Television - Science, Magic and Memory

It's funny how your memory plays tricks on you over a long period of time; often, it seems that once important events turn into mere personal trivia. Conversely, sometimes the smallest details become magnified into personal revelations of gargantuan proportions. And sometimes you wake up on any given morning and find you've simply changed your mind.

Like many people who bought it when it first came out, I wore out my original vinyl of Television's Marquee Moon, released in 1977. At the time, I liked it, even though it was certainly different that the rest of my growing collection of records, which tended towards the mainstream rock of my day - Zeppelin, Bad Company, ZZ Top, Aerosmith and the like.

But Marquee Moon lacked the blues basis that is the bedrock of classic hard rock - it was based not on blues, or country, or even pop: it was a sound unto its own, referencing itself to nothing but its own existence. Guitarists Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd played off each other with melody and precision, while bassist Fred Smith and drummer Billy Ficca worked the rhythm section around the beat as often as they sat right on top of it. Verlaine provided the bulk of the writing, bringing in a set of tunes whose moments of stark clarity offset the many other moments of beautiful lyricism. Ultimately, it's a fine example of as close as there is to a perfect debut album, brilliant from start to finish: edgy yet familiar, melodic yet strong, fresh yet traditional. It 's so good, it's quite possibly the best album of the late 70's punk/new wave scene.

Unfortunately, it was so good that the 1978 follow up album, Adventure, couldn't hope to be able to live up to expectations. Critics panned it, calling it glossy at best, or even formulaic - built by blueprint in a lab as it were. Consequently, most people just didn't bother with it. But close to thirty years have passed, and Adventure holds up pretty nicely. Not quite as good as that first album, but pretty close, with at least a couple of moments that rival anything on Marquee Moon - I'm thinking about the songs "Foxhole" and "Ain't That Nothin'" in particular. Both albums were reissued a few years ago with bonus tracks, including the original "Little Johnny Jewel" single that predates either album.

Article Author: JC Mosquito

JC Mosquito spends most of his day keeping the wolves from the door. When he's not occupied with this pasttime, he's interested in all things rock and roll, which may or may not have died back in the late '50's, the late '70's, or the early '90's …

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