It's fairly obvious to anyone with a keen interest in music that there are numerous bands and artists who go virtually unrecognised, who've somehow managed to fall through the cracks or who just end up discarded by the wayside. One such band are the Television Personalties, a John Peel favourite and every true indiekid's dream.
The TV Personalities have been together and recording since the late seventies and it's been a
productive 30-odd years with a vast collection of studio albums and numerous live albums. Not to mention ridiculous amounts of rarities, singles and many other recordings of similar ilk. The band have put two singles out this year, in fact - one on Elefant Records and the other on Good Village Recordings.
And they said the Sex Pistols had a lot of label changes.
With line-up changes that can only be compared to The Fall (yet not quite on par with) and an ever-changing sound it can often be hard to keep up with the band, yet the task is far from daunting; the TV Personalities have many different sounds, all of which are handled with expert care, ranging from albums bathed in post-punk to songs dangerously verging on being twee, with bits of psychedelia, C86 & Mod mixed in, if the latter two can be considered genres.
The only constant member is Dan Treacy - a bizarre, yet brilliant creation; part Syd Barrett, part Lou Reed and part Billy Casper - the young lad in Barry Hines' Kestrel For A Knave. Except in Treacy's case, it's music, rather than a kestrel that brings solace. Unlike a pet hawk, music can be shared with the world, reaching cracks and crevices within people, being the catalyst needed to start a revolution, or at least a small festival in France. Treacy, like most good musicians, knows this and he knows how to act upon it, using lyrics to address what he feels needs to be addressed. Be it to fight his own demons or to tell people a story.
Had the TV Personalities been signed to Factory Records, Tony Wilson would’ve compared Dan Treacy (as opposed to Shaun Ryder) to W.B. Yeats. And rightly so.
If I said that the Television Personalities were the UK's finest cult band, I don't think I've over-stepped the line, anyway - if that
was the case, I'd erase that line & re-draw it in a place more convenient for me.
Kurt Cobain once asked the Television Personalities to be his band's support group, Cobain was a massive TVPs fan, it's just a shame that his audience weren't inclined to feel the same way. Still, it was the time of grunge & closed-mindedness was upon America & the UK.
For something more modern, Peter Doherty is also a fan of the TV Personalties - getting them to support one of his solo acoustic gigs, fortunately the audience were more appreciative this time around. Peter occasionally meets up with the TVPs in Camden and various other haunts, in fact.
Actually, there are many artists who are TV Personalities fans, or at least were at one stage or another; Morrissey, Mick Jones (The Clash), Stuart Murdoch (Belle & Sebastian) and the entire lineup of MGMT to mention a few.
So if you've taken the time to read this, you can take the time to listen to the shambolically beautiful world of Dan Treacy & his Television Personalities. You won't be disappointed, but you will be left wanting more.
MySpaceLastFMAmazonPlay.com
