(TV) Fw: Television, Lucas/Cooder, etc. (NMC)

["Glenn Cooper" <glenncooper@austarnet.com.au>]

Also from the Miles Davis list ...


 ----- Original Message -----
>From: "Patrick Brown" <Nervenet@AOL.COM>
> >
> I'm on the same wavelength with TV. Once I went to see Matthew Sweet in
> Boulder and the guitarist just blew me away - turned out it was Lloyd. I
knew he
> was on the records (as was Robert Quine here and there), but didn't know
he
> toured with the guy. And yeah, that rhythm section is way underrated.
They're
> fantastic. I know Verlaine is widely noted to be a jerk, but in what way
exactly?

Verlaine seems to get frustrated by fans wanting to hear all the marquee
moon stuff. He made slightly disparaging remarks, cut tunes off after
beginning them because he decided he didn't want to play them (he cut off
torn curtain after about 4 or 5 bars, it was coitus interuptus in a big way)
and generally seemed unhappy with the situation. I've seen Television a
bunch of times and Verlaine seems increasingly unhappy about playing older
stuff. They did play some newer stuff (even newer than the '90's Television
album) but Verlaine kept cutting them off and making faces. He did play a
couple of really excellent solos, though.

> I understand that he wants "his" music his way, and that can rub strong
> personalities the wrong way (but the results! oh man...), but how did it
impact
> negatively on this show? And this may go against the grain, but I prefer
Verlaine
> as a soloist - a really unique voice on gtr, whereas Lloyd, talented
though he
> is, strikes me as something more of a journeyman, a jack of all trades.
But I
> haven't listened to anything he's done in a while and only heard his solo
> records once or twice tops, so maybe I'm just way off base.

Doesn't go against the grain at all. I like 'em both. I think they've both
grown a lot over the years, Verlaine sort of refining that stuttering,
disjunct time with elegance thing while Lloyd has simply grown enormously
technically. I think he plays more straightforwardly, partly because he
makes a big chunk of his income doing sessions and teaching now. He played a
couple of solos that I simply loved, excellent shape (in terms of building
his ideas), nicely used technical facility to express himself rather than
show-off. He was great.

Most of Lloyds solo records are less than wonderful. He's not a great
songwriter and he's a terrible singer. He's just a tasty guitar player. Of
his solo albums, the one I listen the most is the live one, Fields of Fire.
I'm a Lloyd completist (so shoot me) and got into matthew sweet by way of
Lloyd. If you haven't heard kimi ga suki (one of the two new M Sweet disks)
I recommend it. Lloyd is on several cuts and I think it's the best Sweet
recording since Girlfriend.
>
>
> Funny that you'd put Cooder and the Band, who I see as pretty far from
Lucas'
> thing (based on his records that I'm familiar with), in this comparison.
But
> again, I haven't heard the disc in question. I bring it up only to point
out
> that both Cooder and Lucas were one-time Captain Beefheart sidemen as
well.
> Took things in very different directions, but I guess they were both drawn
to him
> for similar reasons maybe.

This recording is very, very different than Lucas' Gods and Monsters type
stuff. It's part of why I'm pimping it here and on a couple of other lists
and to friends. The beefheart connection is indeed interesting. I think as
much as they being drawn to beefheart, he also was drawn to them. As much as
I like Chavez Ravine, it seems sort of precious after a comparision to the
Lucas disk.
>
> Patrick M. Brown
> nervenet@aol.com
> N.P. Van Morrison "St. Dominic's Preview" (The title cut has been lodged
in
> my head for days now and listening a couple times daily hasn't taken it
out.
> Better than having "Strutter" stuck in my head like last week, though.)
>

this is funny. I get ear flu for St Dominic's Preview a couple times a year.
I end up putting the whole thing on repeat for a couple days to scratch the
itch.

aric
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