"TELEVISION"

Boston Globe, 22nd October 1992

by Jim Sullivan

No, this eponymous third studio album from the seminal, but long-on-the-shelf, New York new wave band Television is not on par with "Marquee Moon," the band's sterling 1977 debut LP. After all these years, Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd - the only new guitar duo that mattered back then - aren't as prone to pushing the extremes, exploring raw-edged emotion, or just letting loose with a clamorous blitz. Singer-lyricist Verlaine is more pensive now, and there's a quiet, cautious, calming thread that twists its way through this 10-track re-entry disc. "Television," with the music credited to all four members, is not without its oft-melancholic charm; the melodies mostly find minor-key pop plateaus and the lean guitar interplay is interesting, but not explosive. There's moodiness, but little edginess or passion. "Television" is an even-keeled album, a modest effort that is unlikely to rekindle the fire old fans once felt and just as unlikely to hit younger alternative rock fans where they live (Sonic Youth, Nirvana). Sad to say, Television is a bit tame.