Re: (TV) The Blow Up

["Philip P. Obbard" <pobbard@yahoo.com>]

--- Brian Young <raggedglory57@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Does anyone know of the exact date(s)that the Blow Up came from?  Is it the 
> same as This Case Is Closed?  If they are different shows, which is better 
> in your opinion as far as performance and quality of recording go?

No - two different shows. The BLOW-UP dates from March 20, 1978 - a show at My
Father's Place in Roslyn, New York. It was originally released in part as a
vinyl bootleg back in c. 1980 entitled ARROW (the CD version of the same name
is copied from a beat-up vinyl copy). BLOW-UP includes more of the show, but
excludes "Poor Circulation" (presumably for copyright reasons). 

According to a few sources, ARROW sounds much better than the official release
of BLOW-UP, although I've never actually heard one of these "better" tapes.

BLOW-UP has been reissued a few times with a few different covers, the original
being a cassette-only release back in 1982(?). The latest release (from 1999?)
is supposedly slightly cleaned-up, soundwise, although I've misplaced my
cassette copy of the older version and can't compare at the moment.

The sound might be rough, but the show itself is *great* - very fiery, very
peak Television.

Ok, got that? :^) Now, THIS CASE IS CLOSED is a bootleg CD of Television's
"first" farewell concert from July 29, 1978, at the Bottom Line. It's also a
good show, but the tape is occasionally marred by loud yelling ("play Little
Johnny Jewel!!" which they never do). On the upside, you get to hear rarities
like "The Dream's Dream", "Grip of Love", and "Psychotic Reaction" done live.
And the sheer historic value. 

What gets me is that I know shows were being professionally taped at the Bottom
Line at the same time Television played this show - David Johansen's LIVE AT
THE BOTTOM LINE was recorded 8 days earlier, and you can even see 'TELEVISION'
in the marquee in photos in the CD booklet - but we have yet to see even one
professionally recorded Television performance surface. Even the known FM shows
have drop-outs (like San Francisco 78, or the Paris show from 92) or problems
in existing tape copies... sigh.

Anyhow, both of these discs (BLOW UP and THIS CASED IS CLOSED) are great
documents of Television in 1978. If I had to choose one, I'd probably pick BLOW
UP for quality of performance and value (2 CDs), but it's close!

(BTW, LOTS of this information comes from Steve Rovner's very handy
discography, audiography, bootlegography, etc., at
http://www.mindspring.com/~serovner/Justthefacts.htm !!)

--Philip



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