I pulled out an old Starflyer 59 CD the other day (The Fashion Focus), and this track, "Sundown," suddenly reminded me very strongly of Tom Verlaine. Initially, it was the drums and little spoken bit at the beginning - there's some particular Verlaine track where he does that, but for some reason I haven't been able to find the exact one I'm thinking of. Anyway, the bass and opening guitar sound are also rather Verlainesque, don't you think?
Even though I'm not sure it was the track I'm thinking of, coincidentally Verlaine's song "One Time at Sundown" ("coincidentally" because of the title's similarity to that of the Starflyer 59 track) comes fairly close, at least in its opening. (This one's from Flash Light.)
Speaking of Verlaine, it's absolutely criminal that his catalog is so neglected. There needs to be a full-scale reissue of everything he's done, with the usual bonus tracks, etc. (And it's frankly weird that Warm and Cool - his weakest album, if you ask me - is the one that's been reissued so far.) Then again, it's sad that Verlaine himself has all but retired from making music - as far as I know, his last recorded track is the relatively hard-to-find cover of Kris Kristofferson's "The Hawk," which came out in 2002 on a tribute compilation called Don't Let the Bastards Get You Down.
Starflyer 59 "Sundown"
Tom Verlaine "One Time at Sundown"
Tom Verlaine "The Hawk (El Gavilan)"
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"Anyway, the bass and opening guitar sound are also rather Verlainesque, don't you think?"
I think you're probably right. But imagine the greatness Tom could achieve if he was a Christian! Then perhaps he wouldn't be so neglected. After all, Mark-freakin'-Farner is a Xian idol!
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