Re: (TV) The decline of Verlaine's soloing abilities

[Russ <russvr@gmail.com>]

I'm just glad John Coltrane died before the invention of the internet.

On Sat, Nov 5, 2011 at 6:23 AM, leif joley <leifjoley@hotmail.com> wrote:
> So then there's no consensus about the quality of the
> playing on "Jericho"? It's all right with me, although I have to admit
> that I'm surprised to find myself among the minority here, with
> opponents going as far as stating that the solo should be regarded as of
>  "strong conception". This I do not understand, frankly.
>
> Then what about the following claim: The decline of Verlaine's soloing began
> with "The Wonder".
>
> Leo
>  created an interesting hit-and-miss column of the soloing on that
> record, and to the hit-list I would add "Cooleridge" and, most
> definetley, "Pillow". The latter is in its entirety one of Verlaine's
> small-scaled, understated masterpieces from beginning to end, and the
> solo is nothing short of amazing. Part of my amazement with this song is
>  that I've always thought of it as a tender reminiscence of someone dear
>  who has passed away, perhaps by suicide. But what do I know -- since I
> can barely understand or make myself understood in English (all I write
> in here is results of Google Translate-ing), I might be totally wrong
> about its content.
>
> That LP was the first of his outputs with a
> real stinker on it, "Storm"; real stinkers would then not appear again
> until we were unfortunate enough to be exposed to "All Weirded Out" and
> "Shingaling". But more important, if we are considering a possible
> starting point of the soloing going downhill, is the presence of
> "Stalingrad".
>
> A nice song, not top-notch, but with a nice flow
> anyway; the weight of the title suggests that it is about something
> important, although it escapes me what it could be. But this is where
> Verlaine for the first time plays a solo that is little more than just
> following the melody. This turned out not to be an on-off. The situation
>  repeated itself in 1992 with tho soloing on "Shane, she wrote this" and
>  "This tune", which in turn foreboded "Songs and Other Things" where
> this irritating habit multiplied: "Orbit", "Blue Light", "A Stroll",
> "The Earth is in the Sky" -- there are no real solos there. Even I could
>  play these "solos", for God's sake! It's uninspired or underdeveloped
> playing -- although, admittedly, often in a context where the melodies
> aren't too shabby and the surrounding guitar work is enjoyable. But what
>  once upon a time got me hooked on Verlaine's music was LP's with (much
> stronger) tunes and *always* devastating solos. But the solos haven't
> been devastating for a long time now -- even though he's done some
> fascinating work here and there. "Fireflies" on "Gone Again" immediately
>  comes to mind; the playing on the Dylan movie soundtrack was thoroughly
>  good; and best of all: the two efforts he made for Luna on their '95
> "Penthouse" -- the short, beautiful one on "Moon Palace" and the long,
> creepy one on "23 Minutes in Brussels". I would even dare to say that
> the solo on "Brussels" is the last monumental one recorded, even though
> it doesn't come close to, say, "Marquee Moon", "Words from the front",
> "Breakin' My Heart" or "Five Miles of You". Nor does "The Day on You",
> the best one on "Songs...", and a very good one too. But it's far from
> being monumental -- and I want and need Tom Verlaine to be monumental.
> At least once in a while.
>
> The non-vocal records are a completely
> different matter. There, monumentalism isn't called for; and there is
> none to be found either. "Around" is, on its own terms, masterful. I
> don't expect that kind of music to be overwhelming. I do expect to be
> overwhelmed when Tom Verlaine releases a new collection of songs. That
> was, after all, why I got into his artistry in the first place.
>
> Leif J, Sweden
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