Television's debut studio album Marquee Moon was released in 1977. The band was formed in New York City in 1973 and quickly became one of the main acts at the club CBGB, where NYC's burgeoning punk movement would flourish in the coming years. With the crazed stage antics and wild persona of original bassist Richard Hell, the band helped define and inspire the early punk movement. As the rest of the band became more proficient in the instruments, however, their sound moved away from their contemporaries and they fired Hell in 1975. After a few sessions from 1974 to 1976 failed to live up to the expectations of lead singer and guitarist Tom Verlaine, the band finally recorded their debut to his satisfaction in September 1976 and released it in February 1977. It was released to widespread critical acclaim and achieved moderate commercial success in the US and the UK. It is now generally considered one of the greatest albums of all time.
It's punk sure--its riff power and Tom Verlaine's attitude (plus the band's central and godfatherly role in New York City's punk scene since their inception in 1973) make it hard to place anywhere else--but their instrumental and improvisational command is much too sophisticated for the likes of any punk band who aims to purge rock of all its pretentiousness. Verlaine's impressive talent for writing is similarly refined: imagist lyrics like "Broadway looked so medieval/It seemed to flap like little pages" or "our lips are sealed/Our breath is burning/These cold, wild seas/Have left us turning" help justify this band's high ambitions. The guitar interplay is even more brilliant, with Verlaine's jazzy and long-winded solos on the two epics "Marquee Moon" and "Torn Curtain" elevating him above Jerry Garcia (the only other jam guitarist I've found considerable affinity for) and any of Richard Lloyd's four solos but especially the one on "Elevation" put the harmonizing guitar solo on "Hotel California" to shame. It's not just that the album is so original and far-removed from its time period that it's comparable to The Velvet Underground & Nico, it's Marquee Moon's absolute annihilation of Television's innovative approach to rock music that makes it so consistently significant, riveting, and addictive. A+