ROLL BACK
Tom Verlaine and Jimmy Rip
Music for Experimental Film DVD (Kino International)
True West
Hollywood Holiday Revisited (Atavistic)
Various Artists
Boston Underground 1979–1982 (Moulty Records)
Tom Verlaine may not be as famous (or wealthy) as Eric Clapton, but
to more progressive guitar heads there’s only one true God—and
his initials are T.V. In the mid 1970s Verlaine and his band Television
famously initiated the CBGB scene that kicked off the punk explosion
in New York. But the pioneering quartet also managed to remain separate
from the ensuing rabble, thanks mainly to its members’ superior
musicianship and higher artistic aspirations. Verlaine’s dueling
partner in Television was the great Richard Lloyd, but, along with
a fruitful solo career, he’s since found a new guitar foil in
producer/session player Jimmy Rip. On the DVD Music for Experimental
Film, the pair lays down spontaneously incidental soundtracks to seven
silent avant–garde shorts from the 1920s. As the ghostly and
surreal images created by Fernand Leger, Hans Richter, Man Ray, and
others dance and dissolve across the screen, Verlaine and Rip’s
edgy and quixotic flights offer the perfect, dreamlike accompaniment.
Hypnotic and great.
In 1983, Verlaine went into local and legendary Bearsville Studios
to produce some demo tracks by California quintet True West. Much like
that of the other groups of the so–called paisley underground
scene then brewing on the West Coast (Green on Red, Dream Syndicate,
Rain Parade, et al), True West’s sound is that of punks discovering
and assimilating ’60s psychedelia—indeed, the A–side
of the band’s first single is a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Lucifer
Sam”—and, in light of the Television–esque interplay
of guitarists Russ Tolman and Richard McGrath, Verlaine was a natural
choice as a producer. Hollywood Holiday Revisited collects the three
previously unreleased Verlaine demos, the group’s essential ’83
debut Hollywood Holiday, and the ’84 follow–up Drifters.
Fans of alternately chiming and stinging guitars and melodic post–punk
should seek this one out.
Speaking of post–punk, that’s the focus of the overtly
named Boston Underground 1979–1982, which chronicles early Beantown
club stalwarts Native Tongue, Dangerous Birds, Insteps, Maps, Lori
Green, Young Snakes, and Art Yard. Thanks to the sound’s revival
via hit makers like Interpol and Franz Ferdinand, the stuff here should
feel familiar enough even to those too young to have been around for
it the first time: lots of flanged–out underwater bass and chorus
pedal–drenched guitars a la Joy Division, along with plenty of
dance floor–friendly hi–hat beats and the occasional faux–English
accent. None of these acts would have had their local contemporaries
in Mission of Burma looking over their shoulders, and some liner notes
would’ve been nice, but as a whole this disc is a hip and enjoyable
time capsule. Loud snaps go to the sharp, angular pop of the Insteps,
Maps, and Dangerous Birds, all of whom would contribute members to
later indie darlings Salem 66, Christmas, and Come. Also worth mentioning
are the Young Snakes, who feature a pre–’Til Tuesday Aimee
Mann and deliver a winningly trashy instrumental.—Peter Aaron
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