Tom Verlaine
Dreamtime (Collectors’ Choice Music)Tom Verlaine
Words From the Front (Collectors’ Choice Music)On Tom Verlaine’s eponymous solo debut of 1979, he was still adjusting to going it alone after being one-half of the virtuosic guitar team in Television. He redeemed himself on 1981’s Warner Bros. follow-up, Dreamtime, a more fully realized vision of guitar pop. In Television, Verlaine had his own kinetic style, and his post-punk flow is at its height on the melodic “Always” and instrumental “The Blue Robe.” It’s reissued with an “oral history” of the recording from members of the backing band, including Television bassist Fred Smith and Patti Smith drummer Jay Dee Daugherty, though it’s mostly studio talk and not especially illuminating. 1982’s Words From the Front is more experimental than Dreamtime. Here Verlaine started over with a new band, and though his playing is still disciplined, you can feel the New Wave influence on Dreamtime outtake “Clear It Away” and synth epic “Days on the Mountain.” Perfect Sound Forever Editor Jason Gross wrote the liner notes for both and interviewed the players, but there’s very little with Verlaine, and no bonus tracks, outtakes, or anything that makes the albums shine like they could. That they’re in print again serves mostly as education for those who know Television masterpiece Marquee Moon.
(Dreamtime) 
(Words From the Front) 
This article appears in December 19 • 2008.