(TV) Tom Verlaine's great but unavailable songs -- The Miller's Tale 2?

["Joe Thornton" <joe.thornton@gmx.net>]

Thinking about Verlaine's solo recordings...

At present we have Tom Verlaine (1979), Flash Light and The Miller's Tale
available, and I hope they don't disappear again. I know that a lot of us
would like Dreamtime to be reissued (especially me since I mislaid both my
vinyl and tape versions of it).

With the optimistic hope that Dreamtime will become available again (and our
clamouring for it may pay off), I present an appeal for what I see as a
complement to The Miller's Tale. In other words, to collect all those other
great Verlaine songs that are currently unavailable. In my opinion, if Virgin
or some other company has the courage and imagination to put this together,
they'll have one of the great rock albums on their hands, and shouldn't have
any trouble selling it.

That's right, I'm not calling for Words From The Front, Cover, The Wonder, and
Warm & Cool to be reissued. They all had weaknesses, or, in the case of Cover,
half of it is already on The Miller's Tale.

Here's how I see The Miller's Tale 2:

Dissolve/Reveal
Rotation
Swim
Travelling
Vanity Fair
One Time At Sundown (London Version)
August
Ancient Egypt
Pillow
5 Hours From Calais
Prayer
Spiritual (Big Bad Love soundtrack)
Marquee Moon (Live in 1987, B-side of 12" single)

That makes up over an hour of fabulous music. Still room for one or two more
tracks on one CD. What to add?

About the "lost album" recorded in London in 1986, I'm not sure how much of it
is essential. Maybe I should have included "Caveman-Flashlight" and
"Circling". "Smoother Than Jones" -- I don't think so; too quirky. I feel that
"The Scientist" (Paris version) is not different enough from the Flash Light
version.

About the Words From The Front album, is there any song that's really
essential, apart from the title track, which is on The Miller's Tale? "Days On
The Mountain" is kind of epic, but I actually prefer the live version that's
on The Miller's Tale. The whole album is well played and put together; this
was Jimmy Ripp's first recording with Tom, and it's already an impressive
partnership. But somehow the songs don't come across as classics, or even
memorable.

I thought about something from Warm & Cool. (Nice work by Billy Ficca there.)
Perhaps "Saucer Crash", or "Spiritual"? But the very last thing Tom has
recorded -- "Spiritual" from the Big Bad Love soundtrack -- is very fine
indeed and merits inclusion, especially since not many people are going to
track down that album (though it's well worth getting).

About the live Marquee Moon: I'm fortunate to have a copy of this. It's
marvellous, better than the 1982 one on The Miller's Tale. Tom's voice is
great, and all four band members do virtuoso stuff.

So... a full album and no Richard Lloyd! But all the Television recordings are
available.

Anyway, I think that would do justice to Tom's back catalogue. The final touch
would be sleeve-notes by Tom himself!

I want it done before CDs become obsolete...

--JoeT
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