- Included among the Record Descriptions of Favorite Albums (Part 1).
- Television is one of the great guitar bands and, for some reason, has a lower profile than most of the other top punk and new wave bands of the 1970’s.
The Greatest Music
Ever Recorded!
Television – The Blow-Up (1982): I suppose I should begin with my own review of The Blow-Up that I posted on Allmusic in September 2015, which I had completely forgotten about: “Quite simply, The Blow-Up is one of the most thrilling concert albums that I own, from one end to the other. The less than perfect sound quality is actually appropriate and adds to the experience, since there is a real sense of being in front of the stage while this amazing music blasts out around you. As great as their studio albums are, Television truly cooks here, and the guitar pyrotechnics throughout the concert rank with the greatest in rock history. There is a blend of short and extended renditions of the band’s own songs, and the handful of covers of two familiar rock standards and a number by 13th Floor Elevators fill in the set list perfectly.
“I would not have imagined that anyone could improve upon Bob Dylan’s studio performance of ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’, and I doubt that any other band could have done so. Play loud.” The Blow-Up was recorded in 1978 during what would prove to be the band’s last tour. Television is one of the great guitar bands – courtesy of guitarists Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd – and, for some reason, has a lower profile than most of the other top punk and new wave bands of the 1970’s. The Blow-Up is a double album where literally years passed between the two albums showing up for cleaning. That marvelous second disk includes the title song from their debut album Marquee Moon, “Marquee Moon”, plus “Little Johnny Jewel”, a single-only release that came out about two years before Marquee Moon; each is nearly 15 minutes in length on The Blow-Up.