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(TV) Stereo Review: Tom Verlaine



Title:  Tom Verlaine. (cover story) 
Subject(s):  VERLAINE, Tom 
Source:  Stereo Review, Jul92, Vol. 57 Issue 7, p60, 2p, 1c

Author(s):  Simels, Steve 

TOM VERLAINE

After fourteen years, can the original New Wave guitar hero
get the commercial respect he deserves?

THE only time I ever met Tom Verlaine was back in 1973,
thanks to a classified ad in the Village Voice:
"Narcissistic rhythm guitarist wanted--minimal talent
okay." 

At that point in history, the twenty-four-year-old, New
Jersey-born Verlaine was living in Manhattan's then highly
unfashionable East Village under his real last name
(Miller) and hanging around with Richard Myers, a pal since
their late-Sixties days at a Delaware boarding school and
in a short-lived band called the Neon Boys. As for me, I
figured I was as narcissistic and minimally talented as the
next guy, so I decided to call him. 

Consequently, one afternoon I showed up at Verlaine's
roach-infested apartment and jammed briefly with the duo.
Both guys were laconic in the extreme and had a certain
(shall we say) attitude, but as I was leaving they said
they were auditioning an old friend over the weekend, and
if he didn't work out they'd get back to me. 

They never did, of course. The friend was the great
guitarist Richard Lloyd, and after that Verlaine, Myers
(who soon changed his name to Hell and became notorious for
inventing the punk look), Lloyd, and drummer Billy Ficca
(another school chum) started performing around the Bowery
as Television. By the time they released their debut
(independent) single, Little Johnny Jewel, in 1975, they
had essentially created the entire CBGB scene, and they
went on--with Fred Smith replacing Hell on bass-to become
one of the most popular and influential of the first
generation of New Wave bands, along with Blondie, the
Ramones, Talking Heads, and Patti Smith. 

Television folded in 1978 after two brilliant but only
modestly successful albums on Elektra. Verlaine then
embarked on a solo career, became a guitar hero to
countless alternative and college-radio bands, and
generally refined his image as the moody poet laureate of
Eternally Disaffected Bohemians, Downtown Division. 

So when I chatted with him by phone this spring--to discuss
his latest solo album (his seventh) as well as the eagerly
awaited Television reunion $n Capitol--I was flattered and
relieved that the first words out of his mouth were, "We
met years ago, didn't we? You answered our ad?" Reputation
notwithstanding, he seemed like a thoroughly regular Joe,
an unpretentious working musician rather than a tortured,
mystical artiste. 

"Warm and Cool," Verlaine's new solo album on Rykodisc, is
all instrumental and thus something of a departure for a
guy celebrated as much for his symbolist-influenced lyrics
as for his guitar prowess. But Verlaine said he would have
done it a long time ago, except that "no record label I was
on was ever interested. 

"It was like, `It's a nice idea, but it's not really worth
it for us to issue it even if you pay for it yourself,'" he
recalled. "So when I got off Phonogram, I figured, here's a
chance to do it for the fun of it and then sell it." 

Recorded with Ficca, Smith, and old CBGB chum Jay Dee
Daugherty, "Warm and Coo!" has a kind of Beatnik Jazz Meets
Duane Eddy ambience. It's moody rather than intense, and
short on guitar pyrotechnics. 

"I knew somebody would point that out," Verlaine laughed.
"But it's not really a rock record. It's kind of bluesy.
There's also something Fifties about it, and something--not
in terms of sound but concept--sort of Oriental, in the
sense of keeping it incredibly simple and leaving lots of
space." 

Keeping it simple, apparently, involved having few rigid
structures in place prior to making it. "The thing was
recorded in two nights, and then we spent about five days
editing," Verlaine said. "Basically a lot of it-maybe half,
actually--is edited bits out of much longer things. They
were all sort of `Oh, let's try something' [sessions]. It
was strictly luck that everybody got the idea." 

Recording the new Television album, on the other hand, was
a less improvisatory affair. It is, after all, the punk/New
Wave equivalent of a Buffalo Springfield reunion, and
consequently a lot of people have high expectations.
Verlaine, however, professes not to be intimidated. 

"I don't have any image of the band," he said. "To me it's
two guitars, bass, and drums; that's always what it was.
The second record was different from the first record,
stylistically, and this will be different from both of
them. Luckily we still have the same guitars." 

The album, due out in July but still untitled when we
spoke, seems to have been motivated in part by a certain
frustration with the industry. "I had piles of unrecorded
stuff," Verlaine noted, "because I had such trouble with
Phonogram. I signed with them in England around 1985, and I
did one record, and they didn't put it out. Then I did
another one, and it came out two years later, and I did
another one that came out three years after it was
recorded. In the meantime I wound up with this enormous
pile of material, and I just thought it might be fun to do
this again. Plus, I had played with Billy now and then, and
Fred's worked with me for the last ten years or so, so it's
not really such a big move even though a lot of people
think it is. We were never estranged." 

Interestingly, given prevailing industry practice, the band
members are producing the recording themselves. "Capitol
seems really great to me," Verlaine said about the label
that also markets Garth Brooks. "They seem like the last
record company that leaves you alone, whereas the new
breed, all the new companies, seem to have remix mania." 

One of the reasons so many people still love Television is
that it conjured up the excitement of New York City at a
moment of great artistic ferment. Verlaine, however, seemed
unaffected by such Big Apple nostalgia. 

"I lived in Europe off and on from 1984 to 1988, and I
didn't miss New York at that point, not at all," he said,
"although when I came back I noticed that a lot of places I
used to go had disappeared. It's funny how [that period] is
perceived. I suppose it's a part of history for many
people. But I never look back at it, and I always do the
same sort of things." 

One of those things is dabbling in prose, as witness the
"extract from Forty Monologues" on the inner sleeve of his
1984 solo album "Cover." And there's a long-rumored
Verlaine book in the works. 

"Somebody approached me on it in 1985, and I still haven't
finished it," he laughed. "Basically, it's a box full of
notebooks. I think it's going to take having six months off
and having a nice place to live. It seems like I never get
enough time in a block away from doing music. I'm always
thinking I can, but it's hard because you're working in the
studio or you're rehearsing. It's different from sitting
down and just writing." 

Given Television's schedule for the foreseeable future
("This is not a one-shot reunion," Verlaine said
emphatically), we probably won't see his book any time
soon. The band plans to tour extensively, both in the
States and overseas, where it had significant chart success
in the early days. There may even be a video or two in the
works, however odd that may seem considering the group's
old image as the Ice Kings of Rock. 

The big question that remains is whether the general pop
audience will finally connect with Television's visionary
brand of guitar-driven music. Post-Nirvana, of course,
perhaps the time is fight, but Verlaine dismisses the idea
that he and his colleagues may have been the most
influential guitar ensemble since the Yardbirds. 

"The whole reputation of being a rock guitar player, I
could really care less about it," he said. "Still, when I
hear new groups today I do occasionally hear something
where I think... ahh, I've heard that lick before." 


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