Television - Live at the Old Waldorf

Television were generally regarded as the precise and arty guys of the original New York punk scene -- enough so that some have (rather pointlessly) questioned just what they had to do with the punk rock aesthetic -- but while the clean lines and gleaming surfaces of Marquee Moon and Adventure might have inspired such thought, the band's live show told a different story. While they lacked the bash-it-out ferocity of The Ramones or The Dead Boys, on-stage Television played a lot harder and looser than they did in the studio; the guitar interplay between Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd gained much grit and muscle (and Lloyd was given significantly more space to show what he could do), and drummer Billy Ficca and Fred Smith weren't afraid to turn up the heat and add greater color and body to the songs. Read More