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Classic Album Review: Marquee Moon 1977 - Television
Note: This was a review I put on an old Usenet discussion board (pre-web), and it ended up on the online magazine Perfect Sound Forever and listed in the bibliography for the Television entry in Wikipedia. I've always wanted to revise it and finally got around to doing it. The edits mainly tone down some of the language and omit names where I thought the criticism was unfair, but otherwise, the piece was left pretty much as it originally appeared.
My intent wasn't to rewrite it; even if I went a little overboard at times, I resisted the temptation to change it completely. In any case, I still feel the same way about the album. It's also about the Sex Pistols, so this review is as much about the era as the album. Read it as a tribute to the band in my opinion.
I've made comparisons in this review, which to some may appear critical of such bands as the Sex Pistols. However, the point of this piece is to highlight Television and speculate a bit on its place in music history. As such, it is an advocacy work and not intended to be a balanced look at the Punk movement.
I have to admit; Television wasn't the band that got me into "Punk". We all had our moments when that burning bush appeared. For me, it was one night while pulling a night shift at 7-11. At that time of night, I was allowed to play the store radio loud. "God Save The Queen" came over the air, and everything I'd read in Rolling Stone and other mags about Punk came to life.
To many of us, bands like the Ramones, Sex Pistols, and Clash had a magical connotation. One band, Television, was considered controversial. On the one hand, Johnny Rotten had once praised the group, saying that he liked the guitars' power. On the other hand, after seeing them live (or so he said), he said they were awful, mainly because of the long extended numbers. The name Grateful Dead was used as a pejorative to describe the group (which did not affect me, I liked the Dead).
Rotten's offhand dismissal was probably influential in England and amongst elements of the punk crowd but probably had little effect in New York City (where the band was based), other than critic Dave Marsh's apparent puzzlement over Television's high reputation.
…louder…
The Ramones were louder, the Pistols nastier, the Clash purer, Nick Lowe more clever, and Wire more violent, but Television was different. Television wasn't a band you could easily copy. There was a complexity that went against the grain of Punk at the time. You couldn't just pick up a guitar and play Marquee Moon like you could "12XU" by Wire. They were the first punk band to make a genuinely new and original sound that was highly technical. At a minimum, they were the most lyrical.
Now, don't get me wrong...I love the bands mentioned above. I'm saying that Television was DIFFERENT than anything I had heard before. The Pistols were like super-fast Mott The Hoople (great band), Ramones, a raunchy surf band, The Clash, a raw pop-reggae band, Nick Lowe, a great popster, and Wire...well, they were another bunch of geniuses who took Punk higher; but later than Television.
Without bands like Television (and Wire, actually), those bands created mainly energy, a fresh outlook, and rebellion. Their anti-intellectualism guaranteed that there'd be nothing to build on, even later on when many tried to become more than just punk bands.
Most artists are rarely inspired by "primitive" or "raw" art to create "new" music. Most may pick up a guitar to be like an Iggy, but that's more of embracing a lifestyle and pose. When artists like Alex Chilton, Television, or Captain Beefheart create new styles and approaches, that tends to inspire musicians as artists.
Edge of U2 was once quoted as saying his early guitar practice was copying Tom Verlaine's guitar licks. Most who copied the Pistols now play music that's about as alive and relevant as an oldie but goodie act at a rock and roll revival. Groups like Television inspired artists and hardcore Punk created a subculture of nostalgia (unless one considers Husker Du hardcore, then we have an exception).
…almost never was…
In a sense, "Marquee Moon" was a record that almost never was. The original sessions produced by Eno were almost unlistenable, an amateurish mess. It was rerecorded but flawed by a mix that thinned out Verlaine's voice, so it sounded like a flat screech at times, without any depth (note: a later remastered release fixed that).
However, for all its flaws, the record successfully captured the complexity of the sound and still retains punch in the drum and guitars. Back then, those of us who were fans probably didn't notice such fine details in the sound and mix.
What we did notice was from the moment "See No Evil" came pounding out of the speakers, this wasn't no ordinary "punk" band. If it had come out as Johnny Rotten had described it, like "Grateful Dead" music, it would have been off our turntables in a second. Not that the Dead weren't good, but what needed to come out of the speakers either had to be loud and fast or different enough to compel one to listen.
It was probably somewhere in-between, but my first impression was that "See No Evil" was a great guitar song with riffs and ideas that were different and freer than anything I'd heard.
What made it sound so "free" (in the jazz sense) was the interplay between static, powerful guitar by Richard Lloyd and the fluid ideas by Verlaine. More than fluid...the ideas seemed to go places where a trained musician could see Tom risking being unable to come back and ending up with a botched solo.
Verlaine seemed to resolve the ideas perfectly, yet never with the sheer ease of Jerry Garcia. So many Verlaine solos, at first listen, made you feel that a real chance was taken and that if he didn't come up with a killer idea out of nowhere, the riffs would peter out, or noodle about and never resolve.
It was more than raw talent, a sense of humor, or pure energy. Television had developed a style that rocked yet expressed freedom, like in certain jazz styles.
…noodling…
This sound would only have been superb noodling without a truly great band. The rhythm section of Fred Smith on bass and Billy Ficca on drums was excellent. They had a tight, syncopated sound, not unlike a good 50s rhythm and blues band. They rarely overplayed a song (in the studio, at least).
The other guitarist, Richard Lloyd, was Verlaine's equal in technical skill. He didn't have Verlaine's improvisational sense, but that wasn't needed. Richard's work verged on atonal or abstract noise at times yet was played in controlled bursts and patterns.
That tension in the guitar approaches is what made Television sound so different. Usually, the soloist is the one who explores atonality. Verlaine generally flew all over the place, but in a lyrical or linear sense. Lloyd's tonality and rhythm guitar sense made them "different" as a band, often leading to hard-edged riffs and abstract chordings.
In other words, normally, the soloist is the one who needs to be anchored. In Television's case, Lloyd was the guitarist who affected the tonality of the music more often than not, and Verlaine and the rhythm section were the ones who gave the ear its anchor and familiar musical elements. Listen only to Lloyd; you can hear some truly off-the-wall ideas being played.
In "See No Evil," Lloyd is soaring in the solos, but the guts of the arrangement are in the tough riffing underneath that is driving the song forward, with powerful rhythm section support. It's no wonder R.E.M. sometimes does this song as an encore, it's a classic guitar rock song.
"Venus" comes next, and is one of the most lyrical in the set. It opens with a great guitar riff. As the ballad moves along, one can hear complex and interesting ideas on both guitars that make perfect sense together (yet sound disjointed when listened to individually).
…Venus…
The Venus referred to is of DeMilo fame and does show us that detached, abstract view Verlaine often had, as opposed to a purely personal one. But, on the other hand, I wonder if it was just so personal as to be idiosyncratic. In any case, an armless statue with a boob showing isn't your typical romantic image.
"Friction" opens with an uptempo yet static guitar chord opening by Lloyd, which sounds like a Stone's riff played backward. Then, Verlaine kicks in with a descending chromatic riff, and the rhythm section chugs along with a beat that older fans might recognize as similar to Wilson Picket's "Funky Broadway."
Next comes "Marquee Moon," a nine-minute encapsulation of the group sound; an excellent chord opening on rhythm guitar, looping riffs out of left field, and a funky, rocking bass and drum part that lead into the song. It then builds and builds, and Verlaine begins to solo up into the upper neck of the guitar.
More than a few times, you wonder if even he knows where it's all going. It finally resolves into a Stones-like chord burst (actually not unlike a good Dead jam number), then settles into a lyrical, atmospheric section. Smith and Ficca then lead us back into a reprise of the main melody.
In my mind, it's a perfect song capturing all the band was. Believe me; it sounded REAL good, blasting out of the P.A. speakers at the Mabuhay the night I heard it for the first time.
"Elevation" follows next, and was originally the first song on the second side of the album. On CD, its impact is diminished following "Moon." It's the most "dramatic" of the songs, with many stops and starts and sections built on unison riffs. It remains listenable, but it's more interesting than compelling.
…a Guiding Light…
"Guiding Light" is the opposite. When I first heard the song, it seemed like mere pleasantry, a nice album filler. These days it sounds more and more like a great ballad with a Dylanesque sense of timing and structure. Back then, I was just too rushed and intense to appreciate this one. Now, it's a rediscovered pleasure.
"Prove It" follows, and at first listen sounds like a reggae-ish type new wave cut (familiar enough at the time). However, time has revealed it to be quite different, and the opening guitar figure is more fifties than reggae. It chugs along like a good-bad Clash song, and the song has stood up well over the years.
The CD ends with "Torn Curtain," a dark, listless ballad in the "Tin Pan Alley" mold. It's too overdramatic at times, and although well played, it's no longer the strong ending cut it once seemed to be.
In the late 70s, few Punks had any real idea of what the music would seem like in a few years. Most simply wanted to put a 45 and become rock stars (oh, yes, they did). A few approached the whole era as an opportunity to create new music, and only the most obtuse won't see that the bands who most influenced the next generation were Television, Ramones, Wire, Clash, and Pistols (could be a much longer list).
I can only give a personal example. Two major influences made me play Punk music then: the Ramones and Sex Pistols. The idea was that you do it. Don't spend years learning it; just do it.
…Pistols at Winterland…
Seeing the Sex Pistols at Winterland (which turned out to be their last gig) would be a revelation. As I anxiously stood in line for that "sell-out" concert, the scalpers were selling tickets for only two dollars each, with the price dropping to one by show time.
Inside Winterland, the audience was mainly tourists and curiosity seekers. Most spent the concert making wise cracks and laughing at the freak show in what is now called a mosh pit. First, two local bands, the Nuns and the Avengers, did their shows and then the Pistols came on and trashed the show.
They played without a bass player, as Sid was too drunk to play and was mixed down (on the bootleg, he can be heard, and it wrecks the music), but the rest was as good as any English rock concert. Rotten even stopped to pick up some money that was thrown on the stage, then did the encore laying on his stomach, singing Iggy's "No Fun" in the most minimal performance I've ever seen. This attitude continued backstage, where I heard that they all trashed the dressing rooms, and Bill Graham wouldn't book a punk act for some time afterward.
…the point…
The point? Well, what the Pistols started died exactly when Rotten said it would, after one record. Their message was anger, honesty (relative to the music business at the time), and anti-intellectualism that excluded any concept of art. Those who buy that message still listen to hardcore which is more rigid in its aesthetic than any blues or jazz you'll ever hear. The Pistols never took them any further. In their last gig, they ensured Punk would never get into a major Bay Area venue for some years.
Then take "Marquee Moon." Just hearing that album gave me, and quite a few others, a totally different message; that the era's music had changed, and although not so apparent at the time, restored a sense of discovery and freedom that had long disappeared.
I once read that Alex Chilton's "Big Star" record only sold a few copies, but each of those who bought one went out and formed a band. I doubt Television was like that; they were too hard to imitate, for one thing. The Bangles could cover "September Gurls," maybe, but never "Marquee Moon."
They showed us that, perhaps for at least one moment, there could be something new under the sun after all. And, I should add, it couldn't have come at a better time.
- Al Handa
1996 - Revised 2022
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