Twenty-five
years ago on the evening of March 31, 1974 the band Television took
the stage at the NYC Bowery night club CBGB's for an extended residency
that revolutionized the rock and roll universe! It was the actual birth
date of the New Wave movement. This anti-glam, anti-big industry rock
crusade incubated in New York with the likes of Patti Smith, The Ramones,
Richard Hell, and The Dictators.
At
the very least the Television residency at CBGB's brought enormous media
focus to a simmering underground for a new kind of music the industry
denied and hated.
Television,
historically, became one of the great legendary bands of all time largely
because of their seminal peer influences, their rich original eclectic
passionate music, the clash of Tom Verlaine's guitar and surreal lyrics
with Richard Lloyd's psychedelic guitar.
The
Television double cassette release of 1982 became one of ROIR's best-selling
cassettes of all time. We are proud to bring it back, digitally remastered
and re-edited in 1999, 25 years after Television's first CBGB residency
performance.
"The
Blow-Up is Television's most fiery rock 'n roll, both the extended epics
Marquee Moon and Little Johnny Jewel and the rockers, Fire Engine, profit
from the raw trebley mix." –9's!!! Spin Record Guide
"Live
they were the ultimate garage band with pretension. A post-humous tape-only
compilation of live performances shows the bands rawer side." –Trouser
Press Record Guide
"Television's
debut at CBGB's was on March 31, 1974. It was the beginning of a
six-month period in which post-glam NY rock and roll underground coalesced
into a small but highly active scene. Through this period Television continued
to play every Sunday at CBGB regularly attracting between 20 and 30 people.
" –From The Velvets to the Voidoids, Clinton Hylen
"They
exploded in front of an audience. Richard Lloyd goes nuts here. Documents
one of the most influential bar bands in rock and roll history." –Robert Christgau, from Liner Notes
"John
Piccarella and I annotated this eighty-five minute tape because guitar
heroes like Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd deserve a heroic live album." – Robert Christgau's Record Guide The 80's
"A
bar band extraordinaire, without precedent, phenomenal excitement. Some
of the most gorgeous guitar expertise ever heard in the old New Wave." –NME, December 12, 1982
"Two
albums worth of live material exhibiting the band's energy so urgent in
live sets." –Goldmine, November 4, 1982
"On
this remarkable live artifact from 1978, Television recaptures all the
fire and daring they lost in the studio. Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd
brandish their guitars like crazed swordsmen, making each song a brand
new discovery." –Trouser Press, Jon Young, March 1983
"You
can practically taste the New York scene." –John Milward,
Backbeat
"Rock
Heaven in an extra length 85 minute cassette. The jams are awesome. Listen
to the live audience cry out for joy." –Rounders Round Up
"Tension
informs and ignites all 85 minutes of this astonishing cassette - an illicit
intrusion into a very private experience between Television and a cultish
club audience. This stuff still burns with a mighty glow." –David
Fricke, Melody Maker, January 1, 1983 UK
"The
Blow-Up offers the average rock fan the best evidence yet to support the
claim that Tom Verlaine has the stuff of which guitar heroes are made." –Musician 1983
"A
stunning reminder of just how amazing the band was in its prime, at the
height of their improvisatory powers. The real strength of this set lies
in their uncanny telepathy between Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd, the
sheer inspiration of their playing comes through. This is an excellent
representation of Television at their best, stretching and shattering
musical boundaries left and right." –Sweet Potato February
1983
"For
the most part The Blow-Up is way out there. 'Guitars' shouts the liner
notes - and they're not kidding." –UK Select February 1983
