BLOW-UP

Television: Tom Verlaine (vocals, guitar); Richard Lloyd (guitar, background vocals); Fred Smith (bass, background vocals); Billy Ficca (drums). Recorded live in 1978. Includes liner notes by Robert Christgau and John Piccarella. All tracks have been digitally remastered. The New York rock scene was never known for producing expansive instrumentalists. Its guitar heroes--a Robert Quine or even a jazz-traveler like Bill Frisell--tend to go inward. For a time, the seminal band Television, led by master guitarist and all-around dreamer Tom Verlaine, was a marked exception. While Verlaine wrote and sang crafty songs like "Venus de Milo" and "Prove It," his band is still remembered for nights of slashing interplay with 2nd guitar foil Richard Lloyd and Verlaine's Bolero solos on the punk flamenco epics "Little Johnny Jewel" and "Marquee Moon." THE BLOW-UP, a double-CD reissue of a 1982 ROIR cassette-only release, captures Television at its peak in raw live performances circa 1978. "Marquee Moon" was Verlaine's very own "Dark Star." The explosive near-15 minute version included here seethes with barely controlled musical wanderlust. As befits ROIR's reputation, the sound is minimally acceptable but the music documented here easily transcends the shortcomings.