RE: (TV) Philosophical (?) Question, or, A Question, Anyway

[Bob Beatty <bobjb2002@yahoo.ca>]

Tom's "The Fire" solo is outstanding,inventive, & unique, surely a 
solo only Tom could come up with & deliver. There's an interview 
somewhere where Tom talks about making "Adventure" & he singled out 
the solo on "The Fire", calling it "okay", by which I'm sure he didn't 
mean "just okay", but was his understated way of saying he was proud of 
it.

It's interesting comparing, for their dissimilarities, "The 
Fire" song & solo to "Days", the song Richard Lloyd co-wrote with 
Tom, & Richard plays the solo on. I saw a quote from Lloyd someone 
posted to Tumblr describing how the song came about. Tom had asked 
Richard if could play "Mr. Tambourine Man" (presumably The Byrds' 
version) backwards, & that became the basis of the music to "Days". 
Some may have different interpretations of "Days' " lyrics, but I view 
it as a depiction of a positive peak experience of sorts, just as 
Dylan's song is, & Lloyd's solo as perfect compliment to Tom's 
words. "Days" has become one of my fave Television solos. "The Fire" is 
almost the opposite: an angst ridden solo accompanying an angst ridden 
song!

--- On Sat, 11/17/12, leif joley <leifjoley@hotmail.com> wrote:

From: leif joley <leifjoley@hotmail.com>
Subject: RE: (TV) Philosophical (?) Question, or, A Question, Anyway
To: tv@obbard.com
Received: Saturday, November 17, 2012, 4:26 PM

As much as I admire Tom Verlaine's soloing, the ONE Television solo that can
be stuck in my head for hours or days is Lloyd's on "Elevation". That said, I
also think that Lloyd lost the ability to play what may be considered lyrical
solos after "Alchemy". Thereafter, virtuosity and speed took over, and so it
has been ever since. When I interviewed him in '91, after "The Cover Doesn't
Matter" came out, I was honest enough (or perhaps impolite enough) to hint my
opinion to him. "My playing is getting better and better", was the surly
reply. (I also asked whether he's contemplated to collaborate with any
lyricist, which didn't improve the atmosphere during the conversation.) If
anything, I believe that he wanted to become a muscular and masculine
instrumentalist, Hendrix-style.

Not that Verlaine hasn't been able to play his fair share of aggressive solos
-- most notably on "Dreamtime" -- but those who pops up in my mind tend to be
the beautiful ones. It could be said that thus he's less of a masculine
player, which in turn could be a sign of him being in touch with his feminine
side, which in turn is NOT the same as him being a homosexual, a ridiculous
idea that someone on the list put forward a year ago or so. But I doubt that
Verlaine should be regarded as the first rock'n'roll guitarist with a more
tender or vulnerable or poetic or melodic approach to guitar playing. Couldn't
the same be labeled on George Harrison, for instance?

Leif J, Sweden
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