marquee moon by Television

Oh gosh, unlistenable, really? I always thought that tape sounded fine. I really fell in love with those versions when I first heard them. I had the Blow-Up tape and then the cd, but i think i sold the cd so i can't listen to it right now, but i just remember it being so tense and powerful. It kinda made me wish that i had a cd that was nothing but old live versions of those two songs. The studio versions never hit me half as hard.

No, it isn't.

Search function is being spazzy so I couldn't find the Television C/D thread. This one will have to suffice.

Anyway, I dunno if it's common knowledge that the Television show in Central Park on Saturday was announced as Richard Lloyd's last. RL is severing his ties with the band to pursue more solo stuff.

Thing is, Lloyd went into intensive care with pneumonia in both lungs on June 1st and is still hospitalized & on breathing apparatus, though there has apparently been significant improvement since his admittance.

I hope he gets to go home soon. Very worrying.

the last couple months have been exceedingly odd for Mr. Lloyd. Has he gone off the deep end?
here's his strange announcement re: his split with Television & his new apparently amazing (that's what he says anyway) record

Dear Marquee Moon mailing list members:

First of all, thank you for your continued support of our band and its members. Although I read the list from time to time, and I notice it is a worship altar for the works of Tom Verlaine, I have never minded, because for 34 years within Television, I practiced a kind of magical invisibility -- you could look at me on stage and think that what I was doing was being done by Tom. Of course, I took my own solos etc., but nonetheless I practiced a real yogic invisibility so that the band would have one leader and one central visionary.

A man cannot ride two horses. I am a great believer in my newest record which is about to come out, and I think it is as important a record as anything ever released -- not more important, but equal to absolutely anything you can name in rock-and-roll history. It deserves my full attention and support.

I'm going to ask the mailing list members a question. It's a rhetorical question, and thereafter I will answer it myself: have any of you ever made a New Year's resolution? Have any of you that have made a New Year's resolution kept your promise to yourself for the entire year? I dare say that not many of you can answer yes to this. Well, I made a vow in 1973 to subsume my will and my own personal charisma behind Tom, in order that Television have one face and one leader showing to the public. At times this vow was very difficult on me. I suffered public embarrassment and had to hide my own gregariousness and generosity behind a band identity that was nick-named "the ice kings of rock."

Now that I have announced my severance from any involvement in the band Television, the other three are free to get a fourth member should they like, and continue under the name. That was our original agreement and I stand by. I am a man of my word. I gave my word to myself and I kept my vow or 35 years. Now I am released from that vow and can reveal my own talents and force. I hope you will join me on an exciting adventure, which is more social phenomenon than musical, the music just being a part of my plans to conquer the earth and make the earthlings be nice to one another.

Please refrain from mentioning the name of my forthcoming record. Please do not mention the phrase. This will assist me in my well thought about promotional campaign. There will be no advance copies sent to journalists. There will be small listening parties and the record will be being played at my shows. But if you do not get a copy directly from me, you don't get one.

Sincerely yours,
Richard

hmmm?

It doesn't bother me in the slightest about starting a new thread, or posting on this one, but here's the one you're looking for:

television: classic or dud? search and destroy

sad..

: (

i dunno, i find his whole reason for quitting Television bizarre. Is there a single review of the band out there that doesn't mention Lloyd? You know, "... the scintillating guitar interplay between Verlaine and Lloyd ..."? That sorta thing? Anybody even casually familiar with the band knows that it wasn't just the Tom Verlaine Band. It also just seems weird to be quitting a band that plays a handful of times a year, if that. Personally, it bums me out because I never got a chance to see the band in any incarnation, and they're definitely one of my faves. Wonder what'll happen to all that new material they've been playing the last few years? Some of it was pretty solid.

isn't verlaine a massive a-hole?

I would class him as very very prickly and deeply contrarian. Which may = asshole on certain occasions.

This is neither here nor there; but in the context of Television, I for one always liked Lloyd's soloing more than Verlaine's. (And felt vindicated after hearing him hold his own with Robert Quine on those early '90s Matthew Sweet records.)

But yeah, those remarks up there: wtf?

I've read a few reports on Lloyd's recent east coast tour -- sounds like he's doing some sort of weird performance art thing, with chanting in aramaic, berating audience members and multiple Jimi Hendrix covers. While I love the guy in Television, I've never been able to get into his solo stuff ... But anyway, this all seems a bit odd. I interviewed the guy a few years back (when those Rhino reissues came out) and he seemed like a pretty regular guy and was (rightfully) proud of his work in Television. But now his Web site is filled with weird pseudo-mystical rants and writings -- it's hard to tell whether it's all an elaborate pu-on or utterly sincere.

Another of his announcements, from last month:

After the possible Summer stage show in New York City on June 16, which is to be announced by the city of New York on May 15, Richard Lloyd will, after 34 years, be amicably severing all ties with the band Television, in order that he may concentrate his magnetic force and supernatural energies upon his own career in support of his forthcoming record, due out in the fall. This new record directly competes with Marquee Moon, Axis: Bold as Love, The Doors, Patti Smith's Horses, Bob Marley's Natty Dread, Neil Young's Harvest, or any other record you can name, as one of the greatest records ever made in the history of rock 'n roll. That being so, Richard needs to concentrate all of his energies to support it and its subsidiary philosophies.

so this show if it happens is gonna be a fiasco?

and then there's this interview:
http://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/index.php?p=566&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#more5
he's gotta be at least sort of kidding. right?

Please refrain from mentioning the name of my forthcoming record. Please do not mention the phrase. This will assist me in my well thought about promotional campaign.

^^^ i like this very much

so this show if it happens is gonna be a fiasco?

Actually, not quite. If it happens at all I imagine they'll draft in Jimmy Rip to play 2nd guitar. He's been solo-act Tom Verlaine's 2nd guitarist live and on most records for over 20 years, and he knows most of the TV songs from live sets. He's a great foil for Tom, but not at all in the same style as Lloyd. Rip is more of an atmospheric scene-painter for Verlaine's foreground action. They have great chemistry on stage together.

But there will be serious umbrage if a Television concert happens with Rip instead of LLoyd, that's for sure. Don't see how else it can go through, though, and I don't imagine it's easy to reschedule a free Central Park gig.

verlaine should hire j. mascis.

that interview is crazee

"The original LP had 09:58, i believe (off the top of my head)...."

Wow Mark, you remember the duration of individual tracks on favourite LP's? I bow down in humble admiration at the feet of true music-obsessive greatness!

Ha, just cause I looked longingly at that "Marquee Moon" 12" single for so long, back in the day. It was one of the first 12" singles made, and certainly the first "rock" one that justified its existance for the length of the track!

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/217715.jpg

Look! Here's one!

Lloyd leaving is a bummer…I dunno if I'd wanna see Television it's all skronky Verlainisms and no Lloyd hot licks: the contrast on MM is Lloyd solo at 2:58; Verlainisms at 4:51…Lloyd does ALL the heavy lifting…

Ack. I was planning on going to the show this Saturday. Lloyd, despite his apparent delusions of grandeur, is my favorite part of that band. Someone please tell me he'll be there.

I'm going no matter what.

How much ahead of time do you usually have to show up for Summerstage shows in order to get a decent patch of ground?

Can't help you, haven't ever been to one. Maybe some of these enlightened ILM folks can be more helpful.

was in a shop where they were playing it last week. Have been unable to remove it from my turntable since. I just love guitars with that clean sound that cross each other rhythmically.

I played it last week (the new remaster with the 'alt mixes' added)

I have revised my opinion of "Torn Curtain", it's fine but the fade out is about 2 mins too long (or so it seems)...

The Radiant Monkey.

oops.

A 12-year old looking Tom Verlaine and his black beret playing Marquee Moon in 1985: not the best version ever, but still good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYFn8NUicY4

still not tired of this song

holy shit

*extremely ny italian accent* dats a lotta marquee moons ova heah

There is a moment when the crowd in Buenos Aires starts singing the riff back at the band that is otherworldly

I mentioned this on bluesky but my favorite solos might the ones from the 80s where it seems like he's trying to take the song apart and then put it back to together but lots of great stuff, also weirdly by the end I felt like it still wasn't long enough

holy smokes!

I did think it was was odd that nobody here jumped all over this when it made the rounds almost a month ago…

I was at the Verlaine Tramps show in 96, TV at the Metro in 2001*, at Irving Plaza 2002 and SummerStage 07; that last one was a few days after Lloyd quit for the final time. Jesus, I feel like a goddamn deadhead! anybody else at any of the shows in the video?

*Lloyd broke a string during the first attempt at MM, took an insanely long time to restring and tune, and Smith and Ficca joined Verlaine in staring daggers at him; the succeeding pass at MM, obv the last song of the set, was truly anticlimactic, those two guys clearly very much sided with T.V.

another cool television thing that popped up earlier this year — a soundboard of the band in 2004: https://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/753635829776252928/television-roseland-new-york-city-october-2

i didn't see this before, otherwise i woulda been all over it! so cool!

Spotify has a live Television gig from around the time of the third album, the new tracks sound better than the LP, and the few picks from the first two are also fine.

Good, that there are versions of the otherwise lost tracks that might have made album four, so that's tomorrow's commute sorted!

The Verlaine show at Bowery ballroom after songs and other things was released was so great

Excited about that 2004 board bc I saw them that year and they killed

some messy moments, but it's mostly nice! also some good examples of verlaine being totally cranky onstage.

I was just listening to the London 2004 show a couple of days ago, with all the “newies” on it

Billy Ficca is so damn good. Glad they quickly changed where the second guitar fell rhythmically in the main riff. I do prefer the noodling of the first demo to the album version tho

Saw Billy Ficca’s name and thought this would be about The Waitresses and “Christmas Wrapping.”

There is a moment when the crowd in Buenos Aires starts singing the riff back at the band that is otherworldly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBCVsVKU4O4

*Lloyd broke a string during the first attempt at MM, took an insanely long time to restring and tune, and Smith and Ficca joined Verlaine in staring daggers at him; the succeeding pass at MM, obv the last song of the set, was truly anticlimactic, those two guys clearly very much sided with T.V.

One of my most vivid concert memories, the band kind of sticking in a holding pattern while Lloyd took his time. Like, didn't they even have a roadie?

Everyone else : You cannot sing along to an instrumental
Brazil : Hold my football!