“Adventure” by Television (1978)
Release Date: April 1978
Produced by John Jansen and Tom Verlaine
Chart Positions: #7 (UK)
Certifications: N/A
Singles: “Foxhole” (#36 UK), “Glory” (No chart data), “Ain’t That Nothing” (No chart data)
“Adventure” was the second album release for the New York City formed proto-punk band Television. The album was released in April 1978. It was issued in standard black vinyl in the US, but in red vinyl (matching the cover and inner sleeve) in the UK.
“Adventure” exposes a softer side of the band than their first album “Marquee Moon,” which in the end only enhances the talents and versatilities of this rock guitar driven band. “Adventure” is a brilliant work of the 70s that deserves more recognition than it has received. The guitar work is outstanding with its nuances and intensity well displayed in the performances by Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd. Television blends guitar punk with a garage band rawness that gives the music a certain sort of soul and intimacy that doesn’t exist with the more popular polished bands of the time. Some of the songs are similar to Magazine meets the Rolling Stones.
There isn't a weak song on the album each song flows together creating a work of music that is reflective yet maintaining an uptown type punk rock emotion. "Carried Away", the best ballad on the album, floats away on an organ instead of a guitar; "The Fire" is a melodramatic piece that is defines the band’s introspectiveness.
The merry martial beat and blithe vocal harmonies of "Careful," conjure up memories of folk-rock pop ditties of the 60s such as the Turtles’ “Happy Together.”
Tom Verlaine as always is, a unique and masterful guitarist who doesn't play lines so much as shape them with a sculptor's deliberation. A connoisseur of timbres, he draws on everything from a Middle Eastern jangle to the blues to a crystalline tinkle to achieve — on a song like "The Dream's Dream" — an encyclopedic but unified grandeur.
“Foxhole” the first single from the album was a top 40 hit in the UK reaching #36. The anti-war song opens with the crisp and clear guitar chords of Tom Verlaine and works into his always-recognizable lead vocals.
"Foxhole"
The second and third singles “Glory” and “Ain’t That Nothing” both failed to chart but remain highlight on the album.
Television (1978)
TELEVISION
