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
Giant cover

Giant

The Woodentops
The Rotters' Club cover

The Rotters' Club

Hatfield and the North
Moonhead cover

Moonhead

Thin White Rope
La Perversita cover

La Perversita

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

Heresie

Univers Zéro
Lies to Live By cover

Lies to Live By

The Del-Byzanteens
From the Hip cover

From the Hip

Section 25
Escape cover

Escape

Robert Quine, Jody Harris
39 Minutes cover

39 Minutes

Microdisney