Television Personalities - My Dark Places

  by Jon Rogers

published: 23 / 1 / 2006

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Review

The personal history of the Television Personalities' main man Dan Treacy is certainly a troubled one,involveing nervous breakdowns, drug addiction and prison sentences. The turmoil of Treacy's life has been documented throughout his musical career since the band was formed in 1977 and the release of their first single '14th Floor'.He has sung about his heartache and pain both on early songs such as 'This Angry Silence' and 'The Crying Room' from the band's first album '... And Don't the Kids Just Love It', and also later songs like 'Hard Luck Story Number 39' and 'Closer to God' from 'This Painted Word'. The Television Personalities - surely the cult band to top all cult bands - are, however, more than just a vehicle to express Treacy's troubled life and concerns. There's social criticism on 'Part Time Punks' and 'Parties in Chelsea', a strong influence of 60's Pop art and a whimsical element, perhaps best shown in 'I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives' and 'Sooty's Disco Party'. Since 'The Painted Word' in 1983 that whimsical element has largely been eskewed for much darker colours as the pain in Treacy's life started to dominate. 'My Dark Places', as the title suggests, isn't a bundle of laughs either as Treacy exploses his latest set of emotional scars but it does have some colour to contrast with the black. The closing 'There's No Beautiful Way to Say Goodbye' isn't full of breezy pop happiness but the outlook isn't as bleak and hopeless as, say, 'Someone to Share My Life With', while 'They'll Have to Catch Us First' is positively upbeat with Treacy joking at the end: "Put that on the b-side..." There are times when Treacy's dark world view pokes through. The single 'All the Young Children on Crack' doesn't have much faith in the coming generation and 'Sick Again' conjures up some personal demons. 'My Dark Places', the Television Personalities' first album in 11 years, will hopefully see Treacy being back to being fighting fit after a somewhat extended "lost weekend" period. At times he was overtaken by drugs in the 1990's and he just dropped out. Rumours abounded that he was actually dead. Luckily he wasn't. He was serving time though on a prison ship and down on his luck. 'My Dark Places' sees Treacy back on top songwriting form and is perhaps their best record since 'The Painted Word'.

Track Listing:-

1 Special Chair
2 All The Young Children On Crack
3 Sick Again
4 Ex-Girlfriend Club
5 Dream The Sweetest Dreams
6 Velvet Underground
7 My Dark Places
8 I'm Not Your Typical Boy
9 You Kept Me Waiting Too Long
10 They'll Have To Catch Us First
11 She Can Stop Traffic
12 Tell Me About It
13 Knock It All Down
14 I Hope You're Happy Now
15 No More I Hate Yous
16 There's No Beautiful Way To Say Goodbye

Band Links:-

http://www.televisionpersonalities.co.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Televisi

Label Links:-

http://www.dominorecordco.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DominoRecordC
https://twitter.com/DominoRecordCo
https://www.youtube.com/user/DominoRec
https://plus.google.com/+DominoRecords