Tom Verlaine
Songs And Other Things
Release Date: Apr 25, 2006
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Record label: Thrill Jockey
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Album Review: Songs And Other Things by Tom Verlaine
Very Good, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
It had been nearly a decade and a half since Tom Verlaine's last release (the instrumental Warm and Cool) when he actually dropped two albums -- Around, another collection of instrumentals, and the self-explanatory Songs and Other Things -- at the same time in 2006. He had been busy (though not too busy) playing with both Patti Smith and Television off and on, and doing a bit of production and some film scoring, but apparently hadn't felt the itch to release much of anything. Oddly enough, although the companion album (Around) is entirely instrumental, the opening track on Songs and Other Things is actually another nicely constructed instrumental that has Verlaine adopting an interesting organ-like tone on his guitar.
Based on rating 3/5
Television's classic 1977 album, Marquee Moon, reverberates through pop as much as ever, with traces of its taut magic found in Razorlight and the Libertines. However, for Television's frontman, Tom Verlaine, it is clearly something to be avoided like the plague. Thus, Songs and Other Things experiments with sloppy AOR, disjointed funk workouts, guitar narratives and anything that doesn't sound remotely like his masterpiece.