Words from the Front is Tom Verlaine's third solo album, released in 1982.[1] It was issued on compact disc in 2008 by Collectors' Choice Music. Music videos were made for "Words from the Front" and "Clear It Away", directed by Ed Steinberg.
| Words from the Front | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 1982 | |||
| Recorded | 1982 | |||
| Studio | Blue Rock Studio, New York City | |||
| Genre | Post-punk | |||
| Length | 36:42 | |||
| Label | Virgin | |||
| Producer | Tom Verlaine | |||
| Tom Verlaine chronology | ||||
| ||||
Critical reception
edit| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| American Songwriter | [3] |
| The Austin Chronicle |  [4] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B+[7] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [5] |
| OndaRock | 6/10[6] |
| Popmatters |   [8] |
| Rolling Stone | [9] |
| (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide | [10] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 5/10[1] |
The Globe and Mail wrote that Verlaine's "shadowy, intense vignettes do cast a kind of spell, but there are few new developments here in the territory he has already mastered."[11] The Boston Phoenix said that Words from the Front "is probably Verlaine’s weakest album, but it holds up."[12]
Words from the Front was ranked among the top fifty "Albums of the Year" for 1982 by NME.[13]
Track listing
editAll songs written by Tom Verlaine
Side one
edit- "Present Arrived" – 5:17
- "Postcard from Waterloo" – 3:32
- "True Story" – 5:25
- "Clear It Away" – 4:11
Side two
edit- "Words from the Front" – 6:42
- "Coming Apart" – 2:59
- "Days on the Mountain" – 8:55
Personnel
edit- Tom Verlaine – guitars, vocals
- Thommy Price – drums
- Jimmy Ripp – guitars
- Joe Vasta - bass
- Additional personnel
- Fred Smith – bass on "Clear It Away"
- Jay Dee Daugherty – drums on "Clear It Away"
- Allan Schwartzberg – drums on "Days on the Mountain"
- Lene Lovich – saxophone on "Days on the Mountain", vocals on "Postcard from Waterloo"
- Technical
- Dave Jerden - mixing
- Michael Ewasko - engineer
- Rich Mahon - illustration
- Howard Rosenberg - photography
References
edit- ^ a b Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. 1995. p. 398.
- ^ Words from the Front at AllMusic
- ^ "TOM VERLAINE > Dreamtime & Words from the Front". American Songwriter. 27 October 2008.
- ^ "Dreamtime, and Words From the Front (Collectors' Choice Music)". The Austin Chronicle.
- ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
- ^ "Television". OndaRock (in Italian).
- ^ Christgau, Robert (1990). "Tom Verlaine: Dreamtime". Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-679-73015-X. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
- ^ "Tom Verlaine: Dreamtime / Words from the Front". Popmatters. 22 September 2008.
- ^ Rollingstone Rolling Stone review
- ^ Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Tom Verlaine". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 848–49. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- ^ Lacey, Liam (26 June 1982). "Words from the Front Tom Verlaine". The Globe and Mail. p. F6.
- ^ Piccarella, John (6 July 1982). "Season in Hell: Tom Verlaine dreams on". The Boston Phoenix. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
- ^ "Albums and Tracks of the Year". NME. 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2016.