(TV) The 20 Longest Live Versions Of The Song 'Marquee Moon'

["Leo Casey" <LeoCasey@comcast.net>]

Part 3 of 4: The 20 Longest Live Versions Of The Song 'Marquee Moon'

 

First Some Technical Notes: 

 

Depending on where exactly the person, who burns a cd-r of a live show,
breaks it up into separate tracks (i.e., where the 'cue points' are set), a
track containing a song (e.g., 'Marquee Moon') will usually contain some of
the band's tuning-up as well as audience's mumblings/cheers both before and
after the song itself. Often these non-song parts of a track can be quite
lengthy, e.g., several minutes both before and after the song, making the
track considerably longer than just the song itself.  

 

So, in looking at candidates for the longest live versions of 'Marquee Moon'
(hereafter referred to as 'M M') one can not go by Carried Away's (CA)
artwork on track length or by comments by Seeders on DIME, because CA and
DIME's times are the length of the track and not the length of the just the
song itself.  E.g., there's a track containing 'M M' on " 'Return Of The
Valve Heads': June 19, 2002, The Meltdown Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall,
South Bank, London, England-BitTorrent/DIME Version And Better Sounding
Version-DAT ". The 'M M'-track is 17:37.8, but only 13:38.2 is just the song
'M M'; 2:41.6 of the 17:37.8 is cheers and clapping for an encore, and
1:17.8 of the 17:37.8 is tuning-up). Thus, in what follows, the lengths of
just the song 'M M' itself (and not the track length) determine which live
versions are truly the longest. Most, if not all, of the bootleg recordings
that follow were, when necessary, originally speed-corrected by Carried
Away, DIME, or Leo, and the song-lengths given below for 'M M' for these
same bootlegs reflect any such speed-corrections. 

 

The method used to determine exactly how long are the lengths of these 20
Live Versions of 'M M' (as well as 8 different officially-released studio
Versions) is described in great detail later in Part 4.   

 

The first longest version, "June 4, 1982, The Ritz, NYC", and the twelfth
longest version, "July 2, 1978, The Earth Tavern, Portland, Oregon-'The
BitTorrent/DaD Mix'-Best Sounding Version", are broken-out in considerable
detail, but the other 12 Verlaine Band Versions have somewhat similar
characteristics to the June 4, 1982 Version, and the other 6 Television
Versions have somewhat similar characteristics to the July 2, 1978 Version.
Television versions are marked with a double asterisk, **.   

 

The 20 longest versions of 'M M' are:  

 

1) "June 4, 1982, The Ritz, NYC", total track-length of 'M M' is 21:24.0,
but 21:09.7 is just the length of the song 'M M' itself. However, the
song-length is an even longer 21:17.9 if we include all of the quite
audible, lingering, and wonderfully long-lasting reverberation/resonance in
the room (i.e., in the Ritz) at the song's end. This reverberation/resonance
begins with the last guitar-crescendo at 21:01.8, and continues for about 16
sec. until 21:17.9. [Here is the detailed breakdown of the track: 0.0 - 0.2:
audience's pre-song cheers; at 12:07.9 (i.e., at elapsed time 12:08.1 - 0.2
pre-song cheers) the beautiful 'bird-like' sounds of the lead guitar begin
and continue for about 25 sec. until 12:32.8 (i.e., 12:33.0 - 0.2); then at
12:32.8 (i.e., 12:33.0 - 0.2) until 13:02.8 (i.e., 13:03.0 - 0.2) is the
usual, canonical, slow and dramatic guitar build-up; then at 13:02.8 (i.e.,
13:03.0 - 0.2) until 13:16.2 (i.e., 13:16.4 - 0.2) is the very fast guitar
rave-up (but not to be confused with the type of rave-up/crescendo that
occurs at the very end of the digital, Non-Fades-Out, studio version); then
from 13:16.2 (i.e., 13:16.4 - 0.2) to 13:19.2 (i.e., 13:19.4 - 0.2) is a
kind of guitar-trilling by Verlaine added onto the rave-up; then immediately
following this guitar-trilling , at 13:19.2 (i.e., 13:19.4 - 0.2) is the
beginning, unlike either of the studio versions, of a very long [4:55.0],
jazzy, improvised section of just Tom on guitar (i.e., no other band
members' instruments) that lasts until 18:14.2 (i.e., until 18:14.4 - 0.2)
when the song reverts back to the 'regular' 'Marquee Moon' with all of the
other band members playing; and then shortly thereafter, there occurs the
vocal verse: 'I remember how the darkness doubled . , etc.'; the song
concludes like the digital, Non-Fades-Out, studio version with the usual
'rave-up'-guitar-ending and final guitar-crescendo, finally concluding with
a cymbal-flourish, clicks of the drum-sticks, a drum-roll, and then a final
(the third) click of drum-sticks at 21:09.7 (i.e., at 21:09.9 - 0.2). 1.9
sec. earlier at the first click of the drum-sticks at 21:07.8 (i.e., at
21:08.0 - 0.2), the audience's cheering had started prematurely and
continued for about another 14.0 sec. until it was truncated by the taper.
Right before the song's end at 21:09.7 (i.e., at 21:09.9 - 0.2) there is a
final drum-roll and a second click of the drum-sticks at 21:08.1 and
21:08.8, respectively (i.e., at 21:08.3 - 0.2, and 21:09.0 - 0.2,
respectively). This drum-roll lasts only 0.4 sec. Then the audience's
cheering continues for another 6.1 sec.]

But again: IF we count the 16.1 sec. of reverberation/resonance in the room
that occurs after the final click of drum-sticks, then the song-length is:
21:17.9 

 

Note 1: A musician friend of mine who listened to the June 4, 1982, Ritz
recording of 'M M' wrote to me:  "What you call 'reverberation' sounds to me
like 'sustain' in the amp. There is a bit of tremolo perhaps, but he never
dampens the strings after hitting the last chord and you are hearing for the
last 16 sec. or so is just the 'sustain' from the amp. There is probably
some effects in there, some reverb/tremolo perhaps - I can't recognize the
exact effect.  If you know what pedals he uses normally, you might be able
to figure it out.". 

 

Note 2:  Keith wrote on CA: "This is a compilation, 'Pull Down The Future',
my ultimate Verlaine show, if you like ... consists of shows between 1981
and 2001. I chose the tracks because of things I liked in the performances,
rather than because they had the best sound quality, so the sound is
variable ... it does, however, have what I feel is the greatest live version
of 'Marquee Moon', the 20-minute one from The Ritz, on June 4, 1982, NYC.".

 

2) "April 22, 1987, The Mean Fiddler, Harlesden, London, England", 'M M'
(20:30.6 just the song). The improvised section lasts until the end of the
song itself at 20:30.6! (i.e., at 20:30.7 - 0.1). That is to say, the song
never reverts back to the 'regular' 'M M', and never gets back to the vocal
verse: 'I remember how the darkness . etc.'; the song does, however, end
with the 'usual' 'rave-up'-guitar-ending and final guitar-crescendo, finally
concluding with a cymbal-flourish and drum-hit at 20:30.6 (i.e., at elapsed
time 20:30.7 - 0.1 pre-song cheers). The length of the song's long, 'jazzy',
improvised section of just Tom on guitar = 8:49.5 (the longest ever). 

 

3) " 'A Future In Noise': October 11, 1981, Toad's Place, New Haven,
Connecticut", 'M M' (19:37.6 just the song). The length of the song's long,
'jazzy', improvised section of just Tom on guitar = 4:55.7

 

4)** "June 21, 2001, The EMP (Experience Music Project), Seattle,
Washington"  Steve Rovner on his Phishhook page wrote:  "The recording is
not good, as the mics were overdriven, thus causing a lot of distortion in
the recording." Leo agrees that the sound quality is absolutely execrable!
It is probably the worst sounding Television/Verlaine bootleg in existence,
which is very sad since it was described by several M M Listers who attended
as a great show, and because it contains a 19:21.3 version of 'M M'.  

 

5) "May 20, 1987, Yomiuri Hall, Tokyo, Japan", 'M M' (18:40.8 just the
song). The length of the song's long, 'jazzy', improvised section of just
Tom on guitar was not measured.  

 

6) "October 8, 1981, The Ritz, NYC", 'M M' (18:40.6 just the song) [guitar
sounds very distorted, and TotalRecorder's VU meters are often in the
dangerously high 'reds'! See Part 4 of 4.] Unfortunately, Leo gives the
sound quality and microphone position of the above Peter Dougherty recording
a grade of D- !  Probably could be fixed with Audacity. The length of the
song's long, 'jazzy', improvised section of just Tom on guitar = 5:03.2.    

 

7) "April 17, 1987, The EXO 7, Rouen, France", 'M M' (18:33.9 just the
song). The length of the song's long, 'jazzy', improvised section of just
Tom on guitar was not measured.  

 

8) " 'Because We Like The View': May 27, 1982, The Paradise Rock Club,
Boston, Massachusetts", 'M M' (17:57.3 just the song). The length of the
song's long, 'jazzy', improvised section of just Tom on guitar = 4:26.6.


 

9) "June 5, 1982, The Ritz, NYC", 'M M' (17:14.4 just the song, but it's an
even longer 17:18.0 if we include the quite audible and lingering
reverberation/resonance in the room (i.e., in the Ritz) of 3.6 sec.; this
reverberation/resonance and concurrent audience cheering was truncated by 3
- 4 sec. by the taper, so the song-length would/should actually have been
17:22.0). The length of the song's long, 'jazzy', improvised section of just
Tom on 

guitar = 3:19.8.  

 

10) " 'Out At The Junkyard': April 21, 1987, The Lantaren, Rotterdam, The
Netherlands", 'M M' (17:14.6 just the song).  The length of the song's long,
'jazzy', improvised section of just Tom on guitar was not measured.  

 

11) "May 26, 1982, Toad's Place, New Haven, Connecticut", 'M M' (16:55.2
just the song, truncated/faded-out by about 15 sec.! Should/would be about
17:10.0).  The length of the song's long, 'jazzy', improvised section of
just Tom on guitar = 3:49.0.

 

12)** "July 2, 1978, The Earth Tavern, Portland, Oregon-'The BitTorrent/DaD
Mix'-Best Sounding Version", 'M M' (17:06.7, but 16:44.6 just the song;
16:47.4 but it's an even longer 16:47.6 if we include the 2.8 sec. of
feedback and echo). [Here is a detailed breakdown of the track:  0.0 - 4.4:
Verlaine says, "This is the last number; it's called 'Marquee Moon'.", one
person cheers meekly; 9.4 - 9.7: false-start; 9.7 - 17.3: silence; at 17.3
song begins; at 13:46.8 (i.e., at elapsed time 14:04.1 - 17.3 pre-start) the
beautiful and 'bird-like' sounds of the guitar begin. These 'bird-like'
sounds end after 27.4 sec. with the first of about 8 or 9 separate
crescendos beginning at 14:14.2 (i.e., at 14:31.5 - 17.3), and these
multiple crescendos (not to be confused with type of crescendo that occurs
at the very end of the digital, non-faded-out, studio version) last for 37.6
sec. until 14:49.8 (i.e., until 15:07.1 - 17.3) when the song reverts back
to the 'regular' 'M M'; and then shortly thereafter there occurs the vocal
verse: 'I remember how the darkness doubled . , etc.'; the song ends with
the usual 'rave-up'-guitar-ending and final guitar-crescendo, finally
concluding at 16:44.6 (i.e., at 17:01.9 - 17.3) or 16:47.4 (i.e., or 17:04.7
- 17.3) if we include the 2.8 sec. of feedback and echo; audience cheers
begin at 16:44.6 (i.e., at 17:01.9 - 17.3, they are slowly faded out and
last only 5 sec. At Television shows, after the beautiful 'bird-like' guitar
sounds (that follow a long series if guitar-crescendos late in the song) 'M
M' has no long, 'jazzy', improvised section with just Verlaine playing
guitar. (See Note 3 below for clarification of this potentially confusing
statement.)

 

Note 3: In the summer of 2012, Leo performed a long analysis of Television
versions of 'M M' that are greater than 15 minutes, for the years 1976 -
1978, 1992 - 1993, and 2001 - 2005, plus the only Television show in 2007,
namely June 16.  (The two Television shows in July 2011 were not checked
because only one had a complete recording, and it was less than 15 minutes
long (14:23).)  This analysis showed that unlike most versions of the song
'M M' performed by The Tom Verlaine band on his Tours (in 1981 - 1982; 1984;
1987; 1996, and 2006), all Television versions of the song (including the
above Portland show) do not include a long, jazzy, improvised section of
just Tom playing guitar (with the drums, bass and rhythm guitar playing all
temporarily suspended).  This improvised section on recordings of his Tours
usually begins about 45 sec. after the end of the beautiful 'bird-like'
guitar sounds that follow the song's long series of guitar-crescendos.

 

13) "October 9, 1981, The East Side Club, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania", 'M M'
(16:14.0 just the song). The length of the song's long, 'jazzy', improvised
section of just Tom on guitar = 2:44.5. 

 

14)** "June 5, 1977, Auditoire P-E Janson ULB, Brussels, Belgium", 'M M'
(16:05.8 just the song). There is no long, 'jazzy', improvised section of 'M
M' at 

Television shows.  

 

15) " 'Yonkitime': October 3, 1981, My Father's Place, Roslyn, Long Island,
New York", 'M M' (15:55.0 just the song). The length of the song's long,
'jazzy', improvised section of just Tom on guitar = 2:50.0.    

 

16)** " 'Nighthawks At The Dance Hall': June 15, 1977, Daddy's Dance Hall,
Copenhagen, Denmark", 'M M' (15:32.0 just the song). There is no long,
'jazzy', improvised section of 'M M' at Television shows.  

 

17)** "June 7, 1977, L'Olympia, Paris, France-Better Sounding Version", 'M
M'  (15:22.9 just the song). There is no long, 'jazzy', improvised section
of 'M M' at Television shows.

 

18) "July 18, 1982, The Old Waldorf, San Francisco", 'M M' (15:11.1 just the
song). The length of the song's long, 'jazzy', improvised section of just
Tom on guitar was not measured.  

 

19)** " 'Live In Brazil': October 23, 2005, The TIM Festival, The Modern Art
Museum (MAM), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil-The DIME Version-DVD15". 'Swells'-like
Instrumental Intro (1:28.1; but a 0.7 drop-out from 0:21.7 - 0:22.4)/Marquee
Moon (16:30.5 just the song; however, last 1:20.0 is 'Swells'-redux. So, 'M
M' only 15:10.5). There is no long, 'jazzy', improvised section of 'M M' at
Television shows.

 

20)** " 'Television At 'Summerstage', June 16, 2007, Central Park, NYC-DAT
", [Nice mini-instrumental from 'Music For Film' (0:41.5); it's either 'They
Caught The Ferry' or 'Emak Bakia' that segues into 'M M'.]  'M M' (15:49.1
just the song, but only 15:07.6 without the 'Music For Film' intro-segment
to 'M M'). There is no long, 'jazzy', improvised section of 'M M' at
Television shows.

 

Exact Lengths Of All Officially Released Studio Versions:

 

Below are the exact times of all officially released studio versions of the
song 'M M': a) vinyl 12" LP; b) vinyl 7" 45 rpm; c) vinyl 12" EP; d)
re-issued vinyl; e) cd version; f) remastered, re-released cd versions; and
finally g) others.

 

Note 4: *Obviously, we must always distinguish between the 'Fades-Out'
Version of 'M M' (e.g., the version released on Elektra records in February
1977), and the 'Non-Fades-Out' version released subsequently. 

 

Results:

 

a)  Fades-Out Version:  vinyl 33.33 rpm LP of the album, Marquee Moon, (USA)
Elektra 7E-1098, 1977; and LP (UK) Elektra K52046, 1977; LP (Germany)
Elektra ELK 52046, 1977; GEMA made in Germany by WEA Musik GMBH, a Warner
Brothers Communication Company; and LP (Japan) Warner Pioneer P-10308E on
the circular paper label on vinyl, 1977, but P-11070 W on front cover;
Cassette (USA) Elektra 1977:  ALL are: 9:55.3.

 

b)  Fades-Out Version: vinyl 7", 45 rpm, Single, (UK) Elektra K.12252, 1977:
Marquee Moon (Part I) 'A' Side: 3:10.6 / Marquee Moon (Part II) 'B' Side:
6:43.7; Total: 9:54.3

 

c)  Fades-Out Version: vinyl 12", 45 rpm, Single, EP (UK) Elektra K 12252
(Special Limited Edition), 1977: Marquee Moon (Stereo) / Marquee Moon
(Mono): 9:55.1 Stereo version; 9:55.1 Mono version. 

 

d)  Non-Fades-Out Version: LP (USA) 4 Men With Beards 4M501, 2003 (200 gram,
virgin vinyl): 10:40.8

 

e)  Non-Fades-Out Version: CD (USA) Elektra 1098-2, November, 1987; 

CD (Japan) WEA Music K.K. Elektra 20P2-2107 1987; CD (Germany)
Elektra/Asylum/Warner 7559-60616-2 1987; The Best of Television & Tom
Verlaine CD (Japan) East-West / WEA Records AMCY-2562 1998; CD (UK) Elektra
10982 1999:  ALL are: 10:37.5

 

f)  Non-Fades-Out Version: CD (USA) Rhino / Elektra 72930, 2003, Remastered,
and reissued as a Digi-Pak CD with bonus tracks: 10:41.4 

      

g1)  Non-Fades-Out Version: CD (USA) Rhino / Elektra 72930, 2003,
Remastered, and reissued as a Digi-Pak CD with bonus tracks: the Bonus
Alternate Ver.: 10:44.9            

 

g2)  Non-Fades-Out Version: Reissued as a Replica-Mini-LP CD (USA) Rhino /
Elektra R2 74804, 2008, But NOT Remastered: 9:55.3

 

Technical Note 5: 

Because of the long, gradual fade-out of the Fades-Out Version(s), and the
long reverberation time of the final crescendo of the Non-Fades-Out
Version(s) (e.g., the Rhino / Elektra 72930, 2003, Remastered Non-Fades-Out
Version ends with Verlaine's lead guitar's reverberation and Verlaine's
sustained tinkling piano notes), it was necessary to make a special effort
to determine exactly where/when the studio Version(s) of  'M M' actually
ended. Again, see Part 4 below for the details of how this was accurately
done.

 

In 2003, Rhino reissued and remastered the cd Marquee Moon, USA, Rhino /
Elektra 72930. Its remastered version of 'Marquee Moon' has the
'non-faded-out', guitar-crescendo-ending followed by repetitive, tinkling
piano notes. The Rhino liner notes say the song-length is 10:47.  However,
10:47.3 is the actual length of the track which includes 0.3 sec. of
'lead-in' silence before the song begins and an additional 5.8 sec. of
'lead-out' silence after the song is completely over. Using the .wav file of
'Marquee Moon' extracted from this Rhino remastered version, and playing it
back with TotalRecorder (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Recorder ,
or Note 5 in Part 4), Leo got a song-length of 10:41.4 (i.e., 10:41.7 - 0.3
of the silent lead-in. This is a difference of -5.6 sec. from the Rhino
liner notes' 10:47. Recall from above that all three non-remastered cd
versions are 10:37.5, which is 3.9 sec. less than the remastered version!   

 

Here are details on the non-faded-out guitar-crescendo-ending version of
'Marquee Moon' on the 2003 Remastered cd of Marquee Moon: The .wav file of
the track has 0.3 sec. of lead-in silence; so 0.3 sec. needs to be
subtracted from any particular elapsed time of TotalRecorder. The
guitar-crescendo aka a 'swell' occurs at 10:27.7 (i.e., at elapsed time
10:28.0 minus the 0.3 sec. silent lead-in). By 10:32.0 (i.e., at elapsed
time 10:32.3 minus 0.3 sec.), the guitar crescendo has been slowly decaying
for 4.3 sec. allowing the emergence of repeating and tinkling piano notes.
Despite its decay, the guitar-crescendo continues to reverberate faintly,
then ghostly until at 10:40.2 (i.e., at elapsed time 10:40.5 minus 0.3
sec.), after a total of 12.5 sec., the guitar's reverberation can no longer
be heard over the still tinkling piano. The piano, itself, has grown weaker
and weaker until at 10:41.2 (i.e., at elapsed time 10:41.5 minus 0.3 sec.),
after a total of 9.2 sec. of piano, there is total 

silence. 

 

g3) Non-Fades-Out Version: Non-Studio but an Official Verlaine release: 

Promo EP 12", 45 rpm (USA) IRS L33-17369 / IRS 7137, 1987, 'M M' from Live
At The Town & Country Club, London, March 19, 1987:  10:32.6. From Keith's
The Wonder:  "Unlike most 12" EPs (which are 45 rpm) this is 33.33 rpm;
promotional copy only. Same musicians as on Flash Light LP except [this
Live] 'Marquee Moon' has Jay Dee Daugherty on drums; [it] does not exist in
any CD format." 

 

Note 6:  The bootleg version of "March 19, 1987, The Town And Country Club,
London, England", after a speed-correction (slowed down), has a 'M M' of
15:03.4, just the song. Thus, Verlaine edited out over 4 minutes of his
original live performance in creating the IRS Promo EP version.  His
original, long (4:18), jazzy, improvised section of just Tom on guitar was
what he edited-out.  I believe he did this: i) For audio quality, i.e., to
be able to fit a his March 19, 1987 live version onto one-side of the vinyl
promo EP without having to 'squish' the grooves too closely together
(especially at  45 rpm); and ii) To make this live 'M M' more commercially
appealing to the average listener/record buyer.

 

Note 7:  Keith wrote about this bootleg on The Wonder: "In this concert,
Verlaine relies mostly on material from Cover and Flash Light. Verlaine
offers here some of his more off-the-wall (relatively speaking) songs.  In
the studio, songs like 'Swim' and 'Dissolve-Reveal' encouraged Verlaine to
use his voice as part of the sound in its own right rather than its focus.
Judging how well this works live is complicated here by the thick, murky,
boomy sound of this recording.  This recording is, however, well worth
hearing, despite the dodgy sound quality.  In many ways, this is one of the
more satisfying recorded Verlaine performances. Here's Tom Verlaine, sense
of irony intact (check out the taped, doomy, howling-wind-and-bells
taped-'Intro'), sounding confident, relaxed and, at times, almost playful.".

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This case, this case, this case that I ... I've been working on so long  ...
/ 

  ... This case is ...  ... closed!

 

Part 4 of 4 to follow.

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