Television "Television"

On episode 22 of Past Prime, and with the passing of Tom
Verlaine still very much a recent event, Steve and Matty return
to the third (and final) album from New York proto-punk legends,
Television. Released in 1992, fourteen years after the band had
broken up, but just before the world wide web became a source for
instant information, "Television" arrived as a titanic surprise
to fans of the band but as a non-event for the other 7.8 billion
people on planet Earth. Matty, an avowed devotee, and Steve, a
reluctant victim of his co-host's aesthetic intimidation, reflect
on the merits of the album and the enduring significance of its
elusive frontman.


Though Television soldiered on right up until Verlaine's death
(albeit without Richard Lloyd for many of those years) and though
Tom Verlaine released two modest solo albums in the Aughts,
"Television" is the band's swan song. Whereas Matty received this
arrival breathlessly, eager to decode its poetry, its noir and
its horror, Steve found it to be a "Low T," tossed off fade out.
Where Matty heard beauty, Steve heard depression. Where Matty
noticed invention and precision, Steve saw a bunch of middle-aged
guys dozing off. This album that united two friends decades ago
as college freshman, threatens to divide them decades later. Will
they find common ground? Will they resolve the mystery of Tom
Verlaine? Stay tuned for another episode of Past Prime!


To read more about Television's self-titled reunion album, check
out the full essay at Past Prime.