Television

haha that's one of those words that makes me stop reading a review. unless patti smith says it or something.

― Thus Sang Freud, Monday, January 30, 2023 3:58 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Depending on the angle of the dangle.

"angular" in 1974 tho: critical first-use klaxon bid?

That's what I was gonna say, is there an earlier documented use?

Gonna go add that to the Patti Smith wiki. "First known use of 'angular' to describe Tom Verlaine's guitar playing."

also first known use of "bluebirds" tbf

here's the whole thing, fwiw:
http://www.thewonder.co.uk/rckscene.htm

"languid" and "angular" within a couple sentences of each other.

Burn witch burn
xxxp No! Stephen Stills! "Bluebird" singular, because it's an absolute!---ly killer track, grunting aside on that other take.

hmm did not want to give the impression i was taking down patti, if that's how it read.

No prob with your observations, but I'm maybe gonna sic Tar on DW when she gets back.

i think i will see Tar after i am aloft the omega.

Don't see it 'til you can see it for free, seriously! Check thread for details (Spoiler: we of ILE were not too thrilled.)

did no one use angular on the velvets

I think of the Velvets as more of a square wave.

Regardless, I always thought there should be more geometry in music criticism.

there is room for both the pattis and deans in this thriving, very "now" lineage of guitar-based rock music

did no one use angular on the velvets

Beefheart maybe?

Lester Bangs, Creem, March 1971.

In Lick My Decals Off, Baby (Straight Rs-6420) this vision is extended, and even though the sonic textures are sometimes even more complex and angular than on Trout Mask, the lyrics have taken an added universality, many of them stepping back a stride from the kaleidoscopic image-clusters of last year’s songs.

Busted!
Did Verlaine ever play keyboards or anything else other than guitar in the studio or shows?

He plays the keys on the first two Television albums, various other solo records. Don't think he ever played live though.

here's my hot take — "angular" is a fine way to describe certain bands/artists.

I can imagine "angular" being used in jazz reviews before 1971 tbh.

tyler otm. I don't mind angular either, it's useful to describe a certain kind of playing that doesn't sound like other kinds of playing: melodic, bluesy, beboppy aka "that Chinese music" etc.

I've made a career using angular.

i don't think I'd call the VU "angular" though

No, nor I.

Wonder if anyone ever submitted a rejected jbr Christmas tune named "Angular Bells."

Heh, not on this borad, maybe, but elsewhere it exists.

Did Verlaine ever play keyboards or anything else other than guitar in the studio or shows?

― dow, T

He always played the keyboards. His 1984 album Cover is a synth-pop record.

He had a good story about working out the interlocking guitar parts of "Venus" on the piano, I think he said it didn't make sense until he moved over to the keyboard.

I don't know if I'd go that far as calling it "synth-pop". I'd be lying if I said I heard it before yesterday but the few times I've listened since then...it def has some 80s production hallmarks (tastefully), but it's still guitars up front.

Sure, but it had more synths than any album before or after. He never attempted something like "O Foolish Heart," one of my favorite Verlaine jams.

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

listened to Warm and Cool on YouTube yesterday, what an amazing album, hard to find sadly.

Though it would have obviously been...er "unlikely" I always wished Verlaine would have made a record like it with Quine, who recorded a very similar sort of instrumental record with Ikue Mori & Marc Ribot

^^ great great album, that Quine/Mori/Ribot. belongs in the "wide open desert music" thread.

Did anyone else besides me ever see The dBs cover "See No Evil"? For me this would have been at one of the two winter of 84-85 dates at The Grotto in New Haven.

is there a definitive book about Television?

It would probably bore us, though how a boho figure like Verlaine lived in Manhattan despite making little money in Television is the kind of crinkle that always fascinates me.

He was a superduper cheapskate pennypincher is what I heard but yeah.

you can't live in Manhattan just on being a pennypincher -- did he come from money?

Dunno. Don't think so. Maybe lived in the same rent-controlled apartment for decades?

Yeah, it's likely a combination of things. 1) Rent controlled apartment (very likely if he never moved), 2) he lived modestly, 3) probably had some money from family (didn't they enroll him in a prep school?), 4) probably made a decent amount of income from his music, maybe more from overseas sales (Television's albums did enter the top ten in the UK, I think his solo albums did better there too) plus licensing (his music does pop up occasionally on well-budgeted television shows and films).

Kate Pierson mentioned on FB that she and Verlaine lived in the same building for years.

5) Those Television reunion gigs probably paid decently.

is there a definitive book about Television?

the 33 1/3 book about Marquee Moon is good and more or less covers their entire career in the 1970s — there could be more about Adventure, but it goes pretty far past MM.

The 33 1/3 book plus the television section of from the velvets to the voidoids

yonki time is super annoying to me but i always put up with it just to hear his speaking voice. i don't even have anything to add about it, i just, y'know, used to like being able to hear what he sounded like before youtube immersed the world in omnivideo. ha i've never even gone to yt to see his interviews. it's yonki time w/e that means.

*realizes yt also stands for: YONKI TIME*

There’s a cool spoken word over improv track from the reunion album sessions, “The Revolution”, where you can get your fill. It was included at the end of The Miller’s Tale.

Xpost

4a) and a bump in earnings every time Scary Monsters was reissued.

... was about to say.

google says tv had an estimated net worth of 3mil but who knows. i'm not sure he always lived in the same apt, because some articles say e11th and others (dean wareham) say chelsea so he might have moved.