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(TV) On the other hand/Blasphemy



Re: Richard's guitar playing: I think what Joe and other MM list members have said has a great deal of merit, but on the other hand, let's not let ourselves get too carried away. 

I have seen both Television and Tom's solo tours (approximately 16 shows) , Lloyd solo tours (thrice) and Lloyd once with Mathew Sweet, and  I'm not  supplying numbers to be boastful but to lend some credibility to what follows----   I was always very impressed and amazed and at how fantastic Verlaine's solo stuff on record and live at these dozen or so shows sounded without Richard Lloyd; how Tom didn't need Richard to sound great as much as Richard needed/needs Tom. 

The three times I saw Richard with his own band-- he was good, but not great. The songs/material were pretty mediocre (boy meets girl, boy loses girl, and either  very up-tempo rockers or slow ballads, but not much variety in tempo or subject matter, and lacking in subtlety not too subtle, and yes, his vocals were uninspiring.

Moreover, many friends who I dragged to these shows over the years more than a few times commented how Verlaine didn't really impress them as much as Jimmy Rip who took most of the solos or non rhythm guitar load! (Sound familiar?!?)  

Little did they realize that Tom had written all the songs, arranged all the musical parts (even many of Fred's bass parts! [see interview in which F. Smith talks about this, I'll supply it if you want] )  etc., etc.

If anything Tom's too modest, in 1992-93 reunion he literally gave Richard the spotlight.  But don't think for a moment that Tom couldn't play circles around Richard if he wanted/was motivated.  Don't let me be misunderstood;  I love Lloyd's playing, he can be fantastic (e.g., "Ain't That Nothin'"; "1880 or So") he has great technique, but he's not in the same league as Tom--- nobody plays with as much feeling and subtlety as Tom.   

More than likely, Richard's  a much nicer, friendlier person compared to Tom who's  maybe a crypto-misanthrope, but my ears and art don't  factor in the personality of the musician.


	Leo 

PS : I'll take my whippings now for what I'm sure many MM list members will regard as my blasphemous statements.    
As long as I'm going to be punished and verbally pummeled I'll throw in something else to really piss people some off:  Jay Dee Daugherty on Tom's solo tours was a much superior drummer to Billy Ficca--- those solo tours rocked like no other music I ever saw/heard, and a lot of that was due to Jay Dee.  

-----Original Message-----
From: Joe Hartley [mailto:jh@brainiac.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2001 2:51 PM
To: tv@obbard.com
Subject: Re: (TV) Re: TV Digest V1 #351




I've seen Television once (in '92), Richard once solo in '84 or so, and
Tom once in the Music for Films format.

I remember coming out of the '92 show with the realization that many
of the guitar bits I loved were Richard's.  Tom has for years gotten the
lion's share of the buzz for his guitar playing, and while he's great, I
think he's ended up taking some credit rightfully due to Richard.  

I certainly don't think it was intentional, but just sort of happened,
and it's not really the type of thing you can correct.  But when people
who have heard the recordings actually get to see the band, it's a bit of
a relevation to see that it's not just Tom's band, but a group of four
talented musicians, each of which are quite capable of exceptional
musical moments.

-- 
======================================================================
                    Joe Hartley - jh@brainiac.com
      Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, 
                it is time to reform.  -  Mark Twain
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