A Waxx Lyrical Record Of The Month - October 2023
 
One evening in downtown New York City in 1974, the manager of an unknown band by the name of Television approached CBGB owner Hilly Kristal suggesting he let them take over the club's notoriously dead Sunday night, unwittingly kicking off New York’s punk scene. While Television can lay claim to getting there first, the band fell behind in actually releasing a debut album. Patti Smith's Horses galloped out of the gate first, hitting record store shelves in 1975, while self-titled debuts from both Blondie and The Ramones arrived the following year. With a volatile lineup and armed with a once-in-a-generation, mercurial frontman in Tom Verlaine, early followers of the band's kinetic live sets could be forgiven for wondering if they were ever going to make their debut masterpiece. Finally, on February 8, 1977, Television released Marquee Moon - a debut well worth the wait. Radical, groundbreaking and hugely influential, this landmark album remains a singular achievement of the quintessential NYC proto-punk band that transcends the “punk” label” and still sounds ahead of its time 46 years after its release.
 
TRACKS:
See No Evil
Venus
Friction
Marquee Moon
Elevation
Guiding Light
Prove It
Torn Curtain