(TV) Which Verlaine album?

[Jesse Hochstadt <jesseh58@yahoo.com>]

A little while ago I finished reading Jonathan Lethem's novel "The Fortress of Solitude" (a book that was of particular interest to me because its protagonist, Dylan Ebdus, is a comic book-reading record collector about 5 years younger than me and growing up not far from where I grew up Brooklyn). In one of the later chapters, Dylan's girlfriend gets angry about the "depressing" records that he surrounds himself with. She starts listing them: " 'Let's see, Curtis Mayfield, "We People Who Are Darker Than Blue" - sounds like depression to me" She chucked the CD to the floor. "Gladys Knight, misery, depression. Johnny Adams, depression. Van Morrison, total fucking depression. Lucinda Williams, give her Prozac. Marvin Gaye, dead....' " Eventually she gets to "Tom Verlaine, _very_ depressed. Even _you_ don't play that record" and continues from there.

Lethem obviously knows his music, but I'm stymied as to what Verlaine album would count as "very depressed." (Note that this part of the book would be taking place around, I guess, 2000.) I get that some people perceive Tom's voice as whiny or grating, but for the most part I don't think his subject matter is depressing. Often it's romantic - majestic even. There _are_ dark songs sometimes, especially when his songs touch on war, as in "Words from the Front." I guess the album of the same name is the most likely candidate for Dylan's girlfriend's depressing Verlaine album, what with the title track, "True Story," and "Coming Apart" (though to me, that's more angry than depressed). And it _is_ probably my least favorite Verlaine record. But still....
Anyone else have an opinion or suggestion on which of Tom's albums Dylan's girlfriend is talking about, or about the "depressed/depressing" nature of Tom's music in general? I admit that I (like Dylan) like a lot of dark music - I'm a Richard Thompson fan, after all - and so may not perceive it as depressing in the first place.
- Jesse

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