Re: (TV) More info....

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

In message <p05111705b99ac2e7d6a5@[192.168.1.102]>, Maurice Rickard
<maurice@mac.com> writes
>
>Y'know, I was thinking the same thing, maybe even do it with a second 
>disc in a deluxe package.  From what I've read, Richard apparently 
>hated it too...
>

(from the site:)
When Television first disbanded in 1978, I had already written a number
of songs which became the basis of Alchemy. I had wanted to do a record
of a different tambre than the two Television records, more Pop,
sentimental and personal. Television was under contract to Elektra
records both individually and as a group, so when the band broke up both
Tom and I went on to make solo records.

Alchemy was recorded at Bearsville studios in Woodstock NY. This was the
studio owned by Bob Dylan's manager Albert Grossman. My A&R person
wanted me to record in the country to keep me away from certain
temptations existing in the city. So I took the temptations with me. The
A&R person also suggested the producer. The most interesting story about
the record is that one day Fred Smith woke me up telling me that the
producer had locked himself in the studio and was putting keyboard
sounds on the record. We had had a discussion about this and I was very
against keyboards being on the record. Nonetheless, when I went down and
knocked on the studio he wouldn't let me in, and I could hear the cheesy
sounds of his crappy synthesizer through the door.

I immediately called the record company and tried to fire him, but when
they called him he told them that he was saving my record from me, and
that I was a mess. The truth be known, I was half a mess. So production
stopped for six weeks while we tried to sort it out. The record company
informed me that my A&R person had arranged for him to be paid in full,
and if I wanted a new producer I could pay for it myself. End result:
keyboards on the record. With all of the travails around the recording,
it still manages to have some lovely moments on it. Unfortunately, it is
currently out of print. There is an e-mail campaign under foot to get
Elektra to rerelease it.

I would love to get my hands on the master tapes and remix it and
remaster it, but Elektra hasn't budged yet. 
-------------
Keith Allison
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http://www.marquee.demon.co.uk
"The Wonder - Tom Verlaine, Television & Stuff"
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