A trio of the Television visionary's under-appreciated mid-period LPs get a worthwhile reissue By the time stepped into the studio to record his first instrumental album, [1992], he’d pretty much burned out on the endless cycle of record-release-tour dynamics that goes with life on a major label. Having played the game long enough, Verlaine had taken stock, and was keen to redraw the parameters of both his artistic and his everyday life. He’d long entertained a desire to record an instrumental collection, and there did seem to be something particularly appropriate about one of the most idiosyncratic and individual of guitar players going the instrumental route.
For anyone who’d listened to the ecstatic flight of Verlaine’s bird-like guitar over the preceding two decades, was no surprise; it was simply good to hear Verlaine in this new setting, one that so neatly suited his aesthetic. There were other things going on, of course. was released in the same year as ’s third, ‘comeback’ album.
This self-titled set was received curiously; like everything Verlaine had done to this point, it suffered from living under the shadow of the band’s debut album, 1977’s , by any measure an extraordinary rock album, and one that was already considered an iconic statement by critical and cultural consensus alike. Listening back, that third Television album works differently to what came before – as you’d expect, given the 14-year gap between it and its predecessor, – but.