Live NYC 96-06

No guitarist sounds like the late, great Tom Verlaine. His career-long pursuit of the perfect, effect-free guitar tone set him apart from his peers right off the bat; combine that with his vaunted vibrato technique, self-taught, free jazz-influenced sensibility, and the slow burn and build architecture of his solos, and there really is no mistaking his fretwork for anybody else’s. Verlaine’s singular instrumental and songwriting prowess certainly came through on his studio recordings, both with Television and solo. But it was in live settings that his improvisational genius really shined. Fortunately for us, it turns out, as one might expect from an artist whose interests ranged widely from literature and modern art to music, that Tom was something of a collector. Therefore, we at Real Gone Music are truly thrilled to present the first of what we hope will be a series of releases from his extensive archives: a double-LP collection of COMPLETELY UNRELEASED live performances drawn from four different New York shows spanning the years of 1996 to 2006. Along the way you’ll hear songs taken from his solo albums ranging from his first self-titled release to The Wonder, Flash Light, Words from the Front, Around, and Songs and Other Things, plus three songs new to his discography. Compiled and mastered by Verlaine’s long-time engineer and band-mate Patrick Derivaz, with artwork contributions by his partner, the artist Jutta Koether, and liner notes by David Fricke, Live NYC 96-06 is a key contribution to the Tom Verlaine catalog and an absolute must for his fans and guitar heads alike. Limited to 3000 copies on blue vinyl!