Tom Verlaine cover

Tom Verlaine

Released

On his first album after Television broke up, Verlaine’s songs don’t stray terribly far from the template he’d established, though they feel a little easier in their delivery; without the tension of the Television line-up, Verlaine plays it relatively loose here, or at the very least, as loose as an uptight New York boy could be. David Bowie would cover “Kingdom Come” in a year’s time; later, the Blue Aeroplanes would make the Velvets chung of Television-era offcut “Breakin’ In My Heart” their own. “Yonki Time”’s surrealism has always been charming, but the magic here is in “Last Night”, where Verlaine shows he’s a dab hand at quiet melodrama. Tom Verlaine as balladeer? Weirder things have happened…

Jon Dale

Recommended by

Suggestions
Lies to Live By cover

Lies to Live By

The Del-Byzanteens
Red Mecca cover

Red Mecca

Cabaret Voltaire
Kangaroo? cover

Kangaroo?

Art & Language, The Red Krayola
Heresie cover

Heresie

Univers Zéro
Ceremonial cover

Ceremonial

Savage Republic
The Psychomodo cover

The Psychomodo

Cockney Rebel
Past Imperfect cover

Past Imperfect

The Wreckery
La Perversita cover

La Perversita

Jeanne Foly, J.L. Hennig, Hector Zazou, VXZ 375, Bazooka