Television: Adventure CD Track Listing

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Television Adventure (1978)
1990 Elektra/Asylum Records, Inc.\n\nOriginally Released 1978\nCD Edition Released ????\nRemastered CD Edition Released September 23, 2003\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\n2nd Glance, October 24, 2003 \nReviewer: K. H. Orton (New York, NY USA)\nThis follow up to MARQUEE MOON was written off too soon if you ask me. Since it came out in '78, reception at best has been lukewarm. Though it lacks the edginess & scope of it's predecessor, there is still alot to commend it."Glory" is right on par with the likes of MOON's "See No Evil". A catchy & infectious start. For my money, "Foxhole" pretty much sums up the swingin' 70's in the darkest way possible. One of the best songs about getting laid to ever come out of the CBGB scene. It also features a killer solo by Tom Verlaine. "Ain't That Nothin'" is another fine example at what these guys do best. Despite these rockers, ADVENTURE's a far dreamier record than MOON. More in the vein of "Guiding Light" than the likes of "Friction". "Days" is languid & opiate while, "Carried Away" hits on torch song territory. Though the longer, moodier peices of "The Fire" & "The Dream's Dream" may not be as mindboggling as MOON'S title track, they go to show that the band wasn't afraid of a little experimentation. Though, I will admit they lack the immmediacy of some of their best work. The other thing that makes this reissue worth it's while is the inclusion of the deleted title track, "Adventure". Unlike alot of bonus tracks it fits right in with the rest. It's a John Lee Hooker style boogie, giving guitarist Richard Lloyd a chance to strut his stuff. I'm not a big fan of alternate versions & I will say that alot of the best material here sounds far better in a live setting. But until some of that stuff sees official release, ADVENTURE is not quite the let down some would have you believe. Simply a subtle, more laid back side to one of the most original bands to blast out of the NYC CBGB Punk scene. \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nAnother Adventure in the land of Television, November 14, 2003 \nReviewer: Wayne Klein "Wayne Klein" (Fairfield, CA United States)\nAdventure has never gotten the respect of Marque Moon. Perhaps its because it builds on the model of the first album and the songwriting is a bit more refined and polished. The British press have reassessed Adventure and decided it was superior album to the debut. They're very different albums but then again, who am I to argue with the Brits?\n\nVerlaine's singing is more confident and less self-conscious and the playing show the band in synch. Lloyd and Verlaine's guitar interplay is every bit as inventive as the debut. Adventure is the result of a band playing together over a longer period of time and a songwriter finding the best voice for his band to express themselves.\n\nAdventure is fleshed out with the title track, Ain't That Nothing (both the single and the rehearsal) and an early version of Glory. All these tracks (with the exception of the single version of Ain't That Nothing)are interesting to contrast with the more complete final versions. It's like watching a great master paint. While you get an idea of what the final painting will look like, you don't get the complete picture until the paint has finally dried. \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nLet the Guitar Sound, June 29, 2004 \nReviewer: Omer Belsky (Haifa, Israel)\nTelevision's 1978 sophomore attempt has suffered from a double disadvantage in the eyes of critics, fans, and history. First, it has a production that does it something of a disservice - it somehow doesn't catch the grandeur, the magic of the songs. You miss the danger and the glory that these songs should, but don't quite, radiate. The other disadvantage is simpler: It's a follow up for one of the greatest albums in Rock history - 1977's Marquee Moon.\n\nYet this is quite a shame, because Adventure is, in its own small way, something very close to masterpiece. Like its predecessor, Adventure relies on the masterful songwriting of Tom Verlaine, whose prowess in that department has often been overshadowed by his genius hands at the fret.\n\nSome of Verlaine's songs have been covered by Artists who brought out the pop-rock genius in them. But television always shies away from that; even at its catchiest, it maintains a cutting edge, a unique sound and music making ethic which make Verlaine's music a connoisseur's art.\n\nThe connoisseur has much to love in this release, one of the best in Verlaine's career. Opening with 'Glory', one of Verlaine's most rewarding rock'n'roll moments, a song which could have fitted nicely in Marquee Moon (It is only the only track off 'Adventure' which Television presently perform on a regular basis). We get a sing-along, but one which is remote nonetheless. If you can appreciate it, you'll love it, but it'll take a poppier cover for the uninitiated to appreciate the beauty in it.\n\nAs a lyricist, Verlaine is both profound and whimsical, his song often sound like the more poetic of Dylan's songs, but with a weirder sense of humor. See the lyrics of the epic closer 'Dream's Dream':\n\nThe elevator called me up. \nShe said you better start making sense. \nThe stone was bleeding, whirling in the waltz. \nI went to see her majesty. The court had no suspense. \nShe said, "Dream dreams the dreamer." \nI said it's not my fault.\n\nThe focus on Verlaine tends to turn you away from the genius of the rest of the band, but this is by no mean's a one man show. Although clearly led by Verlaine, the interplay between Verlaine and second guitarist Richard Lloyd is legendary. Although he's hardly the revolutionary guitarist that Verlaine is, Lloyd is a superb player and Television's sound rests to a great extent on his ability to complement Verlaine's playing. As one who has seen them live, I can testify that it is often Lloyd's leads and riffs over Verlaine's chords that turn a great band into magicmakers.\n\nThe Rhythm section, although less noticeable then Verlaine and Lloyd, is also fantastic. It may seem to be merely staying out of the way, but rather it is a perfect, subtle combination, as you can notice in Bill Ficca's drumming on "Dream's Dream" and "Ain't that Nothin'". Fred Smith's bass lines don't draw much attention, but he's a great bassist, and works so well with Verlaine as to be the only member of Television to have followed Verlaine into his solo career.\n\nFrom great rockers like "Glory", "Foxhole" and "Ain't It Nothin'", through slower tunes like "Days", and into near ballads such as "Carried Away", Adventure reeks of class. Closer 'The Dream's Dream" is a great epic, slow but tuneful, with those guitars you just die for. \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nMaybe it's just as the critics have said., January 17, 2004 \nReviewer: A music fan \nTelevision were a breath of fresh air in the 1970s with their unique psychedelic rock, sparse but based on long, yet always melodic and even delicately soft guitar lines - producing melody even through chaos.\n\n"Adventure", their second album following the massively-acclaimed "Marquee Moon", was highly accessible due to the slick production and absence of extended jams. Nonetheless, the rapid tightening of commercial radio formats and the ineptitude of noncommercial radio restricted Television to the tiniest cult audience in their homeland, although "Adventure" made them stars in Western Europe.\n\nCompared with the deceptively soft sound of "Marquee Moon", "Adventure" lost out in terms of the unique textures due to the rather intrusive production, which verged on pompous on the disappointing "Ain't That Nothin" and blunted the edge from the guitar lines of "Glory", which is largely carried by a touching vocal. However, "Carried Away" moved the clanging guitar sounds to piano and organ with surprising effect, and the largely instrumental closer "The Dream's Dream" blend's the undeniable guitar talents of Verlaine and Lloyd with a sound that was remarkably rich and soft for a time when stripped-down aggression or bombastic stadium rock was the order of the day.\n\nThe almost insanely catchy "Foxhole", their third and last European hit single, however, was the stunner here, with perhaps the finest guitar work ever made coming from Richard Lloyd. Especially in his closing solo, Lloyd played with a skill that even the radio-oriented production utterly failed to thwart. Verlaine's lyrics can appear to be shallow or intelligent (sometimes at the same time) but the music of "Foxhole" will never leave you: probably, in fact, the best song of the late 1970s.\n\n"Careful" sounded like a radio-ready pop song, but in a good kind of way: Verlaine's gift was his knowledge of human aspiration. "The Fire", an appropriate description of a summer heatwave, expresses the opposite feeling.\n\nReally, "Adventure" carries on the sound of "Marquee Moon" in a more heavily produced manner: the psychedelic sparks are still there, but are not always easy to hear - just as critics have always been saying. \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nDEFINITELY WORTH HEARING, February 15, 2003 \nReviewer: adam david (new york)\n \nThis is one of those problematic albums where for every great song, there's one that's the very definition of the word "FILLER". \n\nRegardless, every song contains absolutely stunning guitar work and interplay - about the best examples in recorded rock, outside of the stones/"layla" blues-based mode. This album was recorded under extreme duress - the group wasn't getting along, their breakup was imminent, guitarist Richard Lloyd was battling a raging drug habit and at one point was checked into hospital. (A great account of this appears in Legs McNeil's book PLEASE KILL ME) \n\nSomehow, though, the music is still able to be at turns joyful, celebratory, wistful, and melancholy. So, yeah, check it out. It's still miles better than most anything else out there. \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nThe bright morning after the turbulent "Marquee Moon" night., July 12, 2000\nReviewer: Rahshad Black (Moreno Valley, CA)\nTelevision's "Adventure" is an interesting and surprising second, and final effort. This album is prettier, and less confrontational than "Marquee Moon". That album screamed to be either loved or hated, but this cries for approval. Tom Verlaine keeps the songs a little shorter and even allows a co-write (guitarist Richard Lloyd on "Days"). Also, many of the jagged rhythmic figures and precisice syncopation is lost in favor of seventies rock approved power-chords, pentatonic rhythm guitar and country flourishes. This is, however, no standard rock record. It retains the arty compostition and interesting orchestration, but in a more mainstream context. "Glory" is upbeat, and strangly optimistic, while "Days" is a superb riffy ballad. "Foxhole" is a brillaint anti-war rant with a lively rock beat. "Careful" and "Ain't That Nothin'" are decent songs that are lessened in impact by their formulaic sound and standard choruses. "Carried Away" adds organ to the mix, and delivers an outstanding but creepy ballad that stays with you, and "That Fire" adds theremin and a slow groovy bassline to Television's guitar attack. The album closer "The Dream's Dream" has about six lines of almost non-sense lyrics, but is kept interesting through almost seven minutes with first rate, creepy, orchestration. This album, although more ornatly produced and upbeat than "Marquee Moon", posseses an understated quality and an innate sadness that hits after several listens. Overall, while not as great as "Marquee Moon", still deserves to be a classic, and worthy of purchase.\n\nHalf.com Album Credits\nJohn Jansen, Producer\nTom Verlaine, Producer\n\nAlbum Notes\nTelevision: Tom Verlaine (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Richard Lloyd (guitar, background vocals); Fred Smith (bass, background vocals); Billy Ficca (drums).\n\nRecorded at Sound Masters and Record Plant, New York, New York. \nOriginally released on Elektra (133). \nIncludes liner notes by Alan Licht.\n\nTelevision's second album arrived a year after the band's remarkable 1977 debut, MARQUEE MOON. The eight songs again feature the intertwining guitars of Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd in a way that recalls both the glory days of San Francisco ballroom bands and the finesse of shimmering pop music. In the late '70s, Television was lumped together with other bands that came out of a New York City scene that had an epicenter at the club CBGB. As time has passed, the band has truly become an entity unto itself. Television's music shows none of the dulling effects of age, and its first two albums are essential. YEAR: 1978
This rock cd contains 8 tracks and runs 37min 10sec.
Freedb: 7b08b408
Buy: from Amazon.com

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