Before and After: How I Learned To Love the Bomb

Before - Television Personalities (MP3 or CD):


After - Saint Etienne (Continental bonus disc)

In Brief - Items of Interest

Dangerous Minds reminds us of the great BBC doc about Rough Trade Records, "Do It Yourself: The Story of Rough Trade Records." Some of you may remember me posting about this last year.

Dangerous Minds also points the way to "Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen" - a Canadian film from 1965.



Alan McGee discusses the new album from Dan Treacy and the Television Personalities, and his legacy in light of MGMT's "Tribute To Dan Treacy" on their new album.

Take a poll at the Guardian - Should Iggy start keeping his shirt on?

EV Grieve reports on whats become of the Avenue A storefront that used to house Etherea Records...and it's good news.


The Aquariam Drunkard reminds us about a longtime fave compilation series, Lux & Ivy's Favorites. And while you're over at the WFMU blog, don't forget "Seven Minutes In Deadwood."

Caught By the River remembers Roger Eagle, gone 11 years this week.



The blog over at Rocks Back Pages comes up with a list of 25 songs mentioning the Ramones.

PiL will be filming an upcoming Brooklyn show as part of a new documentary on the band.

And finally, Pampelmoose digs up a couple of very nice videos:

The Who perform "5:15" on ToTP 1973:


Fleet Foxes:

McGee on Treacy - Television Personalities

Ex-Creation Records boss, Alan McGee, had a great piece today in the Guardian about the inspiration he derived from Daniel Treacy & the Television Personalities which helped him start Creation Records. A long time fan of the band, I have to say I can't argue with him on any point. Like most of my favorite artists, Treacy and company not only made incredible records on their own terms, but additionally, if you listened & looked at the record sleeves closely, provided an insight into many cultural touchstones from the worlds of music, art, theater & film. In a pre-internet world they were a goldmine. Here is "The Painted Word" by the TVP's followed by McGee's article in full:



The shambolic genius behind Television Personalities made me realise that I could run a label. Yet this great songwriter still hasn't been fully recognised for his contribution to music.

While filming the forthcoming Creation documentary (produced by Steve Lamacq and Danny O'Connor), I found myself remembering Dan Treacy. I realised that the Creation story really starts with Treacy and his band Television Personalities, because they provided the inspiration and motivation for me to start the label.

Now my TVP fixation is catching up with me again. A few months ago I received an email from Bjorn Copeland of Black Dice about my fanzine from back in the day called Communication Blur. Apparently, it is being distributed by Television Personalities fans in New York.

I'm not a nostalgic person, but the first TVP gig I saw in 1982 changed my life. Back then, the first two TVP albums And Don't the Kids Just Love It and Mummy You're Not Watching Me established Treacy as the UK's version of Jonathan Richman, as reimagined by Ray Davies.

TVP's live sets were incredible; shambling, full of whimsy, camp and fey, but under the influence of the amphetamine-crazed mod rush of the 60s. Treacy's appearances were legendary and he became a kind of pied piper for London music fans. He captured British pop culture in a particularly unique and musical fashion, and where he went I followed.

It wasn't just TVPs that fascinated me. Treacy's own record company Whaam! made me realise that someone like myself could own and operate a label. His merging of the classic psychedelic template with the DIY ethics of punk rock informed the early acts of Creation Records (including the Jesus and Mary Chain). In fact, Creation employed and released albums by two of the original TVPs: Joe Foster and Edward Ball, whose recorded efforts comprised the label's early discography.

By the time others caught on to the TVP sound, Treacy had already moved forward with the stunning album The Painted Word (1985). Treacy's world was no longer painted in twee Day-Glo colours with camp references – he was now mainlining his own reality. The Painted Word was not without controversy. The first single A Sense of Belonging featured the face of a battered child. Rough Trade refused to have anything to do with the album but it found a release via Illuminated Records. The title refers to a Tom Wolfe novel, and to the author's search for a sense of reality in art. Treacy was seeking truth in music and with this album he succeeded.

Meeting up again with Treacy during the Creation documentary, I realised that the man just bleeds real. Never was this expressed so fully as on The Painted Word. At the time people weren't prepared for this album. It didn't possess the shambling charm and whimsy of earlier efforts, but instead was a stark, unforgiving look at the despair of a man lost in his own world. Although John Peel was disappointed that the TVPs had "grown up" and some magazines slammed it, TVP fans still speak of the album in hushed reverence.

Treacy's writing expressed an emotional brutalism filtered by the drugged optimism of the Velvet Underground. Since the release of the Painted Word, Treacy has continued to write dark classics, right up to 2007s Are We Nearly There Yet?, but somehow he is still regarded as a fringe player in rock'n'roll. I find this unbelievable when you consider that in 1991 Kurt Cobain personally tracked down Treacy to ask him to open for Nirvana.

The man still hasn't been fully recognised for his contribution to music. Some contemporary musicians like Battles, Black Dice, Crystal Stilts and MGMT have been showing love and support, but do I think Treacy has been given his cultural due? No. In the days of Don't Look Back and reissue culture, more should be made of one of Britain's last great songwriters. He is a legend; let's make him legendary in his own time.

Dan Treacy before:


And after:

And just in case...

...You need some help with what the headline of the previous post references, here's "Part Time Punks" by the Television Personalities (main man, Daniel Treacy, pictured above):

Listen (click thru if reading in a blog reader):



Walkin' down the kings road,
I see so many faces
They come from many places
They come down for the day
They walk around together
And try and look trendy
I think it's a shame
That they all look the same

(Chorus):

Here they come
la la la la la la
la la la la la la
The part time punks!

Here they come
la la la la la la
la la la la la la
The part time punks!

Then they go to Rough Trade
To buy Siouxsie and the Banshees
They heard John Peel play it
Just the other night
They'd like to buy the O Level single
or Read about Seymour
But they're not pressed in red
So they buy The Lurkers instead

Here they come
la la la la la la
la la la la la la
The part time punks!

Here they come
la la la la la la
la la la la la la
The part time punks!

They play their records very loud
And pogo in the bedroom
In front of the mirror
But only when their mums gone out
They pay 5 pence fares on the buses
And they never use toothpaste
But they got two fifty to go and see The Clash.
Tonight!

Here they come
la la la la la la
la la la la la la
The part time punks!

Here they come
la la la la la la
la la la la la la
The part time punks!

The part time punks!
The part time punks!
The part time punks!

Television Personalities documentary

As if Caledonia Dreaming isn't enough to watch for now, here's a short-ish doc on the wonderful Television Personalities. If ever there was a band that the term "indie" could be traced back to, it would be these guys. Long live Dan Treacy...Ed Ball too!

Part One:


Part Two:


Part Three:


Part Four:


TVP's on Wikipedia
TVP's unoffical fansite (excellent)
TVP's on MySpace