Customer Reviews

Tom Verlaine

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was surprised to see any reviews from fans at all for this. I didn't know how many people still love and maybe a little bit revere Tom Verlaine the way we used to. One reviewer said Verlaine is one of the top 5 electric guitar players of all time. I think that's a pretty hard field to handicap, but he certainly has one of the most distinctive and stirring styles I've ever heard. Majestic and biting, sort of what "Layla" might have sounded like if Clapton and Allman were jittery, downtown, dressed-in-black types. This album, "Tom Verlaine," is a great album, a Rosetta Stone of chamber rock. All those newcomers like Mercury Rev, Flaming Lips, are just so many sour, cloying offspring. This is the real stuff with teeth and muscle and heart and beat poetry and swagger and stately stuff all mixed in. I believe if asked, every person who has ever become a Tom Verlaine fan would say they get a jolt any time they play "Last Night," its emotional power undiminished by familiarity or the passage of time.

Tom Verlaine's debut is still his finest effort, and arguably superior to anything Television ever recorded. While sonically and musically it could easily be the follow-up to ADVENTURE (Fred Smith is even on board again), filled with anthemic choruses and tight, fluid solos, the slightly more personal (but still enjoyably obtuse) lyrical content is probably unique in Verlaine's canon. In particular, "Souvenir From a Dream", "Kingdom Come", and "Last Night" might be the three best songs, in a pure songwriting sense, in Verlaine's canon.

To correct another poster: "Kingdom Come" is *not* the same song Television used to play. It has no relation to that epic Television song of the same name. (But it *is* the same song David Bowie covered on SCARY MONSTERS in 1980). However, a number of other songs on this LP are Television leftovers: "Breakin' My Heart" dates from 1975, "Grip Of Love" from 1976, "Last Night" from the ADVENTURE sessions, and the lyrics of "Red Leaves" are taken from both "Adventure" and the original "Kingdom Come".

The greatest shame about Tom Verlaine is so few of his albums are available to buy. His first one is a good one. It lacks the intensity and drive of Dreamtime (his best), but it is still a terrific album. Not unlike Lou Reed's debut record (also self-titled), this is a pretty straight ahead rock 'n' roll recording. Also like Lou, Tom would go on to make better albums, but this is still a terrific pop record.

Tom's first solo record, done after the initial breakup of Television. While it doesn't quite attain the heights of, say, Television's "Adventure", it comes close and is a progression from the same guy who fueled Television's dreamy, poetic rock and roll. The standout tracks here are the brilliant "Souvenier From A Dream" (sounds like a prototype for U2 and Echo & the Bunneymen), the propulsive "Breakin' In My Heart", and the in-your-face "The Grip Of Love".

Glad to see this is back in print. Tom's first solo album is very satisfying. The last song "Breaking My Heart" alone is worth the price of admission. If you have this, Flashlight and Cover you have the best of Mr. Verlaine.

Tom Verlaine, formerly of Television, must be one of the five greatest artists on the electric guitar, ever. This album shows why. Various musicians from Television and the Patti Smith Group form his backup band here.

The first songs [I still think of it as the "first side"] consists of some rather spare and sparse material. The opening lines of -Grip of Love- perhaps no longer sound as new and different as they did in 1979, but they still surprise. -Kingdom Come- is a Television song that appears on a studio version here.

The record becomes more lush towards the end, the "second side," with the dramatic -Flash Lightning- and the poppy -Red Leaves-. And it closes with two of the most -beautiful- things in rock: the elegiac and classical styled -Last Night-, and the monumental -Breakin' In My Heart-, recorded live in the studio, with one of the most soaring and virtuosic electric guitar performances ever recorded.

A GREAT, GREAT album - I don't really know what to say about it except that it is one of Tom Verlaine's very best, and it is hot and cool and unusual in the best TV tradition. It has moments of real beauty and finess, both in Verlaine's extraordinary guitars and his clever, wicked and funny lyrics, and it doesn't lose its edge either. The reason I gave it four and not five stars is because I'm not to crazy about the production- a little too listless, should have been wilder and hotter like his "Dreamtime" album. Has a few songs which originated as Television songs, but Verlaine gives them a new life. All the songs work in their own weird and wonderful way. Get it, it's a treat.

I have yet to find a single bad review of this album. Everyone praises Verlaine's debut to the skies, calling it a perfect continuation of his seminal work with Television. Well, I'm going to beg to differ, and while I'm not exactly gonna roast this puppy on the fire, I do think it contains flaws that can't be overlooked. Before I dive in, I should stress that I'm a longtime Television obsessive, and I find both "Marquee Moon" and "Adventure" hugely important. Their brilliantly woven guitar textures, heartfelt songwriting, soaring melodies, and infectious energy cannot be overstated.

Things get off to a bad start with the 1st song, a constipated, dull, repetitive mess that never gets off the ground. No matter, we just skip to the next one - "Souvenir from a Dream". This is a good song, and what's immediately striking is how New Wave it sounds - and I'm talking New Wave in an artsy, almost New Romantic way, with its somber melodies, synth textures, and hazy atmosphere; like something you'd expect on a Lene Lovich or Fixx album, (which I actually think is cool).

Next track - "Kingdome Come" - a pretty song with catchy chord progressions. But frustratingly, David Bowie covered it a year later on his "Scary Monsters" album, and he did it BETTER, giving it the kick, life, and color that it lacked with Verlaine. Bowie mucks up the end with overzealous drumming and bombastic backing vocals, but before the messy ending, he realizes the song's potential that was left unfulfilled by Verlaine (and ironically, adds a particularly Verlaine-esque, sustained guitar melody in the verses, not on the original).

"Yonki Time" is silly tripe that bands with better judgment would reserve for b-sides. Of the remaining 4 tunes, "Flash Lightning" is quite good and rather pretty, but the other 3 lack energy, hooks, and melodies, and drag under an oppressive weight. It's like routine rock, without the inventiveness or beauty brought to old Television classics like "Marquee Moon" or "Days." And that's weird, considering some of these tunes, like "Breakin' in my Heart," are old Television live staples.

Call me crazy, but this album doesn't quite live up to its praise. Although it contains several great songs, it's hampered by inconsistent material and dampened playing. Verlaine would've benefited from the involvement of his former band, making their break-up all the more regrettable.

Tom Verlaine's solo works are not up to the standards of Television. This first solo album had some of Tom Verlaine's best material but suffered from the lack of counterpoint guitar from the incredibly underrated Richard Lloyd. (Listen to Richard Lloyd's solo stuff and it contains remarkable guitar and incredibly trite lyrics). You have to give it up for Breakin In My Heart which is one of my alltime favorite songs period. It has a great buildup and fantastic guitar solos. Verlaine's guitar work was always meandering but this builds to a great climax. Also enjoyable is Yonki Time (great cutup stuff), Flash Lightning, Red Leaves and Mr. Bingo. The other songs are okay but not up to these standards. If you took all of Tom Verlaine's solo stuff and made a greatest hits album, you would have a definite 5 star outing.

Catchy hooks are undermined by a lack of depth and color. Tunes begin to grow tiresome after just a scant few listens. For Tom Verlaine fanatics only.