Words from the Front

Words from the Front
Studio album by Tom Verlaine
Released	June 1982 (1982-06)
Recorded	1982 (1982)
Studio	Blue Rock, New York City
Genre	Post-punk
Length	36:42
Label	Virgin
Producer	Tom Verlaine
Tom Verlaine chronology
Dreamtime (1981) Words from the Front (1982) Cover (1984)

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.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
American Songwriter	[3]
The Austin Chronicle	[4]
Christgau's Record Guide	B+ [5]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[6]
OndaRock	6/10 [7]
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

All songs written by Tom Verlaine

Side one

1. "Present Arrived" – 5:17
2. "Postcard from Waterloo" – 3:32
3. "True Story" – 5:25
4. "Clear It Away" – 4:11

Side two

1. "Words from the Front" – 6:42
2. "Coming Apart" – 2:59
3. "Days on the Mountain" – 8:55

Personnel

• 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

1. Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. 1995. p. 398.
2. Words from the Front at AllMusic
3. "TOM VERLAINE > Dreamtime & Words from the Front". American Songwriter . October 27, 2008.
4. "Dreamtime, and Words From the Front (Collectors' Choice Music)". The Austin Chronicle .
5. Christgau, Robert (1990). "Tom Verlaine: Dreamtime". Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s. Pantheon Books. ISBN   0-679-73015-X . Retrieved November 15, 2016.
6. Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN   978-0-85712-595-8.
7. "Television". OndaRock (in Italian).
8. "Tom Verlaine: Dreamtime / Words from the Front". Popmatters . September 22, 2008.
9. Rollingstone Rolling Stone review
10. 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.
11. Lacey, Liam (June 26, 1982). "Words from the Front Tom Verlaine". The Globe and Mail. p. F6.
12. Piccarella, John (July 6, 1982). "Season in Hell: Tom Verlaine dreams on". The Boston Phoenix. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
13. "Albums and Tracks of the Year". NME . 2016. Retrieved November 6, 2016.