a coherent collection of random statements regarding God, words and tunes

IHHHH-hih-hih-hih-hih-hih-hih-hih-hih-hih....

     That's right, ladies and gentlemen: Tom Verlaine is BACK.

    

     Granted, the frenzied Coltranisms that made even Neil Young in his rock-and-roll heyday look like a poser (which, I hasten to add, he's not) and which earmarked the Television pantheon (for more on THAT, see http://www.motime.com/myblog/post/26785/526918) and Tom's solo work of the 1980s are fewer and further between. That said, 1) it's good to finally have this guy back too; and 2) he's put out his best work in nearly 20 years in the process, in the form of not one but two new albums - one instrumental, and one with lyrics and stuff (and when it comes to TV, "lyrics and stuff" is actually a pretty apropos description).

     So let's get to it. Both of these, by the way (as is the other album I'll refer to here), are available via Thrill Jockey Records (http://www.thrilljockey.com/artists/index.html?id=10068).

           

     Around is the new instrumental one, and is touted as Volume II to the last Verlaine album, Warm and Cool (1st released in 1992 -- 14 years, GAD -- but reissued last year by Thrill Jockey with 8 new tracks and thus broached here as well). 

     I won't lie, and really don't need to: They're instrumental albums. You probably already know if you'd be interested in these or not. That said, when I think of other instrumental albums by various guitar heroes of mine that I listen to on a semi-regular basis (Mike Roe and Mark Harmon's Daydream, any number of Phil Keaggy CDs), these are in the same ballpark -- maybe not quite on the level of the other examples, but the difference is negligible enough that I'll almost certainly play each of them somewhere in the same 6-10x/year range once I get done absorbing them first time 'round.

     That said, if you need to satisfy that Coltrane-guitar-frenzy jones you've had for the last 20 years, "Ore," "Lore" and "Saucer Crash" -- three of the longest cuts on Warm and Cool -- will satisfy. If you just want to hear what Tom's been up to lately and like a good guitar-instrumental CD, Around won't disappoint. The unmentioned tracks on both CDs amble along interestingly enough, which is pretty much all I look for from this kind of stuff myself. And it's more difficult than I'm making it sound.

     In short: Can I engage? Yes. Even without the more visceral moments, Tom just being Tom has more than enough quirkiness and inventiveness to get that done. Can I let them play in the background while I engage in something else? Yep, that too. So there you are. And Tom has more than earned his keep prior to this. Your call.

     So on to the aptly named Songs and Other Things. For comparison purposes: Take out the hairiest songs from 1987's Flash Light (i.e., "Cry Mercy Judge," "A Town Called Walker," "Annie's Tellin' Me"), and what's left is pretty close to what we have here. Which is still to say: Way more engaging than The Wonder (the last and most subdued of the worded TV albums, from 1990 -- and which I still listen to every few months nonetheless - I have it on the obverse side of a cassette with The Cure's Seventeen Seconds, so that hopefully gives you a pretty good reference point).

     It takes about a song and a half to really get going. "A Parade in Littleton" is yet another nice funky little instrumental - no knock, but as you may have gathered, I'm ready for the whole package now. "Heavenly Charm" starts off like "Kaleidoscopin'" from The Wonder, only somehow even more subdued than that. That lasts about two minutes, before the guitar blast you've been waiting nearly 20 years for comes crunching through the bridge. "Orbit" also sounds like it've fit nicely on The Wonder, although again it somehow sounds more vigorous here.

     After this, things really kick into gear. "Blue Light" is a swaying, swelling thing that gives way to showers of arpeggios -- in short, it's a Tom thang. Likewise, the chunky chords of "From Her Fingers" evoke the Stones, but from there it gets twisted into an angular romantic pop song - in short, another Tom thang. How I've missed those Tom thangs.

     The eery "Nice Actress" conveniently drops the f-bomb in what passes for the chorus here (I'd say gratuitously, if I only knew what the heck he was talking about). Not a Tom thang, but it works, especially when the guitars finally (and yet again) break out in the song's coda. "A Stroll" is pretty much that - pleasant, if inconsequential.

     "The Earth Is in the Sky" would be the single here. The anchor riff and verses are very reminiscent of the magnificent "Prayer" from Flash Light, both in sound and content; the chorus goes to some interesting minor-chorded place before looping back into that riff again. And there's something about the stilted yet sincere spoken-word bridge that just works:

Valerie, I've been doin' some thinkin' -- some deep.... deep.... thinkin'
And I've come to see that perhaps I've not said much
But when next we meet, I'll untie this tongue of mine....

 

     For some reason, you believe he really talks like this in real life. Tom's always had this medieval-poet-trapped-in the-body-of-a-beat-musician thing going on. :)

     After this, the reins on the song structures loosen considerably. You're not quite sure where he's going on "Lovebird Asylum Seeker" and "Documentary," but it's an interesting enough ride. (And BTW, this is the first time I've heard of drummer Louie Appel, but he does a nice job here and elsewhere.) "Shingaling," as its title probably suggests, is the one completely throwaway song on this album.

     Tom regroups nicely, though, on "All Weirded Out," a stomping climbing and descending thing of coolishness. Nice bass counterpoint at the end of the chorus too. And yet again, he comes through on the coda to remind us why some of us still genuflect at the sound of his six-string.

     "The Day on You," the longest song here, chugs along under the radar before giving way to some nice reveille-style guitar for the final two-plus minutes. And at last, "Peace Piece" guides us out the way we were guided in, via the guitar instrumental. It's a quiet, simple riff. You may have guessed by now that I don't have a lot of problems with this.

     Please come west of Chicago, Tom! Like, about another 800 miles... (I see that since I posted this, a Seattle gig has been added... no Tom, you OVERSHOT.... I mean DENVER, or thereabouts....)

Posted by: burninglight at 15:35 | link | comments