“Marquee Moon” was a genuinely groundbreaking record and because of that any follow up was going to sit meekly in its shadow. Thus is the case with “Adventure”, it’s not a bad album, it’s just not “Marquee Moon”. It was recorded in late 1977 and is a much less spiky and surprising record than its predecessor, much smoother around the edges, dare I say poppier ?

Opening song “Glory” is a great start. It has all the elements of Television, Verlaine’s rhythmic riff intertwining with Lloyd’s scatterbrained lead play but it’s all less urgent than before. 2nd song “Days” is, well it’s a ballad, which I wasn’t expecting. “Foxhole” lifts the intensity with its theme of a soldier in a foxhole supported by some crunching riffage and some of that “angular” playing that featured on “Marque Moon”, it’s probably the best song on the album.

Record company Elektra got right behind the album though (in the UK at least). Lead single “Foxhole” was released as a 12” with 4 different coloured sleeves (yellow, blue, green and red) and on Red vinyl along with the album (my copy is on red vinyl). But after finding little success following the release of “Adventure”, Television split up after a three night stand at The Bottom Line in NYC at the end of July 1978.

Foxhole - https://youtu.be/2IQCUc4rNN8?si=aqAZ4cEd-Y0a5x8e

The musical scene that developed out of the ashes of the New York Dolls, centered around a grotty club called CBGB’s down on the Bowery in New York City, must have been something to behold happening. It gave the world the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, Richard Hell & The Void Oids and Television. 

Television were led by the twin guitars of Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd. Now you must know by now that I’m no fan of what I disparagingly refer to as fretw@nk (twiddly-diddley-widdly-weee…look how fast I can play) but if all guitar playing were to sound as beautiful, mystical and intense as Verlaine and Lloyd did here on “Marquee Moon” then count me in daddio. These two showed there was another way to do virtuoso and do it without the cod-piece.

It begins in dizzying fashion with Verlaine and Lloyd’s guitars equal parts crunching rhythm while intricately weaving lines around each other and themselves during “See No Evil”. Somewhat unbelievably to me the title track was recorded live in one take (drummer Billy Ficca thought it was a rehearsal run through) ! Producer Andy Johns suggested that they record another take, but Verlaine told him "forget it”. I don’t usually have the attention span for long songs and especially long songs that feature extended guitar solo’s but as we have already established, this ain’t no fretw@nk happening here. In just over 10 minutes Television keep me transfixed.

It’s a record I never tire of hearing, I gotta admit it took me some years to appreciate its brilliance. It was unfairly grouped in by the press with the New York Punk scene, it’s so much more than that, and the Damned had a go at Television in the song “Idiot Box” on their second album. But once I got it, I got it completely.

A little whinge…I’ve mentioned before my utter disdain for Rolling Stone magazine and here’s another reason for that. Rolling Stone described “Marquee Moon” as a Post-Punk record. Can someone explain to me how a record written and recorded during 1974, 1975 and 1976 can be POST Punk ? It was recorded in New York City in September 1976, The Damned’s “New Rose” (generally regarded as the first Punk single) was released in October 1976 !

“Marquee Moon” walks a path all by itself. It is a breathtaking work of utter genius. Yes Television were lumped in with the Punk/New Wave scene but that was more lazy journalism than the reality, this is neither Punk, New Wave or any other label you want to pin on it, it’s simply Television. These guys were genuinely out there forging a path all of their own.

Marquee Moon - https://youtu.be/g4myghLPLZc?si=IPfIkd5vSq03o9E_

Dave Balfe once said of the Teardrop Explodes “we sounded like Vikings on acid fronted by a lunatic” and I can’t think of a better description than that. Everybody’s drug intake, a fraught US tour and Cope leaning more heavily on Balfe as his main creative foil (even though all songs are credited to just Julian Cope) saw a shift in sound on “Wilder” and ultimately the end of the Teardrop Explodes.

Lead single “Passionate Friend” suggested that “Wilder” would be a natural follow on from “Klimanjaro” but this turned out to be the only track on the album to feature the full touring version of the band. The sound here isn’t as upbeat as previously, many songs feature little or, at times, no guitars and there were songs just made up from Cope’s vocal and a synthesizer.

“Bent Out Of Shape” starts proceedings. It has all the ingredients of the Teardrops with Cope’s strident vocals and the horns in the refrain. It doesn’t have the urgency of previous Teardrops but some life is injected next by “Colours Fly Away”. The guitars are back alongside the horns coupled with Gary Dwyers driving beats in the verses. The real highlight on Side 1 is final track “The Culture Bunker”, a song which name-checks the Crucial Three and is one of the Teardrops very best.

Side 2 begins with “Passionate Friend” which comes on like a direct descendant of “Kilimanjaro”. “Tiny Children” is like a lullaby sung by a child, a distant relative of Bowie’s childlike songs, and is followed by the warped Psychedelic Funk of “Like Leila Khaled Said” (she was a Palestinian militant and activist). Which leads us to the final two songs, firstly the beautiful “…and The Fighting Takes Over”, just Julian Cope crooning over a hugely chorused and imperfectly played electric guitar, occasionally joined by a trumpet, it’s quite lovely. In a parallel universe “The Great Dominions” would be revered as and end of the night, lighters in the air stadium anthem, but this is the Teardrop Explodes instead. It’s the perfect end on a high to this musically confused album.

“Wilder” isn’t a bad record but it’s obviously a band who don’t really know in which direction to jump. Whatever the makeup of the musical backdrop there are some great songs on “Wilder”, “The Culture Bunker”, “…and The Fighting Takes Over” and the closing “The Great Dominions” are all top notch stuff and “Passionate Friend” gave them their final Top 40 hit. After some fractious recording sessions for a third album and a disastrous UK tour with no band but lots of synths and backing tapes the Teardrop Explodes, well, exploded. It set Julian Cope off on a a fascinating career path, including records, books and a life as an antiquarian which I’ve followed ever since. He really is a treasure.

The Great Dominions - https://youtu.be/S09LrFyP4lE?si=k5IQGMoUKlqgOF52