Television - Marquee Moon (LP, Album, Reissue)

Description

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, discovery, 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. Released to widespread acclaim, Marquee Moon 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 consistently features 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.

Release Info

Artist: Television
Label: Elektra
Format: LP, Album, Reissue
Country: US
Label: Elektra
Released: 2022-10-14
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, New Wave

Tracklist

A1 See No Evil
A2 Venus
A3 Friction
A4 Marquee Moon
B1 Elevation
B2 Guiding Light
B3 Prove It
B4 Torn Curtain