2023 has been one tough year so far.
The great Tom Verlaine of the proto-punk NYC band Television has passed, aged 73. He and co-lead guitarist Richard Lloyd played some fantastic, intricate guitar lines between them, and Verlaine had a very influential vocal style as well.
https://amp.theguardian.com/music/2023/jan/28/tom-verlaine-frontman-and-guitarist-of-us-band-television-dies-at-73
If you've never heard their first album 'Marquee Moon', I can't recommend it highly enough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puIM6LkKLpIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4myghLPLZc
RIP
Bummer.
Over on one of StephenM's posts, I posted one of my long, off-topic, biographical comments referring to a guy named Jesse (https://songcrafters.org/forum/index.php?msg=393702). Jesse introduced me to Television in the 1980s, and for awhile went by the pen name and stage name James Verlaine.
I never listened to much Television before, I had no idea what their sound was until now..........I can tell this was hugely influential stuff...I can hear all kind of references to this sound in more modern bands......Wilco comes to mind for example.....and many others
searching around the web and found this.......so obviously WILCO was heavily influenced by this band and the man himself.....cool trivia for me as a massive Wilco fanatical fanboy...learned something today....
FEF4AF2A-9217-4214-891E-9A7C92007AB1.jpeg
This is a bad and sad loss. Marquee Moon is one of the greatest and most influential albums of all time. It's certainly influenced me.
I HAD A 12INCH VERSION OF THIS https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=TELEVISON+FOXHOLE#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:13baab1c,vid:2IQCUc4rNN8
RIP Tom. Marquee Moon is a great album indeed.
Mike