3.4.09

Television- Double Exposure (1975)


Listening to so called independent music in the 1980’s there was no escaping from the influence of Television. It was so tempting to post a rip of their superb Marquee Moon LP of 1975, but that is still readily available, and I figured that regulars to Burning Aquarium deserved something just a little bit special. So what we have here is a 1975 demo, produced by the genius Brian Eno.
Island Records turned the band down on the 'strength' of this demo.
Line up:
Tom Verlaine- guitar , vocals
Fred Smith- bass
Richard Lloyd- guitar
Billy Ficca- drums.



11 comments:

  1. These are not the Eno demos with Richard Hell. There were only six songs on those demos and one of them was "Blank Generation." These demos are from after Hell left the band. Fred Smith is playing bass.

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  2. I ammended the post- I looked at my Television bootlegs and saw that I had posted the wrong information in my haste.
    The only version of Blank Generation I have by Television is a live recording from CBGB's - some bootlegs include it with the Fairland demos.

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  3. Hi Walker, came across your site looking for Magazine and came across your Television posts - another of my favourite bands! And I really dig the Winstanley/Colin Ward/etc too.

    In solidarity and in appreciation, here's my contribution (delete this post if you do not want it).

    The Television 1974 demos were recorded at Good Vibrations Studios in NYC with Richard Hell on bass, and produced by Brian Eno and Richard Williams of Island Records. The track listing was:

    1.Prove It
    2.Friction
    3.Venus
    4.Double Exposure
    5.Marquee Moon

    The August 1975 demos were recorded with Fred Smith on bass and were part of the session for Terry Ork of Ork Records which produced Television's first single "Little Johnny Jewel" (Ork, 1975, included on expanded re-issue of Marquee Moon). The track listing was:

    1.Hard On Love
    2.Friction
    3.Careful
    4.Prove It
    5.Fire Engine
    6.Little Johnny Jewel (vinyl rip of Ork single)

    Both sessions were included on the bootleg Double Exposure (no label (Italy), No. DE-92-SC, released 1992) which has sharp, clear sound and also includes (in between the two sessions) three live tracks from CBGB's in 1975:

    6.Fire Engine
    7.Blank Generation
    8.Double Exposure

    and a last live track from the Piccadilly Inn, Cleveland 25th July 1975 gig:

    15.Breakin' In My Heart.

    The 1974 demos were also released on two other bootlegs called Television with Bryan Eno and Fairland (Microphone Records (Italy) No. MPH CD 017 released 1994), which are of much lower quality than Double Exposure, being from a higher generation tape with speed irregularities.

    Judging by the size of the upload, your version of Double Exposure is ripped at a bitrate below 320. As you may like to have a higher quality version of this excellent bootleg, I enclose a link below. This download excludes tracks 6-8 and 15, but has both the 1974 and 1975 sessions at 320 kbps (Double Exposure). Unfortunately it also includes the totally dispensable low-quality Fairland version of the 1974 demos, making it 173mb, but at least this is the highest quality version of the 1974-75 demos I have found.

    http://rapidshare.com/files/147705706/Television_1974-1975_demos.rar.html

    A Television fan called Zombieraid posted a host of Television bootlegs on a now-deceased webpage. Amongst the treasures were the following:

    Poor Circulation, rehearsal/demo and live recordings with Richard Hell from December 1973 to April 1975, 112 MB mp3 @ 192:
    http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LTGNTOZB;

    Television's earliest available gig with Patti Smith live at CBGB'S NY 17/04/1975, 90 MB, mp3 VBR @ 128-320: http://rapidshare.com/files/126664282/1975_-_Early_Gig_75_by_Zombieraid.rar.html

    and Television's last available gig, This Case Is Closed - The First Farewell, live at the Bottom Line, NYC 29th July 1978:
    mp3 version 106 mb @ 192 kps:
    http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ROTOEBV5

    FLAC version 568 mb:
    http://rapidshare.com/files/132645327/Television780729FLAC_01.zip
    http://rapidshare.com/files/132677461/Television780729FLAC_02.zip
    http://rapidshare.com/files/132697175/Television780729FLAC_03.zip
    Password for FLACs is http://dexondaz.blogspot.com/

    I have posted all the Television material I have (much more than the above) here: http://thenewdisease.blogspot.com/2009/02/worship-him-children-worship-him.html(in the comments section) on GoMonkeyGo's site - a fellow anarcho who also offers us the only available source to my knowledge for:

    Television - Live at Mother's, New York, NY (10/19/75)
    Television - Live in Hartsdale, NY (8/31/77)
    Tom Verlaine - Live in Rouen, France (4/17/87)
    Richard Lloyd - Live at The Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL (6/22/01)

    Hoping you don't mind me dishing up the stuff here (delete this if you do), and by the by, a great book to look for in your secondhand bookshop trawls:

    "Authority and delinquency - the psychology of power" by British libertarian psychologist and author of "The Joy of Sex" Alex Comfort, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1950; reprint Sphere paperbacks, 1970.

    Cheers now, Dave Sez.

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  4. Forgot to clear up the ambiguity above re Blank Generation - Walker is right that the only recording of it with Television that is known to me is the live CBGB's 1975 recording on the full version of Double Exposure and also on Poor Circulation, listed above. The track was never recorded in the studio by Television. See the Richard Hell posts on this blog for a link to a high quality rip of the Ork/Stiff EP by Richard Hell, which has a different version of Blank Generation to that on the first Voidoids album.

    Having been pedantic, here's the joy juice: Television live in NY in Summer 2007 - Verlaine, Ficca and Smith still together !

    http://clearwaterahead.blogspot.com/2008/10/television-summerstage-06162007.html

    Television - Summerstage (06/16/2007)

    Disc 1:
    1. Introduction
    2. 1880 Or So
    3. Balloon
    4. Venus
    5. Little Johnny Jewel
    6. Prove it
    7. Frustration

    Disc 2:
    1. Glory
    2. The Sea
    3. Persia
    4. Marquee Moon

    Although only 128 kbps, very listenable, and anyway, hey! the only source out there for it!

    Thanks to Claudius for making this available! Cheers, Dave Sez.

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  5. Mona has been kind enough to provide us with a Television gig from 1992 during the tour to promote their reformation CD. No Television fan should miss this! Thanks, Mona, cheers, Dave Sez.

    http://sonofexileonmoanstreet.blogspot.com/2009/04/television-live-at-academy-12-4-92-2003.html

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  6. And at last, surfacing for the first time since its 2003 CD release, the perfect complement to "Double Exposure" - "I Need A New Adventure", the studio outtakes from Television's second album. Rare as hell! Find it here:

    http://knowyourconjurer.blogspot.com/2010/03/television-i-need-new-adventure-1978.html

    Many thanks and cheers, Dave Sez.

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  7. Good work Dave- in terms of downloads Television are by far the most popular band featured on Burning Aquarium.

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  8. Thanks Walker for the comment, most interesting; I would have thought that they were (undeservedly) a fringe interest by now.

    A couple of updates:

    When visiting edo at knowyourconjurer.blogspot.com, don't download the link in the post (which is at 128 kbps), but look in the comments - edo has been kind enough to re-up @320. Dave Sez: go get, you won't regret!

    And GoMonkeyGo at thenewdisease.blogspot.com promises us more Television if we will be patient - thanks in advance!

    And, lastly, if any of the long list of links in my first post are down (and so you're disappointed), well, I did also repost some of them on the old TUBE site where the links might still work .. a second shot, anyway. Here ya go:

    http://onlybootleghere.blogspot.com/2009/05/television-1978-07-29-new-york-city-ny.html (the last gig available)


    http://onlybootleghere.blogspot.com/2009/05/television-with-patti-smith-1975-04-17.html (the first gig available)

    http://onlybootleghere.blogspot.com/2009/05/television-1973-1975-poor-circulation.html (very early studio demos with Richard Hell, rough but historic)

    http://onlybootleghere.blogspot.com/2009/04/television-1978-07-02-portland-or.html (great gig)

    Enjoy and good hunting! Cheers, Dave Sez.

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  9. Some more Television goodies - a DVD Brazil 2005 and an audio rip from that, thanks TUBE!

    http://theultimatebootlegexperience3.blogspot.com/2010/03/television-2005-10-23-rio-de-janeiro-br.html (the DVD)

    http://theultimatebootlegexperience3.blogspot.com/2010/02/television-2005-10-23-rio-de-janeiro-br.html (the audio rip)

    Cheers, Dave Sez.

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  10. Shouldn't miss this one - it's an audience recording, but hey, vintage Television!

    Television live @ the Whisky A Go Go LA 5th April 1977

    By gregor on November 17, 2009 @ http://captainsdead.com/television-live-the-whisky-a-go-go.html

    Original Covers here: http://www.giginjapan.com/scan117/television-97whisky.htm (two scans, one at the top and one at the bottom of the page
    New covers here: http://rockrarecollectionfetish.blogspot.com/2009/11/television-live-at-whisky-go-go-los.html
    (NB: This is both the early and the late set of April 5th 1977).

    Whisky A Go Go, Los Angeles 5th April 1977
    (EARLY SET)
    01 See No Evil 4:02
    02 Venus 3:46
    03 Elevation 6:14
    04 Careful 3:33
    05 Friction 4:58
    06 Knockin' On Heaven's Door 7:16
    07 Marquee Moon 14:57
    08 Psychotic Reaction 3:29
    (LATER SET)
    09 Fire Engine 3:22
    10 Elevation 5:29
    11 Prove It 5:09
    12 Foxhole 4:46
    13 Adventure 6:05

    Cheers, Dave Sez.

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