'Marquee Moon' LP is overrated

'The Blow Up' is prob. O/P - haven't seen any ROIR releases for ages - but a (French, I think) company called Danceteria did issue it on CD - it's not exactly a rare rec, anyway. There's a vinyl version as well.

The sound quality is just on the edge of tolerable, sadly, but parts of it are

I can cope w/that. I have a 'descension' alb after all.

I would give you a copy of some skullflower though I see what the jetlag is like. Don't know if i have any tapes at home.

Ummmmm....Ramones anyone? Talking Heads? C'mon!

ME TO FRIEND: "You wanna hear guitars fuck? You do? Well, I've got just the record for you!"

EMBARASSING CONFESSION OF THE YEAR: I masturbated to it as a teenager. Really. It's had quite a bit of influence on my sexuality, and I plan to write an essay on that soon.

Very few bands have come close to capturing this sort of synergistic brilliance. Early Treepeople, perhaps. Hot Snakes? It's a fine art, and Lloyd and Verlaine were the absolute masters of this art.

Get yourself a girlfriend, boyfriend or sex doll. You pick!

Oh, and fuck off, Mr. Que.

For chrissakes, the very name was a euphemism for the act of fornicating.

Go find a pumpkin patch.

"Marquee Moon" too long? That's impossible. On The Blow-Up, even though the sound sucks, it's 14:45 and too short. On Live At The Old Waldorf, it sounds amazing, and at 15:45, I'm still wanting more. There's a live disc in Tom Verlaine's A Miller's Tale compilation that has incredible sound, with a 13:58 version. It's not nearly long enough. The song has reached over 17 minutes, but I don't know of any recordings of it. Plenty of rockers have been inspired by John Coltrane, from The Byrds to John McLaughlin & Carlos Santana's Love, Devotion, Surrender (1972), and nothing beats "Marquee Moon." The very first chords hit that rare sweet spot that never fail to send chills up the spine. It's eerie, a little melancholy, electrifying.

Television has inspired plenty of obsessive acolytes, including The Feelies, Felt, and more recently, Sonic Youth (hear "Rain On Tin"). Yet nothing quite matches Marquee Moon's peculiar dry guitar sound and telepathic, serpentine interplay. Overrated? Fucking hogwash. Just try to find an album that surpasses what Marquee Moon accomplished.

-- Brooker Buckingham (brooker...), October 12th, 2006. (Brooker B)

OH YEAH ASSHOLE, YOUVE HEARD A TON OF MUSIC

Sorry

. that part sounds like a burst of Fichelscher-era Popol Vuh to me (shimmery pastoral guitars, even if it's just for a tiny moment)

I always think of this part as a callback to the many moments of birdsong imitation in romantic music like Mahler Delius Wagner etc where the strings get all hushed and the woodwinds imitate birdies. But it does sound like Danny too!

They always sound punk even in the midst of major pastoralism.

That's ludicrous to me. The basics need to have a component of ugliness.

The boots I heard sound a lot better - a sound which is hinted at and not really captured on the LP.

I don't know, maybe I shouldn't have said always. And maybe pastoralism isn't quite right either. I hear "Venus" and it sounds like a breakthrough, though. There's bite to the guitars and the whole thing is stark and skeletal.

Its true there is a bite at times...thinking about it, sorry I called it 'ludicrous'...more like er, interesting word choices...

that part sounds like a burst of Fichelscher-era Popol Vuh to me (shimmery pastoral guitars, even if it's just for a tiny moment)

Meanwhile, the second half of "Du tränke mich mit Deinen Küssen" (on "Das Hohelied Salomos"), when the guitars start kicking in, always reminds me of Television.