Tag Archives: television band

#1397: Television – Torn Curtain

Leave a reply

I don’t know if I have much to say on the personal front when it comes to ‘Torn Curtain’. I listened through Marquee Moon the first time, sometime in 2012 when I was going through a “Classic Albums” discovery phase, and from what I can recall ‘See No Evil’ and today’s subject were the two songs on there that I latched on to from the jump. I liked them then and there. Years would gradually come and go, and on subsequent revisits I’d get into another song or two. At this point, it’s just ‘Friction’ and, in a most blasphemous case, the title track that remain the numbers on the album that I can’t get into. The former’s kind of rock and roll party vibe isn’t for me, and even though I appreciate ‘Marquee Moon’ the song, there’s never been a point where I’ve willingly wanted to listen to it outside of the LP. If I’m not into those two songs now, I think I’m at the point where I can accept I probably never will be. It’s just me, I don’t know what to tell you.

To me, ‘Torn Curtain’ feels like it was written to be the big, emotional album closer. Just want to look out the window and see it’s raining while listening to this one, you know? A very minor-key composition, songwriter Tom Verlaine sings about the titular object. The ‘torn curtain’ is meant to symbolise something. What that thing is eludes me to this day. I bought the 33 1/3 book written around Marquee Moon in 2018, wanting to know more about the songs on there and their respective backgrounds and inspirations. I remember there being many more words written about the CBGB punk scene and the context of the album than the actual music and the songs themselves. Felt a bit gypped, to be honest. I can’t seem to find anything online showing Verlaine’s thoughts on it. The one note stated across the board on lyric sites is how the song shares a name with a 1966 Alfred Hitchcock film. Basically, what the song’s about is anyone’s guess, and because Verlaine’s no longer with us, no one will really ever know for sure.

But what we can’t find regarding the lyrical matter is certainly made up for in the musicality of it all. Never really paid attention to the sort of skipping pattern the drums take on during the verses before. They sound like a ticking clock to me, maybe symbolizing this second-by-second suffering Verlaine experiences with this torn-curtain symbol. But that may be a reach in itself. I like how the sparse, empty-feeling verses contrast with the bursting melancholy of the choruses – heightened by a twinkling piano and a call-and-response dynamic between the backing vocals and Verlaine’s lead vocal. I like how there isn’t just one guitar solo but two, both performed by Verlaine, the latter of which seems him climb further and further up the neck before sliding back down and working his way up, before alternating on two notes until the song eventually fades to silence, signifying the album’s end. Such a dramatic way to finish it up, a complete 180 from the confident beginnings of ‘See No Evil’, I couldn’t imagine a more perfect conclusion.

#1170: Television – See No Evil

1 Reply

Television’s Marquee Moon. A fine, fine album. If you want to hear an album that has good guitar performances in it, I’d say that this one should be an Exhibit A in a theoretical museum. I gave my personal backstory behind finding the record the last time I wrote about a song from it, so I admittedly I’m finding it hard to fill out this first paragraph. Really, all I have to say regarding how I feel about the album as a whole can be found in that link. But in short, heard it first time 2012/13 and proceeded to revisit in the years since. But even with that first listen, ‘See No Evil’ – the track that kicks things off – was one that stuck with me almost immediately.

Tom Verlaine’s guitar is the first thing you hear in the left ear, the bass guitar makes itself with a little fill accompanied by a crash cymbal, and the band properly come in together anchored by an earwormy, looping guitar riff on the right side, played by lead guitarist Richard Lloyd. Just that riff itself has enough of a melody that I can find myself singing it almost endlessly. All in all, it’s a strong performance. A strong performance for a song of immense optimism. You see, ‘See No Evil’ is written as a statement of intent and ambition by songwriter Verlaine. He wants to achieve impossible things, whether that be jumping over a mountain or having a boat made out of ocean, and wishes to leave the room and rid himself of any negative energy that someone or something might bring in his presence. He understands that there are bad people in this world, but in this state that he’s in now, he’s willing to give this evil a pass while filled with this fervent determination of his.

I don’t have much else to add here. I enjoy this one a lot. It makes for a great opener for the rest of the album to follow. Isolated from the context of the LP, it works just as well too. Great guitar tones, runs and fills are around every corner. Lloyd’s soaring solo at a minute and 50 seconds in is one that you have to bring out the air guitar for. I like the phrasing of the song title whenever it’s sung, building on itself bit by bit, before the ‘evil’ is yelled out with blistering screech. I, at least, get the sense that the four members of the band were having something of a good time during the make of this song. The music and the performance just exude the feeling. And it’s nice that during the song’s end, after Verlaine tells us he’s having good times with the person he loves in various, he turns it round to the listener to tell us that it’s possible for us to do the same thing.

#1067: Television – Prove It

1 Reply

Looks like this’ll be the first time I’ve ever written about a Television song on this website. That’s something to note, I guess. My own history/knowledge of the band doesn’t go that far. I believe I listened to Marquee Moon in full, I want to say in late 2012/13, just ’cause it was regarded to be a classic and the whole thing about the New York CBGBs punk scene of the mid-’70s. ‘Course I’ve listened to it over and over again as the years have gone by. Only recently did I go through it again because of its inclusion in the 1001 Albums You Must Hear book, and then not too long after the band’s songwriter Tom Verlaine passed away. I read a comment somewhere that suggested that the album’s first half supersedes its second by a large margin, but I would like to go ahead and respectfully disagree with the statement.

‘Prove It’ is the album’s penultimate track and has for a long time been one of my favourites from Marquee Moon. The record as a whole should be considered any budding guitarist’s dream, filled with memorable riffs, scales, solos, breaks and all sorts, a glowing interplay between rhythm guitarist Verlaine and the lead guitarist Richard Lloyd, present on every single track. It’s mainly the use of those that drew me towards eventually properly appreciating this particular song. Then everything else seemed to follow. Verlaine’s lyricism on the album tends to concern nighttime scenery, nature and the human condition. That’s no different in ‘Prove It’. It’s just that in the chorus, Verlaine appears to take on the perspective of a detective who’s trying desperately to solve their case. What that case is isn’t obviously made within the verses, but I would like to say that’s something that adds to its appeal.

I also appreciate the musical parts that mirror what is being stated in the lyrics at various points. Take when drummer Billy Ficca executes a fast drum roll and cymbal crash after Verlaine sings about leaping about 100 feet in the air, or when he also messes with the track tempo again after Verlaine sings about a rose that slows. Verlaine also whistles after singing about birds chirping. I don’t know, I take delight in those small moments anyway. They add a bit of a quirky element while still remaining effortlessly cool. I don’t think I have much to add past this point. If you’ve read up to here, thank you for your time. Songs from Marquee Moon came quite late to the game on my phone. Had it been different, ‘Elevation’ would have got its own post, for sure. There are a couple more Television tracks to come in this series.