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Rating: GUITARS.
Strong and energetic guitars. Distorted and reverberating guitars. And at times clear and evocative guitars. In short, everything is here: there's punk, new wave, and rock'n'roll.
There's the great instrumentality of Tom Verlaine. There's the portrait of a group that was not only the greatest in the late '70s New York scene, but has become unquestionably pure Legend.
Anyone who knows their "Marquee Moon" (a rock milestone) knows what I'm babbling about......
And this incredible double live album dating back to 1978 definitively unleashes all the energy of that record. All the tracks are revisited except "Torn Curtain" and "Guiding Light". Alongside a great performance of "Elevation", there are very acid versions of "Friction" and "Prove It", with Verlaine's voice perhaps not always audible and in tune, but perfectly mastering the warm surrounding energy and inseparably linked to the electric noise that bounces off the crowd's screams and sweat.
From the other album "Adventure" come two short and masterful performances of "Foxhole" and "Ain't That Nothin'", the latter perhaps the best of the first album. The title-track opening this live is the homage to "Fire Engine" by the psychedelic 13th Floor Elevators and all that dissonance and guitar freedom movement that must have been so dear to our Tom. But we do not forget the old genuine rock'n'roll either: in fact, a shrill version of the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" closes the disc, underlining the great influence that this group exerted on Television. The cover triptych ends with a splendid and free rendition of Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door". After all, Mr. Zimmerman is owed something by everyone, right?
But the tracks that alone are worth listening to (and purchasing) this work are "Little Johnny Jewel" and "Marquee Moon". The former is the actual debut single of Television, dating back to 1975, the year bassist Richard Hell (who had founded them) left, and the lineup was definitively established with Tom Verlaine on vocals and guitar, Richard Lloyd on second guitar, Fred Smith on bass, and Billy Ficca on drums. The piece is a union of pure rock'n'roll adrenaline and new wave richness, and the exceptional and long solo churned out here by our Tom indisputably elects him as one of the greatest and most original rock guitarists ever.
"Marquee Moon" then reaches its potential peak here, reproducing in the second part of the piece one of the greatest guitar gallops in rock, a child of the seminal "Sister Ray" by the Velvet Underground. Pure ecstasy! And that's all......
Television were the guitars of the new wave, and Patti Smith defined Verlaine's sound as a SCREAM OF A THOUSAND BIRDS. Well, this live album is a squeeze of energy, of glorious rock, of history, and also of these remarkable birds, all in one big glass. Who wants a sip?
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 See No Evil (03:23)
What I want
I want now
and it's a whole lot more
than 'anyhow'
I want to fly
fly a fountain
I want to jumpjumpjump
jump a mountain
lunderstandall... iseeno...
destructiveurges... iseeno...
itseemssoperfect... iseenoo...
i see... i see no... i see no evil
I get ideas
I get a notion
I want a nice little boat
made out of ocean.
I get your point.
You're so sharp.
Getting good reactions
with your ''BeBo'' talk.
Don't say unconscious
No don't say doom.
If you got to say it
let me leave this room
Cuz what I want
I want now
and it's a whole lot more
than 'anyhow.'
I'm runnin wild with the one i love
I see no evil
I'm runnin wild with the one-eyed ones
I see no evil
Pull down the future with the one you love
Pull down the future
03 Prove It (05:00)
The docks
The clocks
A whisper woke him up
The smell of water
Would resume.
The cave
The waves
Of light the unreal night.
That flat curving
Of a room.
Prove it... just the facts... the confidential
This case, this case, this case that i...
I've been workin' on so long...
First you creep
Then you leap
Up about a hundred feet
Yet you're in so deep
You could write the Book.
Chirpchirp
The birds
They're giving you the words
The world is just a feeling
You undertook.
Remember?
Now the rose
It slows
You in such colorless clothes
Fantastic! You lose your sense of human.
Project
Protect
It's warm and it's calm and it's perfect
It's too "too too"
To put a finger on
This case is closed.
04 Elevation (04:50)
The last word
is the lost word
Why don't you say so
I sleep light
on these shores tonite
I live light on these shores
Elevation... don't go to my head
Now you give me no trouble
and you give me no help
It is the clown
that works so well
I sleep light on these shores tonite.
I live light on these shores.
Elevation don't go to my head
Our lips are sealed our breath is burning
These cold wild seas have left us turning
But I sleep light on these shores tonite
I live light on these shores
07 Foxhole (05:05)
Soldier boy stands at full salute.
He wants your orders to execute.
Send him out-'neath the screaming red lights
In a narrow ditch for the funny fights.
Foxhole, foxhole too much danger.
Where's my gaurdian angle?-oh no
You show me the war, I don't know what for.
You show me the war, but the war's such a bore.
In the line of duty, in he line of fire
A heartless heart is my proper attire.
The flashing sword has neen explored
The perfect slice-perfect slice of life.
I feel the sheels hit-Moonlight web
Goodbye arms, and so long, head.
No more danger
Hello guardian angle.
Pin me down, go ahead it's a cinch.
You pin me down, you'll feel the pinch
as trained for fights
Foxhole, foxhole
Foxhole, foxhole.
10 Little Johnny Jewel (14:57)
Now Little Johnny Jewel,
Oh, he's so cool.
He has no decision.
He's just trying to tell a vision.
But some thought that this was sad
And others thought it mad.
They just scratching the surface;
JJ can do the floor kiss.
Was he on display?
No, no, not today.
All that guy ever said,
He said, "I want my little wing-head".
He half-asleep at night
Over his head, sensation of flight.
And he wake up dreaming...
Dreaming...
And he run down to the airport--
The rush. The roar.
And he crouched down behind a fence,
With a chest full of lights,
Then...
He loses his senses.
Oh Little Johnny Jewel.
He's so cool,
But if you see him looking lost,
You ain't gotta come on so boss!
And you know that he's paid;
You know that he's paid the price.
All you gotta do for that guy...
Is wink your eye.
11 Friction (05:02)
I knew it musta been some big set-up.
All the Action just would not let up.
It's just a little bit back from the main road
where the silence spreads and the men dig holes.
I start to spin the tale
you complain of my diction
You Give Me Friction
But I Dig Friction
You Know I'm Crazy About Friction
My eyes are like telescopes
I see it all backwards: but who wants hope?
If I ever catch that ventriloquist
I'll squeeze his head right into my fist.
something comes tracking down,
What's the prediction?
I'll betcha it's Friction...
Stop this head motion... set the sails.
You know all us boys gonna wind up in jail.
I don't wanna grow up
there's too much contradiction
12 Marquee Moon (14:46)
I remember
how the darkness doubled
I recall
lightning struck itself.
I was listening
listening to the rain
I was hearing
hearing something else.
Life in the hive puckered up my night,
the kiss of death, the embrace of life.
There I stand neath the Marquee Moon Just waiting,
Hesitating...
I ain't waiting
I spoke to a man
down at the tracks.
I asked him
how he don't go mad.
He said "Look here junior, don't you be so happy.
And for Heaven's sake, don't you be so sad."
Well a Cadillac
it pulled out of the graveyard.
Pulled up to me
all they said get in.
Then the Cadillac
it puttered back into the graveyard.
And me,
I got out again.
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