my power pop addiction, no. 69 (141)

Richard Lloyd is my guitar messiah. I grew up listening to Television, played the grooves off of Marquee Moon and Adventure, as well as the various bootlegged recordings I had of the early Richard Hell period, and though I always admired the intense fury of Tom Verlaine’s guitar playing, I identified much more with Lloyd. Verlaine is an incredibly accomplished player, but there's a flat, emotionally austere quality to his musical persona that leaves me cold. For me, it’s Lloyd’s vulnerability that makes Television such an unforgettable band. Without Lloyd's soulfulness as a complement, Verlaine would be just another ho hum cynically detached genius. How dreary and dull. Give me something I can believe in. ...It's quite revealing to look at what Verlaine and Lloyd have each done as solo artists. Verlaine's solo material is unremarkable. With Lloyd out of the picture, the music becomes brittle and a bit lifeless. But Lloyd's solo material pulses with love and loss and pain and sorrow and struggle and joy. Misty Eyes is one of my favorites. The lyrics are impressionistic, but I recognize myself in them right away, the regression to childhood, the yearning for a return to the ecstasy of sexual discovery, and the enduring power of formative romantic experiences. And he does it all in a way that feels off handed and casual, suggesting that this is just the way his mind naturally works, yet it’s also deeply thoughtful, daring to actually feel something, to be emotionally engaged after coming through the crucible of punk’s alienated worldview - so bored, so tired, so fed up with any lingering remnants of 60s idealism. Lloyd's approach takes courage, a willingness to stand for sentiment and meaning without the grating nihilism that afflicted so many of his peers. And it's impossible to miss just how much the guy adores the guitar. There’s obvious technical virtuosity at work, but no amount of expertise can give a guitar player the ability to make the thing cry, sing, laugh, scream, hum, vibrate, dance, and grunt the way Lloyd does. These things are primordial and transcend technique. Lloyd has such amazing feel, the way he hammers on and off notes, knowing exactly when to quiet down and when to add emphasis. ...For some reason, talking about all this now reminds me of a personality test I took a few months back, which revealed me to be INFJ (Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging). An INFJ is also known as a Protector and a Mystic Writer. Apparently, only 1 percent of the general population can claim to be Mystic Writers. Dunno whether this means I’m fabulously special or a fucking freak, but what I take away from my test result when I cut beneath all the Jungian jargon is that I’m a guy who loves redheads, Raymond Chandler, kissing, perfume, the mountains, the ocean, contemplating the cosmos, and the Beatles and Byrds. But then, I knew all this about myself already, so what's the point of taking a test? ...I’ve never met Richard Lloyd, except over Facebook, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s an INFJ as well. When I hear him play his guitar, it’s like listening to someone who thinks and feels and dreams all the same things I do…