One of the grimmer aspects of old age is the seeming regularity with which the musical heroes of one's long ago youth leave this world for their long homes. The recent death of Tom Verlaine came as a particular surprise, I suppose because I still thought of him as being quite young. The fact that he was actually 73 was a bit difficult to grasp since I had the vague impression he was younger than myself.
Good to see some genuinely appreciative and well-informed articles about him, and his band Television. The Graun alone recently featured no fewer than three excellent pieces about him, with one by a guitarist named Chris Forsythe being especially worth reading.
In fact the tributes have made me realise just how limited my exposure to Verlaine's work has been. For some reason I never got beyond Marquee Moon. Odd to think that I failed to follow up on the work of a player I knew was so abundantly gifted and loved listening to - though I've been attending to the gaps in my listening over the last few days. A bit late, I suppose, but got there in the end.
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