Customer Reviews

Songs & Other Things

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This one starts a little slow, and there are a few missteps in the first couple songs, but once it gets going, it is astonishing. If this were an LP, I'd play side 2 to death.
It seems odd to issue this in tandem with "Around", but they are two sides of the same coin. The emphasis here is on guitar work. Verlaine has always been more of a cult guitarist, underrated by the mainstream, but his work here is a showcase. The songs seem written and structured expressly to show off his guitar work; it's hard to imagine the songs played by anyone else.

Like many I discovered Tom Verlaine in the early 1980s, through the pages of New York Rocker, and became an almost instant fan. I was lucky enough to see him out on his first solo tour and was blown away with the band and the songs from Flashlight. Later, when Dreamtime came out I felt that Verlaine had created a great masterpiece, an album full of fascinating, interlocking guitar parts textured with energy and moments of searing emotion; I know I'll be chastised for this, but Dreamtime was greater than anything Television did.

But as much as I loved Dreamtime (and Words From the Front, The Wonder, Flashlight and Cover)I always wondered how it could ever sound as good live. With Songs Verlaine has produced a set that you can hear from the stage, he and Jimmy Ripp going at one another as I'm sure they are on tour right now. He's also, significantly, expanded his sonic textures: There's a lot of guitar work here that tonally is new and different from anything I've heard. But the attack and resonance is still pure Tom.

If I'm not mistaken TV's in his late fifties about now, and he is still a more interesting songwriter, guitarist, and most importantly, arranger than anyone else who came out of the CBGB scene with the exception of his buddy Patti Smith. On Songs, his arrangements are just terrific, and repeated listenings reward you with growing awareness of the nuance of the playing by all bandmembers and how TV uses this to shape the feel and reach of each song; not as dense as what you'll find in Dreamtime or Flash Light, the guitar work is still surprising me with every listen--great with headphones, great but different with the stereo cranked. Like all of Verlaine's work, this is adult rock and roll for the discriminating listener who wants to think and rock at the same time, and it should be GREAT live. My only complaint is I'd like a lot more Jay Dee--his drumwork on "Wierded Out" takes a simple 4/4 over simple chord changes and explodes the song to greatness (and listen to all the nuance in his playing, too). Five stars.

I'm listening to this CD as I write and realizing that someone has to break this tie. So far this CD has received one very positive and one very negative review, and you may be wondering which one to believe. The positive review is, IMO, the one to go with. I've been a Tom Verlaine fan since the early 1980s and I think this is some of his best work. To be honest I was hoping for a repeat of the full-blown, sonically dense music on his Dreamtime and Flashlight cds, but I now see that he's given us something even better: new, different, and unusual music that will reward repeated listening.

But I'd have to agree with one review here with the title "Hit and miss". Verlaine has the knack for writing some killer catchy guitar driven songs. It's too bad he goes off the deep end with about half the songs here. The problem is they're just too oblique.

"Dreamtime", his self titled solo release, and "Cover" are more consistent albums. Hopefully, rykodisc or someone will take those great records, remaster them, and release them again, since as far as I can tell, they've never been released other than on vinyl.

Maybe the title is ironically appropriate. About half of the songs are really great on this CD, and then there's the "other things".

It's still great to hear new music from the reclusive Verlaine, and I wouldn't miss his live show for anything if he decided to tour.

Hopefully, this is the beginning of a more active period. Please don't make us wait for 13 years between each time, Tom!

this is not tom verlaine, the punk guitar god of old ...
this is all very calm and VERY mellow ...
what saved this for me was IT IS tom verlaine!
you can hear the twang and that sound that's he!
so, how bad could it be?
couple of the songs actually jump out at you.
he sings a little better ... too.
but tom verlaine's a guitar player first and foremeost.
not THAT bad.

The first time I listened to this I thought it was more of the somewhat disappointing eponymous third Television album which I found a little too subdued. With the chops that Mr. Verlaine has, you can't help hoping he'll let out the rock'n'roll hounds every so often. However, the more I listened to it the more it got under my skin, with its lyricism, combination of earnestness and playfulness, and subtle yet killer guitar licks. It's still on heavy rotation on my i-pod shuffle and I keep enjoying it more and more with every listen. In other words, buy it, give it a chance, and see the glory.

I have bought all Tome Verlaine records, and most Television albums. After listening intently to this album for the last month, I believe that it is hands down the best Tom Veraline album he has made, with the possible exception of his first solo record. The style is varied, yet consistent with his current vision. If anything, his song writing capabilities have improved over the past 30 years. It stands as one of my top five favourites so far this year.

This one is not about foreground -- the vocals are often buried in the mix to the point of indecipherability, and his lead guitar rarely peals out and becomes the center of attention. Instead it's multiplied into a cloud of twittering parts, snaking, chiming, playing simple figures and occasionally some rather crunchy rhythm parts.

It's about atmosphere and text. Sometimes surprisingly dark and creepy, sometimes amorous. But in the end, elusive. Verlaine's lyrics have always been elusive lyrically. On this one, it becomes a quality of the arrangements as well.

There's a lot here to be discovered and enjoyed, sonically, conceptually. It just wasn't what I thought I was looking for when I first started to listen.

If you just played me the opening instrumental, and didn't tell me who it was, I would say, "Who's the schlocky smooth jazz band?" Tracks 2-4 just kinda sit there, wanting to be something but not sure what that something is. Tracks 5 and 6 are the album savers and are the two things that kept me from just sticking this right in my to-sell stack. From 7-14 there is nothing outstanding but nothing as bad as the opener. The overall feel is just what you'd expect from Tom Verlaine: spidery, understated art pop songs with spindly guitar, intelligent lyrics, and Verlaine's cool talking vocal style. This is a good album but what I keep thinking as I listen is he needs the rest of Television to go from okay to outstanding.

Even after a number of listens, I can't really find a way into this. Verlaine is not, and never has been, an outstanding lyricist, and with the vocals relatively up front here, this is an issue. The guitar is still striking, with numerous lovely pieces, but doesn't sound particularly new; the album sounds quite a bit like the last Television album. Verlaine's first solo album, Warm and Cool, has a superior atmosphere and overall sound. Nice, jazz-inflected songs like "A Stroll" would make perfectly acceptable background music for a lazy luncheon, and this is where this album belongs, unobtrusively, pleasently, in the background. Either the end of the album is weak, or I'd had enough of the record, because "Shingaling" and "All Weirded Out" sounded dreadful, faux-hip and faking it, and by the time I reached the penultimate "The Day on You" I was worn out. Still love Television though, more than ever.