Tom Verlaine and Television are a personal music totem for me. Most of all the band of course, because Television were first and foremost a band despite Verlaine's guiding hand at the tiller. Their reputation stands mainly of course with Marquee Moon which remains their definitive statement and one of the finest debut albums ever released.
Not just the sound of those guitars which to my ears have been rarely rivaled and never bettered, before or since. But also for the whole achievement, the lyrics, the sound of a group aiming for the stars and getting there. It's an alchemist's dream, As Verlaine's sparring partner, Richard Lloyd put it:
'There was a certain magic happening, an inexplicable certainty of something, like the momentum of a freight train. That's not egoism but if you cast a spell, you don't get flummoxed by the results of your spell.'
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