The late Tom Verlaine is most celebrated as vocalist-guitarist for the seminal 1970s New York City rock band Television, though he cut a slew of solo recordings subsequent to Television’s 1978 breakup that remain deserving of more attention. His seventh full-length and first all instrumental recording, Warm and Cool, was released in 1992 and is receiving a vinyl repress June 7 through Real Gone Music as licensed through the Estate of Tom Verlaine. Based in improvisation, it is a loose but well-conceived collection of tuneful excursions and soundscapes with a few moments of raucousness added in.
That Television’s discography was a hard act to follow is quite the understatement. Most of the attention remains focused on the band’s masterful 1977 debut Marquee Moon, but it’s follow-up Adventure from the next year, if underrated, is still generally appreciated by fans as a worthy effort. The two live albums, The Blow Up and Live at the Old Waldorf, are as striking as they are historically vital (both document shows from 1978).
This excludes Television’s eponymous 1992 reunion album (and another live album from that year), mainly because its release roughly coincides with the arrival of Warm and Cool. Verlaine’s prior string of solo releases began with an eponymous set in 1979, followed by Dreamtime in ’81, Words From the Front in ’82, Cover in ’84, Flash Light in ’87, and The Wonder in ’90, an impressive string of albums that found him extending and refining the approach he brought to Television (and without mimicking the band proper, though understandably, there were similarities).
But with Television’s return to activity in 1992 (and perhaps the changing musical landscape of that time), Verlaine shifted gears with Warm and Cool. Obviously, the lack of vocals is a major change, but this isn’t a case of Verlaine writing a bunch of songs and then deciding not to add (or electing to remove) his voice. Instead, it’s intended as a non-vocal small group situation that features Patrick A. Derivaz on bass and his Television bandmate Billy Ficca on drums. For one track, “Harley Quinn,” Patti Smith alumnus Jay Dee Daugherty plays drums and another Television bandmate Fred Smith, plays bass.
Opener “Those Harbor Lights” offers a strain of atmospheric guitar twang that’s fairly described as Badalamenti-esque, except that Verlaine’s delivery is a bit more restrained. The next track, “Sleepwalkin’,” reinforces in its very title that Verlaine is expanding on a classic sensibility. Although the cut doesn’t explicitly riff upon the hit song by Santo & Johnny (“Sleep Walk”), it does extend a vibe that can be traced back to the era when instrumentals were frequently in pop chart rotation.
“The Deep Dark Clouds” is more reflective and a little bluesy, underscoring the contemporary nature of the recording, and also that improvisation was an inherent part of Verlaine’s method here. With that said, “Saucer Crash” rises up like Pink Floyd revisiting Zabriskie Point and cultivating a jam groove. “Depot (1951)” sets a rhythmic foundation for Verlaine to embellish, and the results conjure neo-noirish images of a grizzled private eye surveying the scene in a humid bus station in the seedy part of town. As the album progresses, there are two variations on this track, “Depot (1957)” and “Depot (1958).”
“Boulevard” is jauntier as it suggests a quicky single that Joe Meek knocked off for a band with dueling Duane Eddy and Ventures fixations. The arid cinematic flair of “Harley Quinn” (and indeed much of Warm and Cool) is akin to other instrumental acts on the scene at roughly the same time, e.g. Scenic, while pointing the way toward post-rock, a varied style movement (of sorts) that had already began taking shape in 1992 (the Thrill Jockey label notably reissued Warm and Cool in 2005). “Sor Juanna” is more fragmentary, initially registering like a boat floating ominously down a muddy river into Cambodia.
With it’s morning-after psychedelic ambiance, “Spiritual” is well named, as it’s easily the most meditative track on the album. Conversely, “Little Dance” is the most upbeat, suitable for finger popping time, even. Spiky and roving, wild and rumbling, “Ore” and “Lore” take abstract turns into the free rock zone for the close.
Warm and Cool was issued by Rykodisc in the US in 1992, but only on CD and cassette. Rough Trade did press vinyl in the UK that year, but secondhand copies aren’t cheap. Thrill Jockey’s reissue was CD only with eight bonus cuts. Real Gone Music’s edition of the original disc’s 14-track sequence is very welcome. The music makes clear that Tom Verlaine was one of the greats (his 2006 sets Alone and Songs and Other Things are seeing reissue through Real Gone later this year).
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
