Album Review: Around by Tom Verlaine

A mere 14 years after Warm and Cool (the same period of time that separated the last two Television albums), Tom Verlaine has come up with a follow-up called Around. Once again, it's a collection of late-night instrumentals that are generally more about conjuring a mood or feeling than telling a wordless story. The songs themselves fall into three basic groups: tunes where the rhythm section finds a nice groove for Verlaine to play over ("Rain, Sidewalk," "Balcony"), solo pieces where Verlaine plays with the focus of an Indian classical musician performing an alap ("Flame," "The O of Adore"), and pieces that just meander, like an idea searching for a song ("Brief Description," "A Burned Letter").

Full Review >>