Name: Television's Marquee Moon
ISBN: 9781441186058

Bryan Waterman

Television's Marquee Moon

Greg Talbot

My friend mistook "See No Evil" as having been recorded 30 years after it's actual recording date. It sounds so polished, so vibrant, it's hard to imagine it as part of the 1st wave of New York punk rock. Maybe he wasn't so wrong. Waterman argues Television felt constrained by their scene, and never really got along with the coterie of bands of that gritty punk sound. Heralded by some as the torchbearers of New York's finest - The Velvet Underground, Television pushed aside scuzzy noise. Critic Lester Bangs said they sounded more like "San Francisco psychedelica warmed over". Hardly an endorsement! Marquee Moon may not sit comfortably as a classic rock album, or punk rock album, but it is still a riveting adolescence album about desire, sexuality, and adolescent fun. Waterman attempts to go through the songs and spell out their meaning. Sometimes the descriptions are a bit of a stretch, but I give him props for creativity. It was really enjoyable to hear the songs in the back of my head as I read along to his ideas. Television have enjoyed the fame, even if it was a long time coming. They sold their equipment to survive, but have been influential to artists from The Smiths to the Strokes. While I don't reach for MM like I use to, I give it credit for introducing me to so much art rock. The rating is a reflection that there is so little first hand accounts or truly illuminating stories on the process of the recording. The book rattles through history, but never plants us into the world. Frankly, it wouldn't convince me to check out Television if I had never heard of them. But hey, props to this being another book giving evidence to an underground classic.

Television's Marquee Moon

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