RE: 'My head was spinning. My oh my!' / RE: (TV) Tom interview from 2006

[leif joley <leifjoley@hotmail.com>]

Phil wrote:
>
> I agree that FLASH LIGHT is better -- much better
> -- than the so-called "Lost Album" material, compiled as VANITY FAIR. But
it's
> important to remember that the material on VANITY FAIR is just the material
> that has been legitimately released. We know not everything came out as
> b-sides (e.g., "Ah Lee" has never been officially released -- it is a truly
> lost track) and there could be more, unheard tracks in the vaults; we knows
> Verlaine re-recorded at least one track during the FLASH LIGHT sessions
(like
> "Sundown") from the rejected sessions, and he could have re-recorded more
(for
> all we know, "At 4 AM" is s remake -- we just don't know).
>
> My point being,
> we don't know what the A&R man heard in 1986/7. We can guess that some of
it
> was the material heard on VANITY FAIR, but we have no way of knowing if the
> VANITY FAIR material is all material Verlaine intended for inclusion on the
> "lost album", of it some of represents unfinished ideas, recordings, etc.

Yes, we don't know if the "Vanity Fair" recordings were what Verlaine handed
in to Fontana, and if these were Verlaine's idea of a complete album; and we
don't have any idea of what kind of impact such a record would have, regarding
sequence of songs, perhaps more polished mixes etcetera. What we DO know is
that Verlaine was sent back to the studio (possibly an extra expense footed by
Fontana) after the record company had rejected Verlaine's first offering.

What we MAY compare this affair to is the difference in mixes of the first
solo album -- which, I assume, most of the people on this list are aware of. I
would be very happy to announce that the Verlaine mix is "rawer" and "truer"
than the Bob Clearmountain mix which was the released album -- but I can't do
that honestly. Clearmountain brought his genius to the material and somehow
made it much, much better. This should be obvious to everyone. We may also
assume that Clearmountain was brought onboard by some A & R people at Elektra
who thought that "this is a very good record -- now let's see if we can make
it even better".

The bottom line here could be: Tom Verlaine was (and may still be) a genius
guitarist and songwriter, but he sometimes need guidance and good advisers to
really flourish. Which might of course be heresy or at least a provocative
thought if we regard the artist as an "auteur". But we shouldn't regard all
record company people to be evil. There's a good chance that, for instance,
that A & R man who rejected the "Vanity Fair" sessions WANTED Verlaine to
succeed -- to make a good record that also sold well. This A & R man succeeded
at least in the first instance, didn't he? Had Verlaine had his way, we'd
probably never had the pleasure to worship "Flash Light".

And considering the current status of Verlaine's career, one may be temped to
suggest that Tom Verlaine REALLY need an agent or an A & R person or some
other kind of advisor who in harsh language could tell him to get his act
together!

Leif J, Sweden
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