Marquee Moon
Television
1977
Album Summary
Marquee Moon is the debut album by American rock band Television. It was released on February 8, 1977, by Elektra Records. In the years leading up to the album, Television had become a prominent act on the New York music scene and generated interest from a number of record labels, eventually signing a record deal with Elektra. The group rehearsed extensively in preparation for Marquee Moon before recording it at A & R Recording in September 1976. It was produced by the band's frontman Tom Verlaine and sound engineer Andy Johns. For Marquee Moon, Verlaine and fellow guitarist Richard Lloyd abandoned contemporary punk rock's power chords in favor of rock and jazz-inspired interplay, melodic lines, and counter-melodies. The resulting music is largely hook-driven with complex instrumental parts (particularly on longer tracks such as "Marquee Moon"), while evoking themes of adolescence and transcendence through imagery in urban, pastoral, and nocturnal modes, including references to the geography of Lower Manhattan. Influenced by Bohemian and French poetry, Verlaine's lyrics also feature puns and double entendres intended to give the songs an impressionistic quality in describing his perception of an experience. Marquee Moon was met with widespread acclaim and was hailed by critics as an original musical development in rock music. The critical recognition helped the album achieve unexpected commercial success in the United Kingdom, despite poor sales in the United States. Among the most acclaimed music releases in history, it has consistently featured in professionally curated lists of top albums, including Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" (2003), on which it ranked 128th. Marquee Moon also proved to be a foundational record of alternative rock, as Television's innovative post-punk instrumentation for the album strongly influenced the new wave and indie rock movements of the 1980s and rock guitar playing in general.
WikipediaThank you Television for not letting Brian Eno ruin this album!!! They recorded demos of several of the songs and didn’t like Eno’s production. So the band waited for a better suited recording arrangement. I’ve had this album in my library for a long time, and I’ve gone through spurts of repeated listening. I love the guitar work on this album. The twinkling diddle-liddle-liddle-liddle-luh throughout Marquee Moon (song) is a great hook. And the little, repeated licks that go against the grain in several songs, which I found out are called countermelodies, are exquisite. The bass deserves recognition too, like on Elevation and Prove It for instance where it carries the melody at times. Listening to Marquee Moon (song) more closely now, I find it to be an unappreciated master piece. The repeated premature truncation of the chorus on Elevation is unsettling, but in a way I truly appreciate. Have you ever had a conversation with someone about what era you’d want to go back to for the music? Reading more about Television’s history, 1975 at CBGB in Manhattan is now on my list of potential answers. That year, Television shared a residence at the CBGB with Patti Smith when she had just recorded her album Horses. Oh what a time and place to be!
No further proof needed of Marquee Moon's mind-altering inventinveness than the fact that a significant number of people seem to think it sounds like the Strokes. Come again?
This album is a world unto itself. I've listened to a lot of music, but there's nothing else quite like this. Such a unique and often bizarre blend of post-punk-infused pop with a hint of psychedelia.
This album is just an inventive, intricate, and idiosyncratic mix of classic-guitar-hero-dad-rock, punk irreverence, and jazz interplay. I knew I was gonna give it this but this Aussie gives it five runs to Bunnings Warehouse out of five.
Absolutely loved this. A revelation for me and if I get 5 albums like this from the 1001 where I know very little and then get educated then it’s worth listening to alll the shit. I hear so many of my fave bands today in this album, the guitar work is special, the tunes are special, I’m only sad it’s taken 45 years to hit my ears ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Marquee Moon is, of course, the cornerstone of the art punk side of post-punk. They gave an energetic boost to the otherwise very dark and dingy sounds of Joy Division, Bauhaus, The Cure, and....oh, huh? Marquee Moon came out before all those bands? Huh. Well, even if they aren't the cornerstone! They put out some quintessential post-punk. Compositionally unique, it sticks with me even after repeated listens. They'll explore cool new bridges or verses and then move on to another, refusing to stick around too long leaving you wanting more. But then you get even more punk-y goodness that you can forgive it.
Meh. I've never been into Television. I don't think that they are bad or unskilled, but it's never grabbed me. If I want to listen to New York style new wave from the late seventies, it's going to look for something like early Blondie.
This feels like the definition of "proto". Sonically it's roots really resonate far and wide, and in its own right it is surprisingly strong. Plus it fits my flavors in some really strong ways.
I actually quite like this album overall. Television is an essential part of that initial, American post-punk exploratory period that birthed bands like Violent Femmes and The Replacements. It's nihilistic and nonsensical at times, sure. But that's just true to its post-punk underpinnings. It also hits with some strong, jazz-rooted drums and more than a few prog-rock-leaning instrumental sections. Is it an amazing album? No. But it's pretty damn good. The title track, Marquee Moon, in particular, is great from both a technical and musical perspective.
Wow. What a find. Never listened to them before but after Venus I knew this album was going to be a good one. I don't throw 5 stars around willy nilly, and certainly not for an album I've only heard once, so this is a strong 4.
This is a pretty great record. Television is a complete blindspot for me but seems like they should be in my wheelhouse. The guitar interplay is great. The vocals aren't amazing but they mostly work in the context of the songs. Cool record.
Title track still bangs but I realized I find the vocalist a bit too shrill for a full album.
I have this on vinyl and is played at least once a month as It's one of my favourite albums. You can hear how it's so influential on many other bands.
A really special record, in my opinion one of the best guitar records ever. Verlaine & Lloyd’s duelling guitars are particularly notable on Friction & Elevation but the epic title track is a thing of wonder. No filler at all here.
Fun, jazzy, angular, theatrical. Your favorite band's favorite album. Paved the way for a lot of great music. Favorite tracks: "Friction", "Marquee Moon", "Elevation", "See No Evil"
Weird songwriting, yet impossibly cool. The lyrics are a masterpiece of tonality. Some of the hooks and melodies are to die for. I have to realise that one of the ways I judge an album is if I want to party with the band. I definitely want to party with Television.
That "Marquee Moon," guitar riff is so damn infectious it has kept me coming back to this album over and over. Come for that riff and stay for a group of punks that can actually play guitar. I feel like their guitar work was well beyond what most of their fast and loud contemporaries were doing. It was also just really catchy to me. I think Verlaine is a fantastic songwriter as well. Interesting imagery and delivery. That being said I feel like a few of the songs on the back half of this album were just not as fleshed out lyrically and more of a showcase of how well these guys could play guitar. For that I've got to give this one a 4.
Another absolute classic which must have been a lightning bolt moment back in '77, perfect marriage of punk sensibilities and aesthetic with the artsy contemporaries like Talking Heads and Roxy Music. 10 minute songs?? Guitar virtuosos?? And from the 70s, but no caped keyboard players or fairytale lyrics in sight?! For me the highlights are all in the first half, in particular Venus and Marquee Moon. The album peaks with that transcendent title track, although the soft and stirring Guiding Light is a highlight from Side 2. A stronger closer would have bumped this to 5* for me but can settle with 4.5* and bottomless admiration.
A classic that I came to late, 10 years ago, perhaps. It's a very good album and the guitar interplay between Verlaine and Richard Lloyd is often gorgeous and always engaging. I was tempted to give it an automatic 5 stars for it's reputation and they fact that I mostly think it's brilliant, but...... Tom Verlaine's voice keeps it from reaching the highest score. Now I can usually look past a unflattering vocal performance if the songs transcend the subjectively week vocals and I mostly do, but ultimately I can't quite get to 5. 4 .5 🌟
Enjoyable enough but nothing that makes it standout. Suffers from lots of bands coming after that do it slightly more to my taste.
Not something I would have chosen to listen to, I find this post-punk isn't a good release of anger or sadness or any emotion it just winds you up. I really appreciate some of the guitar parts and the vocals but all together I do not like the songs. I wish the guitar parts, which are really cool and impressive, could be combined with some more melodic parts as well then I would love it. Guitar parts in Marquee Moon for example absolutely gorgeous and so impressive, but could it be put with more melodic instrumentation and then it would be a masterpiece to me, also we do not need 10 minutes of this fuck saaaake. I get why a lot of people think they're amazing though and they seem to have been extremely influential from research (I hadn't heard of Television before). This is apparently one of Tom's favourite albums of all time though...
Really, really enjoyed this. Can't believe it came out in 1977, sounded like early Strokes!
I knew it was going to be good, and bad on me for not listening to it for this long, but HOT DAMN.
I love Television. Saw them in concert after their reunion album, which is also incredible. This is a classic, 5 stars.
Narzekalem na punkowatosc punkowatosci na liscie i lista postanowila odpowiedziec czyms epicko punkersko protoplastycznym, bo albumikiem z 77 grupy zwanej television, na ktorej wczesniej nie bylo mi dane sie poznac, ale nadrobilem i urzeklo mnie to co uslyszalem, nie jest jest to wulgarny energiczny punk pelen buntu polaczonego z darciem mordy i napierdalanka po gitarkach, jeden z najbardziej smothowych punko basow jakie chyba kiedykolwiek slyszalem tworza taka linie melodyczna, o jakiej drumujace melodyje nie moga snic, na to jeszcze wpadaja gitarowe solowki na przemian z kounter melodiami, ktorych istnienie dopiero na tej plycie tak odczulem, bo jakos nigdy nie zastanawialem sie nad kounterowymi melodiami i ich zastosowaniu w muzyce popularnej, a ten album robi dobry how to tego wlasnie wykorzystania budowy melodii, tak jak sugeruje okladka banda liczy 4 czlonkow, dosc klasyczne w punkowaniu, ale tym razem wokalista jest takze utalentowanym grajkiem gitarowym i klawiszowym, ktore kreci solowe popisy, czuc takze ze teksty sa pisane ekskluziwnie przez pana Verlaine, chociaz nie jest to konceptowy krazek, to jednak motywy biedaka grajka hamerykanskiego w duzym miescie czuc dosc bardzo, zwlaszcza po retrospekcyjnym charakterze niektorych trakow, no i narkotykach rzecz jasna, co tez oczywiscie nawiazuje do poczatkow szolbiznesu dla czlonkow telewizji, pisalem ze wokalista robi robote podczas solowek, ale glowny gitarowca wcale mu tutaj nie ustepuje i licytuja sie co trak kto bardziej epickiego solowca wystuka, jeden z albumikow sluchany tylko od poczatku do konca, bo tak wciaga, ale na plejaka dodam ponad 10 minutowego epika ktory najlepiej sprzedaje o czym jest ta plyta, czyli tytulowy marquee moon, do tego dochodzi prove it, elevation i venus milowskom, na ktorej dosc ciekawe chorkowanie sie pojawilo, jak teraz pomysle jak influencyjna to musiala byc plyta, mam przed soba tyle wyspiarskich punkerow, ktore podobny konter plej probowaly ogrywac, gadajace glowy i pozostan w swietle, to tez dobry przyklad influencjowania tym wlasnie materialem, mam nadzieje ze reszta dyskografii jest rownie epicka i energia frontowego zawodnika przetrwala
One of the greatest post-punk albums of all time. 9.4/10 Best Tracks: "See No Evil" "Venus"
Very cool! I like that kind of music a lot and this was just what i love
Great Album. Way ahead of its time. Could say it was made this year and it would fit.
Loved it. I’ve not heard about of this album before, so it was a great find
Классное сочетание 2 гитарных партий. Критики также отмечают интересную лирику, жаль не могу ее оценить.
Que és el disc amb millors guitarres dels 70 és gairebé una obvietat. No només dels 70, em costaria trobar un àlbum amb tants temes on els riffs provoquin tal cascada de sentiments. Però és que a més té les cançons... No n'hi ha cap que sigui simplement bona, totes són radicalment excel.lents
Hadn't heard of this group before, so wasn't sure going in what it would be about. Very much a guitar-first album, and they do an excellent job with that. Very much what the Strokes brought back in the 2000s. Vocalist takes away from it a bit, but added some tunes to the playlist here. Marquee Moon the song is excellent, very catchy jam. Added a few to the playlist off of this one.
This is banging. Perfect post punk. Love the guitar work from start to finish!
The title song is a highlight on one of the best albums ever - what some players manage to express with a guitar is amazing and still sounds as fresh as ever- but the rest of the songs is excellent as well.
A pop-rock album that I absolutely loved every second of. The instrumental sections of this album are very dynamic and the guitar play goes from garage rockers to experimental. The guitarists complement each other so well and their sound is deeply layered; definitely the highlight of the album. I can understand how some might view the singing and songwriting as subpar or stale, but really its secondary to the music as a whole. I can imagine how ahead of its time this album was at its release, not just for punk rock but rock as a whole. The sequencing of this album is flawless and there is not one bad song on the entire album. Favorite tracks: All; Marquee Moon, Torn Curtain if I had to choose.
Fabulous recording, fun guitar. The occasional touch of melancholy. Awesome vocals, and great harmonies. Also the perfect duration - long enough to leave me fulfilled, without dragging on.
The compositional endpoint of the two guitars, bass and drums band playing rock & roll. Every instrument is playing exactly what it needs to, and what they’re playing is all brilliant (especially the drums). This could've just as well have been released 10 or even 20 years later. Hard to believe it would come out of the CBGB's scene
I'd forgotten how amazing this album is. The hypnotic, driving bass with the guitar work pulling it along. If I'm nitpicking, I'm not totally sold on the singing but does convey masses of character and attitude, and the title track is so amazing and titanic that it overshadows the songs coming after it.
The more I listen to this album the more I like it. How crazy that this came out in 1977?! I only knew the title track before this, and I genuinely thought it was a modern song. I'm vibing with this _a lot_. I may be feeling generous this week but I do love this album.
Absolute classic. This and their live ROIR tape The Blow-Up were mind blowing. It was too bad that Little Johnny Jewel was difficult to get ahold of until the reissue.
Amazing album front to back, all killer no filler. Truly one of the best albums ever created, not only based on the quality of songs but also the composition of the album itself. Absolutely exceptional album.
"Friction" is one of the horniest songs I've ever heard. "Marquee Moon" pioneering the brain-fuck off-time guitar part solo intro. Also pioneering self-indulgent guitar wankery at the end of the album
One of my favorite albums. Love every track. So simple yet entrancing and melodic. I think a lot of it comes from its jazz-like structure, despite only using rock instruments. This isn't like anything out there. Explores several themes, none of which overstay their welcome, and never tries to be flashy. Atmosphere is wistful and mysterious, sometimes very dark, which works perfectly with Verlaine's haunting vocals and creepy lyrics. This is best exemplified in "Friction," from the beginning tune to the guitar interludes between every line. It amazes me how each track stands out in these remarkable, memorable ways. It helps that there are only 8 tracks, each deserving full attention. The mixing is as best as it could be, you could hear everyone clearly, as subtle as they may be. A bad production job would have likely dulled the contributions of the drums, which I feel play the major role in carrying the power and tempo in this album compared to most. When the drums change, you know we're moving into new territory. The second side doesn't get enough love. Starting with the garage-style wild opener, it feels like the first few tracks are building up the mood to the titular masterpiece, but we abruptly shift to the post-apocalyptic second half. Again, with each track I can pull out 10 things that I obsess over. And yet there's always a commendation about the vocals, guitar solos, lyrics, and drums... no one's being dragged behind in any of them. "Elevation" carries the themes we saw in "Friction" and "Marquee Moon," but "Guiding Light" really mellows the tone for the rest of the album. When people say Marquee Moon is one of the most influential album to the alternative and indie scene, the song I typically thing of is "Prove It;" there's something so standard about that song that really sets the benchmark of how rock music should sound like, simple yet constantly evolving, with dynamic vocals and solos that naturally come in and out of the song's riffs, closing with an extended satisfying ending. Also, it has the abrupt stops, which is one of my favorite things about punk music. Finally, the album closes with the gothic, eery "Torn Curtain." Absolutely love the yearning chorus and the isolating guitar. Best choice to close the experience.
Another one of those albums that I listen to over and over. It is a perfect soundtrack to a hwad clearing walk when I need to get lost in my thoughts.
This is a great album. Not much more needs to be said, it's simply great.
Another longtime fav of mine. Lots have be said of this album and it indeed is great. What downt get said as much as how good the guitar playi g is, it's a down right jam album with excellent production.
This era of 70s post rock or glam whatever you wanna call it was the friggin bees knees. This album is an easy fiver.
Tom Verlaine’s lyricism on Marquee Moon, influenced by French and Bohemian poetry, filled to the brim with puns, double entendres, and other clever witticisms, could’ve been enough to establish the record as a classic in itself, but then, the interweaving, lyrical guitar playing of Verlaine and Richard Lloyd could’ve done the same. There are very few records I love as much as this one. It has had an immeasurable impact on the way I think about guitar playing, lyricism, even music itself. High praise, I know, but it’s entirely deserved. Standout Tracks: See No Evil, Venus, Marquee Moon, Prove It, Torn Curtain
Angular and hooky and melodic and oh so influential, this is music for intelligent folk. It’s also the Rosetta Stone for New Wave and indie rock, a source document that would be plundered in the decades that followed. The vocals are pretty mediocre (and not too pleasant to hear), but the vibes, mood and tempo are compelling, as is the lack of studio trickery. The title track is an epic of understatement, how you can go big in rock without being utterly bombastic – it’s a minor miracle that it was recorded in one track. “Elevation” and “Guiding Light” (oh, the lilting outro) are also fantastic, simultaneously entrancing and ear-wormy. It’s amazing how much they could mine from a pretty simple and straightforward approach. One for the ages and rounding up because they have been criminally overlooked and underrated.
Bought this in '77 so really know it well, Love Toms work and you can see the influence of Television on the New York Punk scene through later bands like Talking Heads et-al. I Love the Idea that Joey Ramone could have been in the band at one time, wonder what kind of fusion that would have made? Richard Hell was a contemporary who didn't make the cut also, luckily for us as we then got the Voidoids! You can here the influence of The Velvet Underground on this album too. Love "Venus" "Friction" and "Marquee Moon". An influential album rightfully on the list here.
I bought this album in the mid-80's when my local university radio station was clearing their collection when it went off the air. I got this and their second album, Adventure and really didn't get much play on my turntable at the time, but rediscovered these albums in the past 10 years and was blown away by what I've been missing. A post-punk classic, Marquee Moon has been influential to many bands in the 80's, 90's...up until now! The guitar interplay between Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd is incredible and the songs resonate with you every listen. What a great record!
Fucking incredible guitar work. Yet another album that I’d been meaning check out for years that I wish I’d gotten to sooner.
Another album I own on vinyl. This album is fascinating for so many reasons. Television emerged in the same scene that gave rise to the Ramones, Blondie, the Talking Heads, and Suicide, among many others. Television doesn't sound like any of those bands (though to be fair, those bands don't sound anything like each other). This album feels both radical and yet very much of its time. It's absolutely stellar both musically and lyrically. Lots of musical energy to provide some grounding for the poetic lyrics. It's another weight on the scale that has swung (very much to my surprise) to the conclusion that the 70s were the best musical decade. 5/5
Iconic and influential album. Going into the album, my expectations were high, because I knew about the album's reputation, and I was already familiar with the amazing title track. Now, after listening to the album, I can say that the album lived up to my expectations. All the songs have great melodies, and even though some of them are long, they don't feel like they drag on for too long. The only complaints I have is that the vocals and the guitar tone doesn't change much throughout the album, which results in some of the songs blending a bit together for the first couple of listens.
some of the most modern rock guitar riffs I've heard so far! The first few tracks had sick lead strums, it is weird to say this sounds like Beach Boys influence? 63'-> 77', maybe that's who TV listened to growing up? Idk Will listen again 10/10
Went through a very heavy Television phase in college. It’s the jam!!!
I’ve herd this once before and I liked it so hopefully it will be the same quality… See no evil starts off sounding like it won’t be great but after the chorus comes on the song just radically turns into a banger. Venus is a banger especially the instrumentation on here, class! Friction just has like these small extra sounds that make it really cool and the guitars solo is one of the all time best. The 10 minute long title track is the main reason why this album is great though it’s one of the few long songs that is actually so good that you kinda wanna hear even more than you’re given. The bass line in elevation brings that whole song together making it one of the best. Guiding light is a great slow tune but probably the album’s worst but that’s just because of how great the other songs are still great though. The penultimate track prove it is another great display of this album I can’t really say anything that hasn’t been said in this review before but do know I love it. The drums at the start of the final track torn curtain really set the atmosphere for this amazing flawless closer, one of the best songs ever! Yeah this album is amazing no song is bad and while I’ve given a lot lately this is a definite 5/5.