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
Silvia cover

Silvia

Silvia
DR503 cover

DR503

The Dead C
Over-Nite Sensation cover

Over-Nite Sensation

The Mothers of Invention, Frank Zappa
La Perversita cover

La Perversita

Jeanne Foly, J.L. Hennig, Hector Zazou, VXZ 375, Bazooka
Turn It Around cover

Turn It Around

The Trilobites
Fourth Drawer Down cover

Fourth Drawer Down

The Associates
Amok Koma cover

Amok Koma

Abwärts
Mummy You’re Not Watching Me cover

Mummy You’re Not Watching Me

Television Personalities
Programm 1 cover

Programm 1

Din A Testbild