Television Venus De Milo--Demo

[@texasBMXer]

Marquee Moon is nothing short of a masterpiece. Think, Richard Hell leaving Television means we get Marquee Moon AND Blank Generation. How can that be bad?

[@Flowering_Glume]

Word up!

[@danabrahams7892]

So Hell created Punk with Blank Generation and was part of the first New Wave band in Television - some doing that

[@simonKagree]

This. Hell was a shittier bass player than Fred Smith, and he was a better singer than Tom Verlaine. We all won.

[@ClueSign]

May I just say again that Billy Ficca is absolutely sublime as a drummer?

[@ClueSign]

john justice Thank you for agreeing!

[@lincolnalbemarle]

Television is so notorious for those gorgeous guitars that people always overlook how good the drums are, with those tight little subtle fills

[@frontbum420]

Was he drummer for heartbreakers at some point?

[@suvaloo]

You may.

[@francanto3982]

The best ! But I think that this song is awfull, compared to the album version. (sorry for my Franglish)

[@justinwilson2604]

This would have blown my mind in '74. Hell, it's blowing it now. That riffage is downright dirty to the point of murky and I love it.

[@Flowering_Glume]

Totally!

[@craignightingale8022]

Maybe the hindsight of the album version clouds my judgement, but this sounds very much like a great idea trying to find a song. So glad it didn't stay this way!

[@squeekycat]

Awesome sound! Have always loved the Marquee Moon album and it's so fantastic to hear these songs in a more raw and energetic form. Thanks so much for uploading these!!!!

[@outtathyme5679]

I can hear where Talking Heads got their sound 100%

[@jimmyandtheshits]

So lovely to hear these songs raw.

[@philipcucinella5876]

RIP Tom.

[@kidblonde]

I had this bootleg/record in the '70s/early '80s. Richard Hell was still in the band and his bass-playing seems perfectly OK to me... thanks for the post

[@chrisbodum3621]

That is the dogs bollocks, right there. I've never heard a version of this that floats my boat before, not that I have spent the last forty years looking..... Thanks for sharing.

[@krisscanlon4051]

Eno always looking for his own VU...the Banana album was impossible to reproduce deduce or even let loose! Television's sound would remain dormant until later.

[@johndogwater]

Ooh, that is GREAT!

[@kidblonde]

@ogloccness Richard Hell played bass, sang & wrote some of early Television's best songs, like Blank Generation (he later did it as Richard Hell & The Voidoids in 1977. 2 albums: Blank Generation & Destiny Street). He and Tom Verlaine went to a private school together, ran away when they were 17, went "on the road" & then to New York to become poets. Hell left Television (first 'modern' Punk Rock band, haircuts, ripped clothes & all) because of ego clashes with Verlaine for the band's leadership

[@travisbrown1189]

Such a shimmering goddamn gem!

[@suzesrc]

thank you so much for this video.

[@drstevie]

Amazing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@165Dash]

This version actuality sounds a little like Talking Head...but with this weird double overdubs on the guitars.

[@moscamuerta]

and Brian Eno did produce the first Talking Heads albums

[@AngieOwlglass]

lovelovelovelovelove

[@petemccarry2326]

The AR in AR-15 stands for Armalite, the original manufacturer, not Assault Rifle.

[@kidblonde]

@00Jackacid I saw Richard Hell live a few times & he's a perfectly solid bass-player. Of course Fred Smith's more technically proficient, but it's no mystery that Hell's exit from Television wasn't just about his bass-playing: there was a clash of egos with Verlaine over different things. Haven't heard this in a long time but when I did I remember thinking that his bass-playing was fine. If it had really been that bad Brian Eno & Island Records wouldn't have really considered signing them

[@unfamous13]

@jesuisarmenienne I still dont get where people get that idea. The voidoids basslines are pretty rad, he sounds fine here, and on the Neon boys recordings

[@squatters1]

@ogloccness He only ever played bass, they claimed it was because he couldn't keep up with the intricacies of the BASS LINE of 'Marquee Moon' among other things that he was kicked!

[@curly_wyn]

This version isn’t produced like a Rolling Stones album and is actually bass and rhythm driven like post-punk should be. Awesome!

[@williamgiler3117]

Post???????

[@leather-feather77]

@@williamgiler3117 its strange but television are proto-punk but also considered to be one of the first post-punk bands, if you listen to their work with the neon boys which was them at their most punk, it makes sense how they decided to expand on that sound when they formed television, many post-punk bands started out punk and then went into post-punk, bands like Television were just early to it

[@jesuisarmenienne]

of course he (Hell) couldn't play as well as the rest of the band. A Marquee Moon with richard hell, no way. It's too complicated. Listen to fred smiths bassplaying. it's sublime.

[@SR-ic4sf]

what kind of guitar hell using in these recordings?

[@Mgirald]

@@SR-ic4sf It's kind of late really, but he was their bass player, never their guitarist

[@adrianjasso8835]

@@Mgirald the bass is a type of guitar

[@masqueraider666]

aHHHH. The days of hittin any one of 40-50 clubs in NYC, joint lit, nose stuffed with Go Go candy, heading to check out a band. Saw Television once at the Ritz and then another time at El Mundo/the Love Club on E 2nd. MGMT90 said it-the impetus for the Strokes, but lets' get real. Television was a star studded effort (Eno too! ); they were a more important band than the Strokes, who seem thinly positioned in the minds of older fans, who love and remember the 70's NYC Underground Music scene.

[@frontbum420]

I think you are right about the strokes well said Those days are long gone now and star is not really a star anymore .

[@Schmagurty]

Wow, I like this version much more.

[@kidblonde]

I already said all I had to say about it. You can think what you like, it's a free country. Cheers!

[@youseetoo]

Different ! But the felling is the same!

[@jadakiss98682]

@MGMT90 yeah, i love both the bands. Television for creating two classic albums and influencing the strokes, and the strokes for being the best band of the 21st century.

[@TheP00pBandit]

my whole thought on the clash between Richard Hell and Tom Verlaine is this...Verlaine played his instrument better, while Hell had the better voice. to me they were equals but Verlaine just acted like a douche.

[@johhnypissoff]

This version is better for dancing.

[@brianfergus839]

I’m guessing it’s 5-10 bpm faster

[@nycalling72]

That's a bit much - the weak attempt comment. This demo just sounds like a Velvet Underground cut . The album version is way better. I'll grant you that I still would have liked them to keep Hell however.

[@CityOfTinyLines]

Sounds like the Rubber Band Band on speed.

[@PurpleTreeHerbs]

why is Bryan speled rong?

[@jesuisarmenienne]

@Nizhinskij Yeah, maybe the "glittering star" but he couldn't play...

[@bochini1]

He did not play in Marquee Moon and that is the good stuff. Come on do you really compare this stuff with the album? Are you really...

[@ethanblackhurst8593]

it's too fast

[@bochini1]

blah blah blah

[@Nizhinskij]

Richard Hell was simply the glittering star of the band, a personality too much above the others, which Verlaine should have accepted just as Mick Jones in the Clash and Steve Jones in the Pistols - aka the main contributors to the bands' sound despite not being the main attractions. Television would have then continued to be the great "raw" band you can hear in this demo, instead of the weak attempt to repeat it which goes under the name of Marquee Moon :)

[@dasgesicht6000]

It seems that history has not been kind to that opinion...don't mean to be rude, but hey...