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Re: Full of it / RE: (TV) Sour Grapes / Alternate Ver of Television's Founding?



Well, I expected to step in it with a few RL partisans, but I never thought
I would piss off any Tom fans!  So I should probably clear up my position
here.

Tom is my favorite guitarist ever, full stop, no holds barred.  Part of that
is *because* of his distinctive original signature sound.  Most of my other
favorites have something similar going on, and most, like Tom, are also
songwriters.  Richard would clock in in the top 20, but the top 10 would be
too full of Richard Thompsons and Neil Youngs and Bob Moulds and Jim
McGuinns to allow for even the most exciting "sideman" (which Richard
probably is) to crack the top 10.

Tom's also one of my favorite songwriters and lyricists.  I don't think
he'll ever get enough credit in that area.

Television is my favorite band.  To me, that now means any band calling
itself "Television" with Tom and Billy in it.  I have to count the early
stuff with Hell and the new stuff with Jimmy.

I can't recall doing a "Top 10 Albums" that didn't include both "Marquee
Moon" and "Dream Time".

My honest-to-god Top 100 Albums list would also include "Adventure", "Tom
Verlaine", "Flash Light", "Television (3)" and maybe even "Warm and Cool".
 None of Richard's solo albums would even come close to making the list.

I've always been a big booster of even Tom's "lesser" works.  I still have a
high opinion of "Songs and Other Things" (which could lose four tracks and
shuffle the track sequence and become brilliant) and just recently stated my
only slightly conditional appreciation of "The Wonder".  There's not a
single solo Tom release that I don't consider essential.  Conversely,
there's not a single Richard solo album I couldn't take or leave; the
songwriting is just utilitarian at best and they overall aren't distinctive
enough as records to grab me.

I have always championed Tom's collaborations with Jimmy Ripp as near
equals, sometimes true equals to his work with Richard.  I'm one of the few
to have no qualms about Jimmy becoming and official member of Television.
 Tom's always the essential partner in those combinations; the other
guitarists rightly attune themselves to his vibe and not the other way
around.  At one time or another both Richard and Jimmy have recognized this.
 Both of them may well have more finely honed "chops" than Tom, but both
have recognized that Tom has a certain unique "it" that they cannot help but
admire and wish to complement.

I cannot wait for the arrival of Televison 4.  Even if it's not as good as I
hope it will be, I have no doubt it will be the best release any members of
Television have been involved with since at least "Television (3)".

So I'm a pretty huge Verlaine booster and not the most rabid fan of RL as an
ongoing solo concern.

I do think Richard has a more diverse guitar vocabulary in some ways than
Tom.  That's not a "better" or "worse" thing.  It makes him a more viable
sideman at times, but I really don't want Tom to be a session dude.  I think
he would be less interesting if he was the kind of player who could go from
Bakersfield country to Black Sabbath at the drop of a hat; he's chasing a
higher muse than that, to his infinite credit.

I also do kinda think Tom comes off as a bit of a dick, but I don't really
care.  So do a lot of my favorite artists.  Being a decent or magnanimous
person is a bonus but far from the rule among compelling artists.  In some
senses I can even respect the stuff he's a dick about, like not really
caring what people like us expect from him.  Other aspects of it are, of
course, quite off-putting.

So I hope that puts to rest any impression that I'm dissing Tom.  I'm not.
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