Re: (TV) TV article

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

I've always thought the 1992 record is fantastic - not only does it have good
songs, good performances, and great production, but it's probably the most
tasteful reunion record recorded by a band after more than a decade apart.
There's no cheesy feel-good "the band's back" songs, no "I'm sorry I hurt you"
songs, no "remember our prime era?" songs, and no big concessions to band unity
that would affect the quality of the record. For example, it would have been
very nice for Tom to have Richard write some songs or sing a vocal, but then it
wouldn't be Television. 

Now, I definitely think it's the least impressive of the 3 studio albums
Television has done - unlike the first two, the band had not played the
material extensively for months beforehand, and since Verlaine didn't seem to
be recycling any stockpiled solo material (as he could for the original TV
LPs), it placed a great burden on the band to pull a new studio album out of
thin air. But calling it the "least impressive" Television album is like saying
PLEASE PLEASE ME was the worst-selling Beatles album - it's true, but it is
hardly a reflection on the quality of the album in comparison to its peers.

The most obvious difference between MARQUEE MOON or ADVENTURE and TELEVISION,
and the reason I think a lot of people dislike the '92 effort, is that
Verlaine's songwriting style has changed tremendously since 1978, from stark to
understated. It's a progression that can be traced across his solo LPs. "Call
Mr. Lee" was probably the choice for a single because it sounds most like
something from MARQUEE MOON, while songs sounding like "Mars" and "The Rocket"
weren't even performed by Television in 1977/8. From my point of view, this is
a strength of the record: it's not a carbon-copy of their 70s efforts, which
(especially given the work Verlaine and Lloyd had done in the 1980s) would have
seemed suspect. Instead, it's clearly a Television record in tone and timbre,
but with a tasteful modern production. In other words, classic but not dated.

--Philip

--- Russ Van Rooy <russvr@blarg.net> wrote:
> I liked the article for the most part but I really take exception when the
> author calls the Television record of 1991 a mistake. I am really digging
> some of the songs on that record - specifically 1880 or so and Call Mr Lee .
> It's not a "great" album when placed next to Marquee Moon but it's quite
> decent and grows on you  .


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
--------------
To post: Mail tv@obbard.com
To unsubscribe: Mail majordomo@obbard.com with message "unsubscribe tv"