Re: (TV) Clarification / Fixated on a Tree / The MM List Blues / Past

[Keith Allison <keith@marquee.demon.co.uk>]

In message <38B384DEF70FD51190060002B32C2A730CC5A4@vntmail03.volpe.dot.g
ov>, Casey, Leo J <CaseyL@VOLPE.DOT.GOV> writes
>
>But taking this music seriously can be part
>of the fun, 

You're absolutely right, Leo. I'm as guilty as the next person of
fixating on this music (OK, more guilty, then) but what the hell is
wrong with that, really? Music make up a great chunk of my life - who am
I supposed to get excited about - Madonna? Limp Bizkit? Mercury bloody
Rev?

>[how about "Traveling" from 
>Cover, a real stinker!] 

Hey, great song!

I'd agree with you that Cover is very much a record of its time; I
bought it on vinyl the day it came out and was far from disappointed.
One can't blame a musician from listening to what's going on around
him/her and incorporating elements of it into their own work. One of the
reasons I love Cover is because it sounds so essentially English to me
(or, maybe, European). The drum machines don't particularly bother me at
all, although I'd rather hear Billy Ficca. But then its not up to me
whether or not a drum machine suits the songs on Cover better than Mr F.

>I take the time to type up this quite long 
>interview and review (with a few outri? 
>comments of my own). 

And much appreciated here, anyway. (But then I'm probably just an old TV
fart, like you!)
>
>Three more hypotheses you can shoot down:  
>
>One: The very fact that Television did 
>a limited tour last year, the resulting 
>European and Chicago boots'availability, 
>and Verlaine's/Television's[?]upcoming 
>appearances this Spring, have in a 
>strange way somewhat undercut the whole 
>raison detre of the list. Could it be that 
>a lot of people are satiated---they've 
>finally OD-ed on TV.

BANG!
>
>Two: Tom Verlaine has no confidence in 
>himself.  He lost his a long time ago (egads, 
>a musician can stand only so much commercial 
>rejection and lack of financial success); time 
>has passed him and Television by; his best work is 
>behind him---way, way  behind. He's a has-been
>and knows it. 

You may well be right here. But if you operate (well)out of the
mainstream, then I guess the best that you can hope for is that someone
notices. But Tom V. remains to me a fascinating and stimulating artist -
in the same way that Hendrix does, or Beefheart, or Robert Johnson. 

>They were just coasting during last 
>year's reunion mini-tour! 

Actually, I have to be honest - the two times I saw them I didn't see
much coasting

>Maybe the masses are right

The masses? The people who buy Billy Joel records? 



>--maybe they're just 
>a band who made marginally interesting music, 
>an acquired taste, who appeal to a tiny group
>of listeners-----a band who are vastly
>over-rated?  

BANG!

>
>Three: "The past is not dead; in truth the 
>past is not even past." 

"The Past Sure Is Tense" (free copy of Firepop to the first person to
identify that one)

Hey Leo, don't worry so much. I'll certainly go on trumpeting the
wonders of this fabulous music to anyone who will listen - and to many
who won't. If I didn't think it was worth it I wouldn't waste my time on
The Wonder (better in its current state thanks to your extensive
archives, I may say).

I have lots of Prozac, feel free to dip in!

Keith

-------------
Keith Allison
-----------------------------------------------
http://www.marquee.demon.co.uk
"The Wonder - Tom Verlaine, Television & Stuff"
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