Marquee Moon

I was going to post about how I enjoy Television's Marquee Moon more and more every time I listen to it, but then the internet didn't really work, so I went and formatted my web archives so that I can someday post them. I finally worked out the dates from July/August 2003, which I think were complicated by an errant link to a Guardian story from a date which was later than the surrounding text. Anyway, I've got all the months and years laid out, so now I need to add links to everything and put all the other files where they go. Maybe they will make their way to the internet by next month or something.

But, yeah, about Television, I was thinking on the way home tonight that I always see them listed as "proto-punk," but they don't really sound anything like punk rock at all. I noticed that there is a section in their liner notes where they give credit for each song's guitar solo. I don't think punk bands put out albums with seven- and ten-minute long songs where each had at least one guitar solo. If anything, Tom Verlaine's unique voice and the guitar sounds are more like pre-post-punk, though that's a pretty awkward designation.

It took me a really long time to enjoy Television, for some reason, and I didn't until last fall or so, but I get the urge to listen to them more and more frequently. Mostly I'm in the mood for "Friction" and "See No Evil" because they're catchy, but tonight was all about the second half of "Marquee Moon". It struck me that the verses at the beginning are actually just a structural facade for the last six minutes of the song which build to a terrific climax at around two minutes left, allowing a little time to decompress and get ready for the second half of the record. I totally downloading the MP3 freshman year, and bought the album two summers ago, but never really got into it until now.

Also, Kyle Yoder will be coming along with me to Intonation. What self-respecting midwestern indie rock fan wouldn't?