Every now and then, one of the albums that I love will elude explanation. As one of my favorites ever, this is particularly frustrating with Television's 1977 debut
Marquee Moon. Not that I don't love Tom Verlaine's Byrnesque yelp and smart ass ("I get your point/You're so sharp!"), Richard Lloyd's virtuoso technique, the dual guitar plus bass interplay between Verlaine, Lloyd, and Fred Smith, or the technically proficient but perfectly fitting thuds coming from Billy Ficca's drum set. It's just that while an album with the sum of those parts would be phenomenal, this tops that. The riffs are dizzying, the melodies are magnificent, and for once I actually adore extended soloing, because wow, it just sort of feels right. The dazzling riff and the matter-of-fact "I fell right into the arms of Venus de Milo" make "Venus" my favorite song, but I can imagine any one of these eight songs hitting as hard with anyone else. It's musicianship at its finest with a nice punk kick. But I still feel like that doesn't do it justice. Whelp, I tried.
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