still greets like an old friend when i hear it these days. maybe adventure even more.

I love the Adventure stuff on Live At the Old Waldorf, such a great document of the band live

yes, absolutely

the early demo stuff collected on the Poor Circulation boot CD is incredible as well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tMSNmKV1sk

I’m not sure what to look for on FB, but Lee Rosenbloom has an RIP.

First television song I ever heard was that amazing clip of them doing 'Foxhole' on the OGWT, that made me want to buy a guitar like nothing else i'd ever seen. Adventure was always precious to me because of that tune

Jonathan Paley as well, in a Verlaine group on FB

Xp

50 minutes ago. Cites a “close family friend” as source.
(xp)

Man, this sucks. Pretty much everything this guy did after the first Television album was almost an afterthought, certainly overlooked, but what more did he have to prove? It's a blessing and a curse to start your career with an album that helps change the course of music. RIP.

So weird the way you clue into death. I saw someone had put up a "Marquee Moon"-related post on FB. Then a second one, but I still didn't make the connection. Then a Television thread at the top of ILM and it was clear.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/28/arts/music/tom-verlaine-influential-guitarist-and-songwriter-dies-at-73.html

RIP

Love his first solo album. Can you imagine being covered by Bowie? Only a few got that privilege.

RIP ;_;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyQBLQgVblY

Went looking for the solo version and had no idea Television had done this back in 1975

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=032bsV9SeWg

saw him at a WMFU record fair once. didn't expect him to be so tall! John Lurie too - like standing next to a skyscraper

xp yeah there are some incredible early versions of that, another one from CBGB '75 as well

always found this one incredibly moving, going to listen to it now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhoSxmqO710
Tom Verlaine - Song

Went by the book stalls outside Strand yesterday thinking I’d see you as usual, have a smoke, talk about rare poetry finds for a couple of hours, downtown NYC racing by our slow meditations on music, writing - gonna miss you Tom. TV Rest In Peace.

— Thurston Moore (@nowjazznow) January 28, 2023

First television song I ever heard was that amazing clip of them doing 'Foxhole' on the OGWT, that made me want to buy a guitar like nothing else i'd ever seen. Adventure was always precious to me because of that tune

― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Saturday, 28 January 2023 21:39 (forty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

His vamping and obnoxious eyelash flutters in that performance rule so hard

God damn this is so sad, is there anything on earth that sounds like the way he played that jazzmaster

There was a post somewhere I think on this board that got stuck in my head forever about how that closing stretch of The Dream's Dream is basically the prettiest guitar playing ever, and yeah

Can’t believe it

I mean I totally can but this does not at all feel good rn

MM and old Waldorf obv, but hear me now, Flash Light is also a masterpiece, I will never ever back down about this.

Solo show w band at Bowery Ballroom in 06 a lifetime high for me

Wahhh

There’s almost no one left standing of my old favorites now. Crocus B, Robyn H and Richard T long life to you.

Am I tripping or is the 1:35 mark of elevation the inspo for rhcp “Californication”

There was a post somewhere I think on this board that got stuck in my head forever about how that closing stretch of The Dream's Dream is basically the prettiest guitar playing ever, and yeah

If that wasn't me it should have been. It has a real uplifting quality - rivalled only by a Popol Vuh song used in Herzog's "Heart of Glass".

In some ways the dreams dream, especially the Waldorf version, is my favorite television recording

everything this guy did after the first Television album was almost an afterthought, certainly overlooked

I'd love to think that his solo albums might get a little of the attention they deserved all along:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noJ2H19Qh8A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rx03SpAh_U

Of course, he was a great guitar player, but his songs and singing could have been visionary even if he had never picked one up. His music was all of a piece, never showing off, all expressing the view from inside his head.

man, rip. i wonder if that 4th tv album will ever emerge in one form or another.

rip. marquee moon was one of those things i had to read about long before i got to hear it, and it was as advertised.

Sleater-Kinney on FB:

While there are many guitar players whom we admire, there are very few whose work informed our approach to playing and writing. Tom Verlaine was one of those guitarists. It was not only his serpentine style—jagged yet shimmering, capable of story-like melodies—but also how he played in conversation with his bandmate and fellow guitarist, Richard Lloyd. The intertwining of notes, completing each other’s sentences, toying with consonance and dissonance, beautifully colliding then breaking away; telling us so much without a single word. While Marquee Moon was seminal, Adventure burrowed deeper. I can’t think of a song that informed the entirety of our guitar playing on The Hot Rock than “Days.” Thank you, Tom Verlaine, for guiding us. May you rest in peace. “Days, be more than all we have. “ 🎸📺💔

ooh that's nice, thanks, my fave song from Adventure

Influenced my guitar style like nobody else did. That's not saying very much, but it's good to see other more well known guitarists saying that too.

More Richard Lloyd than Verlaine though, that one.

That S-K eulogy is super eloquent thank you

Also- thanking thus sang freud for the ticket hookup for one of my handful of TV shows

And Verlaine adapted to the synth pop era. I love this ballad, downloaded by me during the Napster peak.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN5qO2Gsyw0

That’s a great one. Do you like the Flash Light album, lord Soto?

I do! "A Town Called Walker"! "The Funniest Thing"!

have been watching richard lloyd's guitar lessons on youtube recently, very analytical in a mad scientist kind of way, and also somewhat perplexing to an oaf like me, but a really fascinating approach and i'd imagine quite a complementary one to verlaine who i can't help but think of as just plucking inspiration out of thin air like he's drawing a breath and breathing it out (this is likely a complete misapprehension on my part, would like to read any interviews with him on that side of things if anyone has any good links?)

that was a very enjoyable evening, j not j -- it was a pleasure seeing a tv show with you.

I sleep light
On these shores tonight
I live light on these shores

I hope we praise how good a lyric writer he was: his guitar was lyrical, his lyrics were pointillist.

Apologies for the spam, but the one episode of my podcast I was really thrilled about was getting Matt Sweeney of Zwan/Chavez/rock guy Zelig on and we talked Marquee Moon, he's super interesting to listen to on the album

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3s7qRa1B8ZDuSVgqGOx8db?si=Amtm66THSPumiwIC4lYgTQ&utm_source=copy-link

cool, thanks ums!

stolen from thurston's insta:

https://i.ibb.co/9GwCBkR/Screenshot-2023-01-29-001119.jpg

They’re just like us!

I never saw them there. I guess I must have gone at the wrong time.

for a long time the first thing i'd play when picking up a guitar was the riff from “friction.” such a weird, cranky, chromatic, dissonant thing, but so simple, an open string melody that anyone could’ve stumbled upon but only verlaine had the nerve to put into a song

rip big man

haha I always play that too! The funniest one though is that one guitar line in 'prove it' which is basically descending down the major scale and back up again. it sounds brilliant but was a real oh duh moment when I figured it out

I took a guitar player friend with me to see Television some years back (Jimmy Rip edition) and afterwards he kind of sniffed at what he called Verlaine's "faux primitive" approach to guitar. I think he missed the point. It's all about the big picture.