[no subject]

["Pontrelli, Paul Jay" <jPontrelli@stites.com>]

Television were the best band to come out of the '70s NYC punk scene, but
none of the members were punks. Richard Hell, the original bassist, was
kicked out because he couldn't play his instrument well enough, and he
wasn't willing to practice -- imagine if the Ramones took that stance. But
one listen to Television's 1977 masterpiece Marquee Moon confirms that the
Ramones were the exception rather than rule. I'm sorry to all my fellow
lousy guitar players out there, but the best musicians make the best music.
Keep working at it.  Not that Television were only about musicianship. Tom
Verlaine's songs mix lyrics inspired by the fantasias of the French poets
with clangy, droned guitars inspired by the realities of the big city.
Verlaine and Richard Lloyd are both phenomenal guitarists, but they're not
overly concerned with technicalities when pure ragged soul will do. "Marquee
Moon," the song, is ten minutes of pretty much perfect guitar rock, with
tricky modal leads from Lloyd and a long, trembling solo from Verlaine that
the begins as a tentative one-note shuffle and blooms to envelop the
listener.  Lyrically, Tom shoots for urban mythology, with verses invoking
lightning, graveyards, and the rain along with Cadillacs and railroad
tracks. (Although the vinyl version of this album, still available as a
German import, sounds a bit better, the CD is preferable because it includes
a complete, clean ending to "Moon" rather than the original fadeout.)  The
rest of the record, while not as epic, is no less intense. "See No Evil"
shows that TV's precise, interlocking guitar and spare bass/drum groove can
produce convincing pop music. "Prove It" shows that Verlaine does indeed
have a sense of humor. "Venus" is a fine slice of punk romanticism, "Torn
Curtain" pure heartbreak. Throughout, the guitarists' riffs are as reliable
in the foreground as the rhythm section is locked-in in the background. I've
read other critics who've said that Television presupposed techno -- they're
just that precise. But I don't agree with the insinuation that TV's music is
inflexible. The variations don't hit you over the head, they build up
slowly, in a way that's not shared by any other guitar band.  Sure, Tom
Verlaine is not a traditionally gifted singer, and his warbling, nasal
intonations take a fair bit of getting used to. But his songwriting and his
lyrics more than make up for it. Marquee Moon is an important record. It was
then and is now. It's namechecked by indie musicians to a degree unheard of
for any band save the Velvet Underground. In short, it's a classic. If you
don't have it, I don't as much encourage you to buy it as wonder why you
don't have it already. As punk attempted to destroy rock for good, a very
few visionary bands saw that that wasn't necessary -- that there was a third
way, a right way, and to them we owe the existence of all indie today. In
America, the greatest of those visionaries was Television.  - Mark T.R.
Donohue			


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