Television- Marquee Moon

Redlester

The other day I found myself in- of all the increasingly rare things in British towns- a record shop. 

I was browsing the CDs and saw a copy of Marquee Moon, the early 2000s reissue, and I bought it just because it was new and £7. I used to have a vinyl copy (early 90s pressing) and the sound was always fairly indifferent to my ears- quite tinny and sibilant (and no, although I haven't got the world's best record player, it's perfectly okay for most LPs).

What a great record. And so nice to hear it sound great. And an extra treat is the version of Marquee Moon the title track on the CD- rather than fading out after the first verse of the restart- as I understand the original vinyl did and my old version certainly did- with this you get a 'proper ending'.

Another positive of the CD version: On the title track I was aware for the first time of the very subtle piano chords played on the bridge and chorus, which meld beautifully with the guitars, and perfectly show what a clever so and so old Tom Verlaine is- such a great ear for chords and harmony.

In fact, I enjoyed listening to it afresh so much that I even went online and looked at Jazzmasters on retailer's websites- only for a few minutes, but the record is that powerful it made me entertain having one of those things for a some passing moments. 

Actually I jest a bit, but I think I'm right in saying the solo sound on Marquee Moon is Verlaine's Jazzmaster with both pickups on- but I defer to the experts on this. 

oh_pollo

Apparently there's no Jazzmaster on the title track. Verlaine played a Danelectro with a bigsby and Richard Lloyd played a telecaster.

Keefy

God I love Marquee Moon. Lots of live versions of the songs on the Blow-Up double CD too.

Heartfeltdawn

It's a fucking great record. Side 1 is magnificent. 

Redlester

oh_pollo said:

Apparently there's no Jazzmaster on the title track. Verlaine played a Danelectro with a bigsby and Richard Lloyd played a telecaster.

@oh_pollo Well I'll be! Thanks for that. I was assuming things from the sound. It's all relative anyway- what matters is the music when it's that good. 

Redlester

Forgot to mention, that the other thing the CD liner notes makes clear is how most of Richard Lloyd's fabulous solos were worked out in advance, which allowed him then to double track them- hence the lovely big sound he gets. 

TheOtherDennis

Marquee Moon is indeed a belter, but I haven't heard it in a long, long time. I might look at the reissue CD.

Incidentally, I recently had a blinding flash of inspiration about that band - they're called Television after the lead man's initials.

Tom Verlaine = TV = Television.

Only took me 40 years.

Tell you what, though, it proves you need to get up pretty fucking early to get something past me...

digitalkettle

TheOtherDennis said:

Incidentally, I recently had a blinding flash of inspiration about that band - they're called Television after the lead man's initials.

Tom Verlaine = TV = Television.

Only took me 40 years.

Tell you what, though, it proves you need to get up pretty fucking early to get something past me...

Tommy Vance...TV on the Radio...Legend!

english_bob

oh_pollo said:

Apparently there's no Jazzmaster on the title track. Verlaine played a Danelectro with a bigsby and Richard Lloyd played a telecaster.

I mean, they should know, but I had a mongrel 60s Jazzmaster once, and the middle position on the pickup selector sounded exactly like the opening guitar part.

Stuckfast

One of my favourite records of all time. Just perfect.

Amazing to think that the song Marquee Moon itself was just a run-through, they didn't even realise it was being recorded.

DarnWeight

Heartfeltdawn said:

It's a fucking great record. Side 1 is magnificent. 

Totally.

By the same token, Elevation has to be up there as the greatest side 2 opening track ever.  It's so perfect, magically off-kilter, and very nearly my favorite Television song.

Keefy

Stuckfast said:

One of my favourite records of all time. Just perfect.

Amazing to think that the song Marquee Moon itself was just a run-through, they didn't even realise it was being recorded.

Wow, I did not know that!

Redlester

I'll have to take another listen to the CD- there's a bonus alternate take of the Marquee Moon track. The backing track sounds very similar to the released version- the main and obvious difference are Richard Lloyd's guitar fills, but given he was double tracking, then the released version are going to be overdubs anyway. 

DrCornelius

Quite a nice little article about the track on the fender website here - https://www.fender.com/articles/artists/one-track-mind-television-shines-under-the-marquee-moon

Heartfeltdawn

DarnWeight said:

Heartfeltdawn said:

It's a fucking great record. Side 1 is magnificent. 

Totally.

By the same token, Elevation has to be up there as the greatest side 2 opening track ever.  It's so perfect, magically off-kilter, and very nearly my favorite Television song.

I'm going through my brain trying to think of any album where the first four tracks are as strong as Marquee Moon and absolutely nothing is bounding up and saying "Look at me!". 

DarnWeight

Heartfeltdawn said:

DarnWeight said:

Heartfeltdawn said:

It's a fucking great record. Side 1 is magnificent. 

Totally.

By the same token, Elevation has to be up there as the greatest side 2 opening track ever.  It's so perfect, magically off-kilter, and very nearly my favorite Television song.

I'm going through my brain trying to think of any album where the first four tracks are as strong as Marquee Moon and absolutely nothing is bounding up and saying "Look at me!". 

This could wander off topic very easily, but tangentially related thanks to the NYC/CBGBs connection, I'd offer up side 1 of Talking Heads' Remain In Light.  Only three tracks, but three tracks of sustained, genre-bending, polyrhythmic brilliance.  If you wanted to bend the "side" definition and accept four tracks, then track 1 side 2 would be "Once In A Lifetime", which seals the deal in my book!

yorkio

DarnWeight said:

By the same token, Elevation has to be up there as the greatest side 2 opening track ever.  It's so perfect, magically off-kilter, and very nearly my favorite Television song.

And what a solo.

My favourite guitar band ever. 

CaseOfAce

I was very late to the party on this one.
Oh to have been a youth buying this on vinyl back in the late 70s. I'd have worn the grooves out on it.
New York must have seemed otherworldly back then for UK music fans. 

For me it's Venus - side one track 2. Stunning.
The whole band are on point - the guitars are interweaving, clean lines - as far from the usual blues type playing as you can get.

Mention this band to youngsters today and they wouldn't have a clue what you were on about - the Strokes Is This It is the nearest modern equivalent to it that I can think of (and the impact that it had). 

PhilKing

Some of my favourite clean sounds are on Mr Lee by Television, though the really clean lead is a Strat.

Tele-scopic

I was one of the youths buying this on vinyl back in the late '70's - and I still have the LP.  It is one of only about 20 LPs that survived the great vinyl to CD purge in the early '90's when I was moving around a lot and couldn't be arsed to lug around boxes of vinyl.  I kept lots of coloured vinyl 45's though!

I remember listening to it on headphones every Saturday for a month at the record shop after the stellar NME review (by Nick Kent?) and not knowing what to make of it, until a mate got fed up of waiting for me and told me to just buy it.  So I did and haven't stopped loving it.  A complete original and opened my ears to so many possibilities.

Anyone Can Play Guitar and Eric Haugen have both done YouTube videos breaking down how to play various Television songs and solos which are really clear and instructive if you are interested

ElectricXII

Long time Television fan here. On that album, Venus is the track for me. I absolutely love the solo.