I almost trashed this one in favor of one of the songs I'd forgotten about after I started posting. I went with it for two reasons: One, I really need to focus on work today and I don't imagine this one will inspire a lot of discussion. I'm going to also try to keep this one short. Two, it mixes things up a little and makes me look really smart.
I kind of surprise myself by how much I like Television. It's not my usual fare. It's far more proggy than I'd usually go for and the critical acclaim would suggest that it's up its own ass pretty far. But Marquee Moon is a very enjoyable record over all. I think of this one and Blank Generation by Richard Hell and the Voidoids as being spiritual cousins despite their being pretty different musically. This isn't because Richard Hell was in both bands (I think I knew this and then forgot and then was reminded later), but because I got into both of them at the same time (early 2000s).
Television's is one of my favorite origin stories. Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell both literally ran away from their small home towns in Delaware to move to New York to become poets. That's lovely.
"See No Evil" is my favorite song on the record and I can't tell you why, I just really like it. I guess it's fairly uptempo compared with the rest of the album and the hook is very fun. I do not know what the lyrical content references, but this song and the album is generally very gritty, 1970s-New-York-City. I romanticize that period. Most of my favorite music comes out of that time and place. I'm sure if I was there at the time, I would NOT have enjoyed it and would have complained persistently at how dirty and dangerous it was. Being able to gaze at old pictures and film from that time without any firsthand tetanus or hookworm scars is a 21st century luxury I appreciate.
Appropriately, I had the opportunity to see Television play live in very late December 2017 at the Bowery Ballroom in New York. It was a two-night New Years reunion special and Pete and I went with Josie and King Fuckboi (TM Dorian). It was an ok show. It felt a little like the one J Mascis solo show I consented to attend where everything would be going fine and then the Guitar Guy would start getting off on himself and time would stop. Of course I'm glad I went. It was a rare opportunity and Television became another band I strongly associate with Josie's memory, which makes everything sweeter.