#fred smith

𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍 First Ave., NYC | 1977

📸 Lynn Goldsmith

RIP Fred Smith

Tom Verlaine - Theatre Le Palace, Paris, France, June 23, 1982

So long to Television bassist / Hudson Valley winemaker Fred Smith, one of my favorite bassists ever since I first dropped the needle on Marquee Moon way back when. Though the focus was usually on Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd, Smith provided the perfect bedrock for that twin-guitar glory. Steady, fluid, playful, inventive — and never particularly flashy. Listening to his work with both Television and Verlaine solo these past couple days, pretty much every moment I thought: "That's exactly right."

Verlaine, never one to dole out undue compliments, said of Fred: “All I know is when we got Fred it clicked immediately. At the first rehearsal me and Lloyd [were] looking at each other and thinking ‘God, this is a real relief.’ It was like having a lightning rod you could spark around. Something was there that wasn’t there before.”

Verlaine sparked around that lightning rod for pretty much the rest of his life. There are dozens upon dozens of Television/Verlaine live recordings to check out in the Doom & Gloom archives, but here's something I haven't shared before: a nice 1982 FM broadcast of Tom, Smith, Jay Dee Daugherty and Jimmy Ripp in Paris. Not the full show, but what we've got is good enough, with killer versions of "Coming Apart," "True Story," "Breaking In My Heart" and more. Check out Smith's immoveable line on the doomy post-punk dub splatter of "Clear It Away" for a good example of his considerable skills.

The whole thing wraps up with (what else?) a lengthy "Marquee Moon." This one is unique for Daugherty's electro drum pads, which come to the fore hilariously at some points. Hey, it was 1982, drums had to sound that way. It was the LAW, kids! (I also like that the French DJ starts to come in early towards the end, only to be interrupted by the return of that riff. Rookie move, mon frere!)

Television performing at the Bottom Line club, New York City, 21st March 1977. L-R: Fred Smith, Billy Ficca, Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd