At The Passing of Tom Verlaine, “spiritual”
from: warm and cool, 1992
Tom Verlaine the lucid guitarist and frontman of the singular N.Y. band Television passed away 1.28.23. I feel his music succeeded on its own terms and defied the context and time in which it was made without somehow turning its back on either. At once meditative, deeply triumphant, stretching and angular, jaggedly annoyed, powerfully tuned, injured, aggressively tender. As in the tune “Glory,” here referenced, the sonic hooks often built little anthems, around which the second lead player in his band, Richard Lloyd, twirled. From the churning path of his journey, a priceless tapestry got out and is gloriously left in his wake.
Poster from a punk club in Portland, OR
from “Songs and Other Things.” 2006
Mr. Verlaine here in a short lived rock trio w/ Richard Hell gtr. and Billy Fica drums. Their “Street Fighting Man” sexual revolutionairianism!