Tom Verlaine (Television) - Songs and Other Things [Ltd Ed Teal Blue Vinyl]

Tom Verlaine's 2006 Studio Album Songs and Other Things on Colored LP. On Vinyl for the First Time in the U.S.

The true test of originality for any musician comes when you hear an instrument being played and you instantly know who's playing it. For electric guitarists, certainly Hendrix qualifies; Page and Clapton, too. Maybe Eddie Van Halen before the legion of imitators. You probably have your own list, but to Real Gone Music, standing toe-to-toe (or pick-to-pick) with those legends is Television guitarist and solo artist Tom Verlaine. His self-taught, jazz-influenced style, largely devoid of effects, and vibrato tone (oh, that tone!) makes any Verlaine solo unmistakably a Verlaine solo. That he was quite an accomplished, idiosyncratic songwriter is just a bonus.

Real Gone is very, very proud to announce that they have arranged with the Verlaine estate to release Tom's last three solo albums on LP; Songs and Other Things was the last record he released, in the same year as the all-instrumental Around.

As the title indicates, this was indeed a return to lyrics and vocals, the first record with "songs" since 1990's The Wonder (although the first song, "A Parade in Littleton"—one of the "Other Things"—is a low-key, funky instrumental that would have been home on a late Talking Heads album). The time off clearly allowed Verlaine to build up a strong cache of compositions, with "Nice Actress" and "The Earth Is in the Sky" among the highlights. The record also marks a welcome return of Verlaine's enigmatic lyrics, which as always prompt head scratching while somehow making intuitive sense.

But in the end, it's the amazing guitar work—ably supported by Fred Smith of Television fame and Jay Dee Daugherty of The Patti Smith Group among others—that elevates Songs and Other Things to essential status, worthy of its exalted position as the final release of Tom Verlaine's career.

Bassist and original engineer Patrick Derivaz has mastered the album for its vinyl debut; Verlaine's long-time partner Jutta Koether contributes notes.

A Parade in Littleton
Heavenly Charm
Orbit
Blue Light
From Her Fingers
Nice Actress
A Stroll
The Earth Is in the Sky
Lovebird Asylum Seeker
Documentary
Shingaling
All Weirded Out
The Day on You
Peace Piece