Marquee Moon

Elektra let Verlaine produce provided a known engineer assisted, and he chose Andy Johns, known for the Rolling Stones' Goats Head Soup. The band rehearsed four to six hours a day and rejected most existing material. They recorded mostly live in the studio, with guitars panned left and right and no effects or compression, and Lloyd doubled some of Verlaine's guitar parts; The Ringer says Johns had to reset a drum set-up better suited to hard rock. They chose an altered color photocopy Lloyd made in a Times Square print shop over Robert Mapplethorpe's photograph for the cover. All songs are Verlaine's except "Guiding Light", written with Lloyd.

Singles were "Marquee Moon" (April 1, 1977) and "Prove It" (July 22, 1977). A 2003 Rhino reissue added "Little Johnny Jewel" and alternate takes. Christgau wrote that it wasn't punk and its intensity wasn't manic, and it was third in the 1977 Pazz and Jop poll; Ken Tucker of Rolling Stone and Noel Coppage of Stereo Review had reservations. Rolling Stone ranked it 128th in 2003, 130th in 2012 and 107th in 2020, and NME placed it fourth overall in 2003. Paste named it the best post-punk album in 2016.