FEATURE:
Vinyl Corner
IMAGE CREDIT: Tony Lane and Robert Mapplethorpe
Television – Marquee Moon
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IT is a surprise…
IN THIS PHOTO: Television/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
because I should have included Television’s Marquee Moon in Vinyl Corner a long time ago! You should snap up the album on vinyl because, since its release in February 1977, the album has influenced scores of artists and delighted fans. I am fairly new to the album as a whole but have heard various songs played on the radio since childhood. I guess we need to get a bit of background together regarding Television and Marquee Moon. Before stepping into the studio to record their debut album – yes, they were THAT good out of the blocks! –, they were a prominent and respected act in the New York music scene. I am not sure how many of their shows included tracks from Marquee Moon or, in fact, how close to the record they would have sounded. I listen to Marquee Moon and it sounds so expansive, otherworldly and wild: I imagine the New York scene in the 1970s and consider something rawer and more Punk-based. Produced by the band’s lead, Tom Verlaine and Andy Johns, Television sort of went against the grain of the time. One could have expected a Punk/guitar-driven record but, instead, we got this more Jazz-inspired record. There is so much to dissect when we think of Marquee Moon but, whereas Punk was concerned with direct vocals and lyrics and music that was close to the bone, Television combined counter-melodies with poetic and sometimes-surreal lyrics.
Verlaine’s lyrics are interesting. I know he was experimenting with psychotropic drugs around the time the album was recorded but, whilst one can detect a certain sense of trip and fantasy in places, the literary and more intellectual qualities of the songs resonates harder and deeper. There is wordplay and puns alongside oblique threads and fantastic flights of the imagination. Tom Verlaine was determined to make the album in his own vision and not, as Elektra Records suggested, produce with a well-known name. Working alongside Andy Johns, one wonders what Marquee Moon would sound like if there was a big-name producer calling the shots. Television rehearsed for six hours a day, six-seven days a week to make sure the music was ready and tight. I know a lot of artists now rehearse endlessly but how many spend so many hours a week in the studio? One can see all the effort and preparation in Marquee Moon and I can only imagine the rehearsals and these great songs coming together. One might imagine songs like Friction, Venus and Guiding Light were all written early on – before the album was recorded – but a lot of material was thrown out when the band entered the studio. Verlaine had a clear plan regarding the structure of Marquee Moon so, in terms of switching tracks and adding new numbers, there was not a lot of experimentation and flexibility.
Marquee Moon arrived in a year when Steely Dan released Aja and David Bowie released Low. Alongside that, the Sex Pistols released their album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols and The Clash released their eponymous debut. Many argue 1977 is the finest year for music and the sheer scope is amazing. Marquee Moon is definitely one of the best albums of the year but think of the other albums released that year and it is mind-boggling. Punk was definitely coming through but there was more experimental and interesting music nestling alongside. There are Punk elements in Marquee Moon but, rather than the album being a raw and intense experience, the energy comes in fits and starts. For a start, a lot of the songs on Marquee Moon are over four minutes and the first three tracks – See No Evil, Friction and Venus – are not exactly the sort of short tracks the likes of the Ramones and Sex Pistols were putting out! The performances and compositions are far more developed and progressive as a lot of Punk stuff; the vocals are not as snarled and, whereas there are some focused songs, a lot of the best numbers expand and move at their own pace. It is hard to say where Marquee Moon emanates from but this article suggests records that might have influenced Tom Verlaine. Billy Ficca – drums; Richard Lloyd – guitar (solo on See No Evil, Marquee Moon; Elevation and Guiding Light), vocals and Fred Smith – bass guitar, vocals created this masterpiece that still sounds completely awesome and fresh today.
Many critics have named Marquee Moon as one of the best albums of the Punk Rock movement and many also consider it the cornerstone of the Alternative-Rock scene. So many Indie and Post-Punk artists have used Marquee Moon as a starting point; the sophistication and style of Marquee Moon was a revelation in 1977 and it is impossible to count just how many artists have been inspired by this remarkable work. In terms of the reviews of 1977, there was plenty of love around. More contemporary reviews have been incredibly positive and, as you can tell from this AllMusic review, there is so much to unpick when we evaluate Television’s masterful debut:
“Marquee Moon is a revolutionary album, but it's a subtle, understated revolution. Without question, it is a guitar rock album -- it's astonishing to hear the interplay between Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd -- but it is a guitar rock album unlike any other. Where their predecessors in the New York punk scene, most notably the Velvet Underground, had fused blues structures with avant-garde flourishes, Television completely strip away any sense of swing or groove, even when they are playing standard three-chord changes. Marquee Moon is comprised entirely of tense garage rockers that spiral into heady intellectual territory, which is achieved through the group's long, interweaving instrumental sections, not through Verlaine's words. That alone made Marquee Moon a trailblazing album -- it's impossible to imagine post-punk soundscapes without it.
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
Of course, it wouldn't have had such an impact if Verlaine hadn't written an excellent set of songs that conveyed a fractured urban mythology unlike any of his contemporaries. From the nervy opener, "See No Evil," to the majestic title track, there is simply not a bad song on the entire record. And what has kept Marquee Moon fresh over the years is how Television flesh out Verlaine's poetry into sweeping sonic epics”.
Pitchfork had this to say when they reviewed Marquee Moon:
“With all that context, the most interesting thing about picking up Television's Marquee Moon-- today, for us folks who weren't old enough to buy the first edition vinyl-- is how ahistorical it sounds. If you listen to their original Brian Eno-produced demos, you hear a scragglier, faster band that's less confident and more... punk? If nothing else, the band at least sounded closer to the sometimes-sloppy Bowery clubrats Eno must have taken them for on those early tapes. Their sound on Marquee Moon, though, is clean, raw and simple. The band never breaks for a squall of energy, yet the whole record crackles with it, and they never rely on atmosphere to make their case. Billy Ficca's drums and Fred Smith's bass are extra lean and crisp, and the band's so tight that even the "Did you feel low?" call-and-response on "Venus de Milo" sounds amusingly rehearsed. The only rough edge is Tom Verlaine's striking warble, a somewhat choked-off tenor influenced either by Patti Smith or by someone kicking him in the throat…
But the things that make the record so classic, that pump your blood like a breath of clean air, are the guitars. This whole record's a mash note to them. The contrast between these two essential leads is stunning: Richard Lloyd chisels notes out hard while Verlaine works with a subtle twang and a trace of space-gazing delirium. They play lines that are stately and chiming, rutting and torrential, the riff, the solo, the rare power chord, and most of all, the power note: the second pang on the riff to "Venus de Milo" lands like a barbell; the opening bars of "See No Evil" show one axe rutting the firmament while the other spirals razorwire around it”.
One can examine where Television came from and what was inspiring them in the 1970s. You can theorise and speculate all you like but Marquee Moon sounds like nothing else on Earth! When looking at the album forty years from its release (in 2017), Consequence of Sound remarked the following:
“On its face, Marquee Moon sounds like an unparalleled work picked cleanly out of thin air. In many ways, it was and still is, but it arguably couldn’t have originated anywhere other than in the band’s home base of New York City. From a musical standpoint, New York City in the mid to late 1970s represented a wide-open frontier, a boundless play area where new ideas and experimenting were not only allowed, but encouraged. The New York Dolls, Suicide, The Modern Lovers, and The Velvet Underground before them were each creating something distinctly New York in sound and style — that is to say, something intelligent, cool, and edgy with a healthy dose of street smarts.
Marquee Moon is pure music gumbo, a staggering combination of contrasting aesthetics that slashes with punk rock grit, dazzles with jazzy guitar virtuosity, and moves to its own particular muse. It’s smart but tough, technical but accessible. Verlaine and Lloyd make a devastating guitar pair, especially on tracks like album opener “See No Evil”, the sprawling title track, and the more classic-sounding “Prove It”.
If you have not discovered this innovative, brilliant and timeless album then make sure you snap up a copy of Television’s Marquee Moon. You do not have to be a fan of Post-Punk or Jazz to appreciate the album: you simply need to put the needle down, let the songs sink into the mind and…
GET carried away.