(TV) another TV Central Park review

[earcandy_archive@comcast.net]

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0725,harvilla,76988,22.html


The Apples are easily the most appropriate act on the billupbeat and family-friendly. Television is a tough sell to the summer-in-the-park, kids-sitting-on- Dad's-shoulders set, even under optimal conditions. These are not optimal conditions. A somewhat crabby Tom Verlaine takes the stage and immediately announces that "our regular guitarist" has been hospitalized and shan't be appearing; he's referring to Richard Lloyd. The somewhat famous and revered Richard Lloyd. My companion, the Photographer, is unnerved by Verlaine's choice of words, not to mention Television's choice to not play "See No Evil," which he feels is one of the great album-opening guitar riffs of all time. 
"If I was in a band and I could come out every night to 'See No Evil,' I would," the Photographer says. 
Instead, Television play a gruff, meandering set with several tunes most folks seemed unfamiliar withstubborn jams with ominous overtones, like the scores to James Bond films set in the Middle Eastand just one track off Adventure and a few off Marquee Moon, the late-'70s punk-with-guitar-solos classics for which they are still rightfully revered. Though, to be fair, the Adventure track was "Glory," a slick, bass-driven, poppy little tune that perks everyone up, including the Photographer. "In the South, this was one of the songs you could jam on at the end of the night and everyone would know it," the Photographer says. "That and 'I Wanna Be Your Dog.'" 
The nervous and fiery "Little Johnny Jewel" is even better, Verlaine's voice flailing wildly like Patti Smith's or Perry Farrell's. But Lloyd is missedhis replacement, Jimmy Rip, handles the spider-handed intricacies of "Venus" just fine, but defers on every solo to Verlaine, who lets loose with a multitude of gruff, darting beasts that duel instead with drummer Billy Ficca, loose and jazzy and profoundly hostile. The crowd is nonplussed and a little fidgety, though finally sated by a full 20 minutes of the Rock Pantheon jam "Marquee Moon," the slowly ascending riff that powers the climactic solo stretched out and reprised and reiterated for nearly 10 minutes all by itself. 
Victory at lastbut still, there's cause to be disconcerted. Let's hope Lloyd's OKthe otherwise loony richardlloyd.com had soberly noted his hospitalization with pneumonia, just one update after suggesting that this was to be the last-ever Television show (they've been inactive for years) so he could focus all his attention on a solo record that "directly competes with Marquee Moon, Axis: Bold as Love, The Doors, Patti Smith's Horses, Bob Marley's Natty Dread, Neil Young's Harvest, or any other record you can name as one of the greatest records ever made in the history of rock 'n' roll." As a title, I suggest Our Regular Guitarist. 
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