Television - Marquee Moon (1977) (2 Viewers)

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pete

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4.11 star(s) Rating: 4.11/5 9 Votes
Title: Marquee Moon
Artist: Television
Released: 1977

Tracks:
1 - See No Evil - 3:57
2 - Venus - 3:53
3 - Friction - 4:43
4 - Marquee Moon - 9:58
5 - Elevation - 5:09
6 - Guiding Light - 5:35
7 - Prove It - 5:03
8 - Torn Curtain - 7:02

Overview:
Marquee Moon is the debut studio album by American rock band Television. It was released on February 8, 1977, through Elektra Records.
While often considered a seminal work to emerge from the New York punk scene of the mid-to-late 1970s, the album differed from conventional punk in its textured, guitar-based instrumental interplay and extended improvisation. As a result, it is also often cited as important to the development of post-punk in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Though it was critically acclaimed at the time of its release, the album failed to garner commercial success. Marquee Moon has since been cited by numerous publications as one of the greatest albums of rock music.
 
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In brief: Verlaine's voice is a bit of an acquired taste. Very good musically, in a dry, white, jerky way. Intricate and well constructed songs. Billy ficca's kick, snare & hi hats on the title track are great. Surprised when i see them called punk, they're too accomplished for that.​
 
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There are some terrific tunes on this. For a time I wouldn't listen to it as a whole, but I would become obsessed with an individual track, and listen to it on a loop. Getting to the point where I could anticipate every turn of Marquee Moon was like getting to the end of some epic novel. But put it all together, and I'm with Scutter...I don't love it. It's very polished, and seems to lack any kind of spontaneity in the playing. You get the sense that every note of every solo was practised to death. Which is fine. It's just that over the years the lack of emotion has left the album feeling flat for me. It's practically joyless. An exercise in craft over art. But, hey! What craft. When you're starting out in making music or even in just learning how to listen to music, what an album to get into. the interplay with the guitars on top on the bass and drums, which, when you dig into it, are playing their own songs.

I love the notion of USA punk versus Brit punk. The difference is hilarious. Marquee Moon is a seriously orthodox record. Straight up, virtuosity. Rock and roll.

Also I think there's something essentially unlikable about Tom Verlaine that I can't put my finger on, and they did their legacy no favours with an utterly bloodless show in the Village many years ago. Verlaine's too precious about it all.

Having said all that, I haven't listened to this from beginning to end in years. Decades maybe. I'm digging out the vinyl and cranking up the volume and I'll back in a couple of hours to take all this shit back.
 
I like this a lot.
But like all of the albums from the era, Replacements etc. I like them without knowing anything about the personalities involved at all. I recognise the names; Tom Verlaine, Westerberg, Richard Hell etc. but I know them because the bands I loved as a kid like The Go-Betweens referenced them. I couldn't actually pick any of these guys out of a line-up. And I know almost nothing about them.
For me that always means I can never really fall deeply in love with the band. I like the music, admire it, buy it, listen to it, but I'm never going to love them they way I love the things from my own era.
 
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