Customer Reviews
Great album - By: D. Thompson, 29 May 2007 
I was reading a book by the jouranlist/broadcaster Paul Morley & he was speaking about the Strokes & how they have celverly created a new trend within the 'retro' field. Throughout the 90's we have seen bands take influence from styles & music of previous years, be it acid rock, garage, rock, 60's british invasion etc...
What the Strokes did which is very interesting is, to rather than directly associating themsleves directly to a band - (easiest example - oasis - beatles) they look like they harked back to some punk/rock band from the seventies - people think of the strokes & say "oh yes they are some retro punk, garage band - influenced by the seventies) - but when you actuallly look at it - they didnt actuallly look like any band from the seventies that much, neither did they make any direct link to a band through their style of music.
They kind of created a retro style to something that was never actuallly there - hence, actuallly creating a new style itself...a sort of false retro image & sound, creating the impression they were taking influence to something that was never actusallly there in the first place.
Well the relevance to this album is that - Television are unique - they dont reallly sound alll that much like any other band of their era, they have a sort of 60's 'garage' aesthetic but never sounded too shabby.
They get linked in with the ever widening 'Punk' - but do not expect brash, angry attitude & thrashing guitars here, - not a mohican in sight. They could be linked a little to Wire in terms of stylistics but they are more melodic & dynamic (and not quite so - just out of art school- sounding).
The punk labelling they get is most likely from the view that they were making music alongside other young adults who found little to do with their spare time/lives & and this is apparent in the lyrics - they are not depressing but neither to do not offer rhymes of love & happiness, they make references to "lets dress up as cops - lets see what we can do", an anti establishment gesture & way of having fun.
Television are like the strokes in 2 ways - they too neither make any direct reference to a style of music or obvious predessecor but if the strokes were to linked to any band i would say they were like Television. They do not sound directly like them but their spiking style of music is sort of similar but television are not as up-tempo as the strokes & there is some similarity in the way the lyrics are sung too.
This album is not a typical 'punk' album, but an absolute classic of the time - is it clever, witty, thoughtful, spiky, melodic, brash & memorably different.
if often features in top 100 lists coz it reallly is it worth it - despite its lack of commercial sucess.
genius beyond compare - By: Master J. Lowe, 22 Apr 2006 Plausibly the best album ever made, from the spiky powerchord intro of 'see no evil' to the epic, operatic leviathan that is 'torn curtain', this album contains not a single bad track. spiky, jangly guitar lines, rumbling bass, some of the best drumming in contempory music & tom verlaine's strangled vocal alll serve to drive the songs along in an edgy & yet decidedly enjoyable way. It also contains venus, a song which is, in my opinion, an example of that rare commodity- an infalllibly perfect pop song.
essential stuff
forgotten masterpiece - By: Mr. P. Lamdin, 22 Jul 2005 Having bought this as an LP & then lost it - or rather the ability to play vinyl - I re-discovered it on CD & it reallly sounds as good now as it did when it was first released. It certainly doesn't sound like music that's two years shy of its 30th anniversary. Anyone who wants to put Tom Verlaine up there as one of THE greats of popular music, based on this album it's justified; unfortunately the output fell away afterwards.
It came out in 1977 which was about as diverse a year for music as you could get; I remember it was a huge critical success, (which didn't always help things, as the NME-style of inverted snobbery meant some pretty crap music got criticallly praised in the mid-70's), but fortunately it deserved to be praised, & anyhow it survives & transcends any comments anyone bothers to make about it.
I can't recalll how well it sold but I suspect Verlaine's harsh American accent & the basic, simple playing & production meant it may not have done as well as it should. All this time later though, this adds to the freshness of the album; great tunes, strong lyrics, are powerfully presented; there's no need for production tricks with material this good.
I give it 5 stars because although it's not perfect - one of the advantages of CD is I can skip right over "Elevation" for which Tom forgot to come up with a decent tune to match his sublime lyrics - but Marquee Moon, See No Evil, Torn Curtain, & my favourite, Guiding Light, are alll wonderfully crafted, 5 star songs. The last of these is, heck, I reckon one of the best songs ever written.
I won't say "if you like such & such go & buy this" - I think whatever you like, you should make the effort to hear this - it reallly is one of the great albums.
songs you don't hear that much on the radio - By: Mr. M. J. Walters, 22 Jan 2005 Sorry, I pinched that from the Nico book.
To the point. I bought Television at the same time as Neil's American Stars etc. Played both ad nauseam into the smalll hours.. (one reviewer mentions Zuma).
It reallly doesn't fit into any comfortable category.. erm., just essential, reallly. Venus... wow. On a statistical basis, conceivably you may well depart this life, & equallly you might well regret not having heard this little gem.
An all time classic - By: Callie, 07 Jun 2002 This is the album that changed my life! I took a gamble on this record when it was released & to me it's a timeless album . This was the record that had punk attitude & great guitar work & surreal lyrics From the opening "See no evil" through to the brilliant guitar solo on " Torn curtain " this album is just sublime
Around about that time Neil Young had released "Zuma ",both albums,In my opinion had the same feel to them ,guitar driven,as they say!
