There was a time when I was willing to argue that this second outing from Television was even better than the first, although I don't think so any more. But, if you have to stop and think about it even for a second, you know that makes this good. The edges and burrs are rubbed down to dreamy, floating textures that I'm convinced are closer to where Tom Verlaine intended his music to go – certainly it's closer to most of his solo work. Where Marquee Moon is a product of a band honing the songs and the jams in live venues, this is more fruit of the studio and songwriter Verlaine. The visceral immediacy of that classic first may be severely diminished, but what remains is gentle and lapping and eternal, like waves pounding rock into sand on a shore: a product of the times of gods, ethereal, immortal, chameleon, with the sweetest inflections. No time is ever the wrong time to hear this.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Adventure (1978)
There was a time when I was willing to argue that this second outing from Television was even better than the first, although I don't think so any more. But, if you have to stop and think about it even for a second, you know that makes this good. The edges and burrs are rubbed down to dreamy, floating textures that I'm convinced are closer to where Tom Verlaine intended his music to go – certainly it's closer to most of his solo work. Where Marquee Moon is a product of a band honing the songs and the jams in live venues, this is more fruit of the studio and songwriter Verlaine. The visceral immediacy of that classic first may be severely diminished, but what remains is gentle and lapping and eternal, like waves pounding rock into sand on a shore: a product of the times of gods, ethereal, immortal, chameleon, with the sweetest inflections. No time is ever the wrong time to hear this.
Is this one the original version or the expanded one?
ReplyDeleteI still think this is better than Marquee Moon.
ReplyDelete