Marquee
Moon was the debut
album by American post-punk/art-punk band Television. Released in 1977, it has
since gone on to be considered a pivotal album in the development of post-punk
in the late-70s and early-80s, not to mention it having a lasting influence on
indie, garage and alternative rock.
Marquee
Moon was quite a
unique album for a punk oriented group at the time and had a very different
sound to the other music which was being made on the punk scene. The sound on
the album is very much based on the twin lead guitar sound of Tom Verlaine, who
was also the band’s lead singer and Richard Lloyd, with the two producing a heavily
layered and lick laden guitar wall of sound. This dual guitar style was very
much based on classic rock from the 70s and involved plenty of inter-play
between the two, with one usually taking the rhythm part as the other took the lead,
with both often swapping roles from rhythm to lead within songs as well. Gone
were the power chords and heavy riffage of traditional punk rock, which were
replaced with melodic guitar lines, counter-melodies and carefully constructed rhythmic
sequences. This was more complex musically than punk and I guess allowed for
more musical ideas to be explored within songs, while allowing for what I would
describe as non-punk influences to be brought in such as progressive rock and
jazz, influences which you can clearly hear throughout the album.
The songs themselves are
incredibly catchy and very melodic but not in a way that you would normally
associate with a good song, such as having a catchy chorus, or pop hook. The
catchiness and listenable qualities of the songs on Marquee Moon are found more in the sound of the hook-laden and
melodic guitar lines which come to dominate all the songs on the album, and
help to form the organic base of which these songs are built. Songs such as
opening track “See No Evil” and “Friction” are a classic example of the twin
lead guitar attack and contain some amazing dueling guitar sequences complete
with competing melodies and backed by a stellar rhythm section. Title track “Marquee
Moon” is the album’s centrepiece and most out there track and at times tends to
resemble a prog rock track, or in this instance a prog punk masterpiece. Coming
in at over ten minutes something that would have been inconceivable for anyone
with an ounce of punk in their music at the time, “Marquee Moon” brings in the
prog and jazz influences that I mentioned earlier, especially in terms of the
complex technicality of the guitar playing, the song structure, as well as the
free jamming and extended guitar solo duels that are dottered throughout the
song. This is quite simply prog punk at its finest and forms as a reminder of
what could have been had the punk rockers not turned their noses up so much at progressive
rock. Other tracks on the album that are worth a mention include “Elevation”
which has a Beatles feel to it with some amazing psychedelic guitar melodies, “Guiding
Light” which is a slower track that could also be described as the ballad of
the album and gets dangerously close to being mid-70s corporate guitar rock but
in a good way, and finally “Prove It” which brings in some jangly guitar and
some thumping R&B influenced bass playing by bass player Fred Smith.
Although Marquee Moon was not a commercial success
at the time, its reputation has grown tremendously over the years, while it has
influenced most of the guitar music that has followed its release. It has been
sighted by many critics as being one of the greatest albums of the 70s American
punk rock movement and by Rolling Stones as the 128 greatest album of all time,
high praise for an art-punk band who released an album that went against the
grain of many of their contemporaries of the time. Marquee Moon is a truly amazing sounding album and showed a punk
rock band could actually get down and dirty with some serious playing of the
highest complexity and skill, but yet still retain their punk essence. This is definitely
one of the best guitar albums ever recorded and contains some of the most
melodically beautiful and clean guitar playing you are ever likely to hear. Well
worth a listen for all guitar heads, punk worshipers, while progressive rock
enthusiasts might just even dig this one to.
A
- Sam
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