Cover (Expanded)

Album review

Cover is easily Tom Verlaine's best platter since his first solo release. This album sports unusual, yet wonderfully effective and imaginative arrangements which are sparer, leaner, and more intricate than those on his earlier releases. Production values are top-shelf great. "Travelling" is a funk-flavored selection with dry screeching guitar sounds and some later slippery modulations. "Miss Emily" is a rollicking, jumpy number which (despite its quirky vocal and production touches) in places anticipates later-period songs by the Replacements. The other rocking number here is "Lindi-Lu," an uptempo, yet somehow lighter and less crunching selection. "Swim" begins with a spoken voiceover and then morphs into an eccentric, yet somehow expressive neo-1950s song. "Let Go to the Mountain" [sic] is equally quirky, an alternately ethereal/spooky and bouncy/sparkling song. Brian Eno-era Talking Heads is evoked on the kaleidoscopically nervous "Dissolve/Reveal." Most unusual of all is "O Foolish Heart," a synthesizer-dominated (yes, that's right) selection with a noticeable Lou Reed feel. This unusual, yet excellent album is well worth hearing.

© David Cleary /TiVo