Television

A good release from a great band, the lean follow-up to Marquee Moon has been written out of the history books. Too bad, because new groups are still trying to spin out jangle pop as sublime as "Days," match "Foxhole"'s balance of brainy punk with brawny boogie, or show off a debt to V.U. the way Television does in "Careful" and "Carried Away."

One advantage of the spluttering proliferation of punk rock and the continuing failure of
the New Wave to do anything more than lap at the bottom of the American charts is that
you can relax and enjoy a group as a band, not a brand. Since there's no longer a single
standard to bear or conform to, no mushrooming movement to augment or betray, it's no
skin off anyone's nose if Television, which virtually invented CBGB's, pays tribut... More >

Those scandalized by Marquee Moon's wimpoid tendencies are gonna try to read this one out of the movement. I agree that it's not as urgent, or as satisfying, but that's only to say that Marquee Moon was a great album while Adventure is a very good one. The difference is more a function of material than of the new album's relatively clean, calm, reflective mood. The lyrics on Marquee Moon were shot through with visionary surprises that never let up. These are comparatively songlike, their apercus concentrated in hook lines that are surrounded by more quotidian stuff. The first side is funnier, faster, more accessible, but the second side gets there--the guitar on "The Fire" is Verlaine's most gorgeous ever. (Grade - A-)