Television -Back on tour!

^ very interesting!

 

I'm not arguing, or being sarcastic, just asking. I've heard a lot of Thompson, maybe a dozen gigs between 1985 and 1989, but am only
familiar with Television from the recorded documents. I love Thompson, but why do you think he would be the ideal replacement for
Lloyd?

 

Television is doing fine. I saw them recently and Jimmy Rip fills Lloyd's shows nicely...Sure, it would be even better with the full original lineup, but the chemistry/energy was superb. I saw the original lineup twice, and this was as good as either show (and had a better setlist).

 

calling richard lloyd a serious character is like calling cauliflower an acquired taste. i dont think you can blame verlaine for going elsewhere.

 

They both have a certain approach to soloing, structured to a degree, but still with an urge to just go wherever their whim takes them at a given time. They're both jazz fans and it shows in their playing, with Thompson leaning a bit to folk and Verlaine more to rock. They're fearless when they play and I think they'd compliment each other rather than play against one another. My musically uneducated attempt at an explanation.

 

Regarding what Lloyd says in that facebook post about soloing live. He didn't have many solos on the studio albums, and yeah, for the most part he stuck to what's there, except for "Ain't That Nuthin'" where he would play a longer solo. But in unrecorded songs like 'Breakin'" In My Heart", "Kingdom Come", "Adventure" and their cover of 'Satisfaction" he was more than capable of letting rip. It was pretty amazing to hear Verlaine and his icy control play against Lloyd's fired up approach. Lloyd was a terrific live player, he and Verlaine were one of the great live guitar teams, and if he missed a few notes every now and then nobody was gonna hold it against him.

 

Neither Lloyd nor Verlaine sound particularly easy to work with. Clearly Verlaine was the conceptual/songwriting engine of Television, but so much of the band's sound and identity and greatness (as is often the case with great bands), came from the idiosyncratic playing of each individual (kind of like a band like The Who), especially Ficca's herky jerky flow and the sweet and sour/smooth vs. spasmodic guitar tandem of Lloyd and Verlaine (and one suspects the rub between their personalities also played a role in the band's character). I haven't seen Television with Ripp, but I've seen Verlaine bands with Ripp and Fred Smith and Television with Lloyd and they are different, both great, but different.

 

Verlaine is not an easy touch but Lloyd is as out there as they come.

 

I saw an interesting different Television show tonight.

They played at the new Skirball Center.......a fancy new NYU auditorium across 4th St from Washington Square Park. they were billed with the famous Joshua Light Show from the 60s. What many didn't know (though I saw it was as advertised correctly on the Skirball website after I got home) is that Television played an instrumental concert. It was as a live musical soundtrack for the light show. Most all of the what Television played in the 60 minute set was more ambient/spacey/new-agey to go along with the lights. Easily regognizable were instrumental versions of "The Sea" and "Persia" (which went 20 minutes). There was also an instrumental "Prove It" in a very different slower laid-back tempo. There were 4 others in the regular set which I had no idea what they were.......but were very precise and rehearsed. One was a spacey jam in D in which tom Verlaine played the riff of "1880 Or So" but was nothing like the song otherwise. There was another spacey one in the key of E that had varying part/guitar notes reminding me of Pink Floyd's "Astronomy Domine" and the James Bond theme.

They encored with an instrumental "Little Johnny Jewel"...............after someone heckled "play some songs."

Since this was tightly rehearsed, I want to ask RalphB or anyone else who probably knows more than me, it Tom and/or Television had any other instrumental projects or recordings that they might have drawn from for this show?

I would've loved to have seen the stage setlist, but people swiped them from the stage right after the show was over.

Tonight could've also been the first time since the early days that Television didn't play "Marquee Moon" at a show.

 

^wow sounds cool...

I really wish they'd come down to DC for a show!

 

Yep. Richard Lloyd is now in the wine business. The next logical choice is Jimmy Rip, since he's been a faithful sideman to Tom Verlaine for many years. Jimmy Rip was also a member of The Paul Collins Beat, playing guitar of course.

 

Well, there's this:



http://www.amazon.com/Tom-Verlaine-Jimmy-Rip-Experimental/dp/B000SIWHCI

 

Thanks.............I'll need to pick this up.

There were a few partial clips on YouTube. They looked fun. None of the little music I heard sounded like it was from last night.

 

Here's a tiny bit of last night.............the instrumental "Little Johnny Jewel" encore if front of the light show.


If anyone puts up one of the unrecognizable tunes, I'll post them here to see if anyone hopefully knows them.

 

Wish I could help you with this. Going off into long improvisations was something they always did, going back to 1975. Maybe they took old unrecorded songs like "Kingdom Come" or "Breakin In My Heart" and used those as they always had long instrumental passages. Haven't seen Joshua Lights since the Fillmore days, that must have been interesting with Television providing the music.

 

Someone put a picture of the setlist on Twitter.......(social media is good for somethings).

There were some Verlaine and Verlaine/Rip compositions. The 3rd song was titled "Autumn" and I couldn't find it anywhere. The opening spacey instrumental with the "1880 Or So" riff played in an otherwise different arrangement was still listed as "1880 Or So." The Pink Floyd sounding one was "The Rocket." I should've known that, but haven't listened to the 3rd album in a long time.

Here's the setlist...............
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/telev...the-performing-arts-new-york-ny-33cc3811.html

 

I was at the concert on Saturday as well. What a fantastic cavalcade of guitar it was, and Billy Ficca was in top form.

I was aware that it was an instrumental performance, but had no idea what to expect. I thought it might be a more improvisational performance with the group responding to the light show or something... I'm glad it was compositionally focused.

Apparently Verlaine played in L.A. the night before, the Warhol films thing with Dean Wareham, Bradford Cox and Martin Rev that's coming to BAM in a couple weeks. I'm really looking forward to that.

 

I can understand people rejecting the notion of Television without Richard Lloyd. But then, I can accept people rejecting the notion of Television without Richard Hell and his contributions to their repertoire. I just don’t agree with either POV.

I’m sure Verlaine is a control freak and all that, but most American bands (besides the Grateful Dead) have a “leader” who calls the shots. The band as “street gang” is more of an English thing. I’m amazed that Lloyd survived for as long as he did. And let’s not forget, he quit… they didn’t fire him, which they had every reason to do. He couldn’t participate in the Central Park show back in 2007 because he was in the hospital with severely damaged lungs from his addiction to amyl nitrate “poppers”. Apparently Billy Ficca and Fred Smith agreed to tour with Richard a couple years ago, but abandoned him somewhere in the Midwest because he was living with a Nitrous Oxide tank on his hip. The guy is hopeless.

Leaving the band because they didn’t crank out a new album is kind of silly in this day and age. They wouldn’t make a penny from a recording, but probably do pretty well playing select, prestigious gigs around the world. They make a living working a couple months a year. I’ll also say that I have a hard time imagining Lloyd in Saturday’s line-up… he could stretch-out on certain songs, but the fluid performance on Saturday required sober focus. I'm not sure he could have filled Jimmy Ripp’s shoes.

No Television versus Television with Jimmy Ripp replacing Richard Lloyd? I choose Television.

 

I'm going to get tickets for the Warhol thing this afternoon, sounds like it could be a magical evening.

 

Much as I love Television with Lloyd (and Hell!) I think I have to agree with you. Better that they're out there as a living breathing touring band that plays the songs and isn't some fossilized remnant of what used to be. But I would love a new album.

 

Any year we get a new Television or Verlaine album is a good one for me.

 

Television is playing Irving Plaza on 12/28!!
..........a .nice lead-in for Patti at Webster Hall on 12/29 and 30

They're also playing Philly on 12/29 and Asbury Park on 12/30 for those of you who live further down south.

 

I'm very familiar with both Television and Thompson and could certainly see the Thompson of say 1970-1971 fittting in extremely well. There's a definite similarity between a track like Sloth from Full House and Verlaine's work in Television. I'm playing Sloth now for the 5th time and that fluid tone is there for sure. It could never happen, of course, but what a joyful night it would be if it did.

 

Yet for all his (depending on your perspective) flakiness or attitude or whatever, Lloyd really understands music, and writes cogently about theory and harmony. More to the point, he seems to have assimilated all this beyond the theoretical so he can make a practical and inspired application in his soloing. Too bad him and Verlaine can't find a path to working together.