Tom Verlaine’s record collection to go up for sale
You can now get your hands on one of some 4,000 records from Tom Verlaine‘s vinyl trove.
Verlaine, who passed away in 2023 after a “brief illness”, left behind a huge record collection consisting of “[rare] pressings, deep cuts, jazz, avant-garde, psych, rock, and international records.”
Now, as per Pitchfork, some of his vinyls will be up for sale as soon as June 26th, when a batch will be uploaded online through a partnership between Discogs and the New York store Academy Records.
Following the online sale, in-person sales of Verlaine’s collection will take place at the Academy’s Brooklyn spot on July 10th and 11th. On July 31st, the remainder of the collection will then be uploaded to Discogs.
Verlaine was a hugely influential guitarist and songwriter best known as the founding member and frontman of the New York City rock band Television.
With this in mind, Verlaine’s personal collection includes his personal copies of Television’s Marquee Moon and their debut single, ‘Little Johnny Jewel’.
Other highlights include Nico’s Chelsea Girl, the 13th Floor Elevators’ I Have Always Been Here Before, Albert Ayler’s Bells, and Slint’s Spiderland.
Academy Records’ Cory Feierman deemed the collection “interesting” in a new statement, explaining, “What’s interesting to me about Verlaine’s collection is how much more of an X-Ray it is than a mirror image.”
He added, “How much it maps a constant and active engagement with music rather than being filled with easily comparable or alike things to his own output. Tom seemed to approach his buying in more of a spirit of adventure and discovery than to knock down his own holy grails.”
Earlier this year, Verlaine’s written and recorded archives were acquired by the New York Public Library. This included unreleased music and unpublished poetry.
At the time of his death, the music world came together to mourn the huge loss. One notable tribute came from late producer Steve Albini, who wrote, “Beautifully lyrical guitarist, underrated vocalist. Television made a new kind of music and inspired new kinds of music. Marquee Moon is a perfect record. Requiescat.”
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