TELEVISION PERSONALITIES - PAINTED WORD (LP)

Television Personalities Painted Word on LP

Originally released by Illuminated Records, the Television Personalities’ 1984 album The Painted Word is a near-perfect collection of jangly, riffing guitars, organ chords, freaky tambourines and Velvet Underground-like drumming. Every song on this dark, hauntingly beautiful masterpiece is a gem in the rough. It’s easy to hear similarities to Swell Maps, The Only Ones and The Modern Lovers in the group’s unique style that draws from both DIY punk and post-punk psychedelia.

Is Dan Treacy one of England’s last great songwriters? With even more Britishness than Ray Davies, this wounded romantic’s lyrics are both detached and resonant. Painted Word is a stark, heartfelt album made by a vulnerable and damaged genius and backed by an amateurish band offering loads of brilliantly adapted pop-art weirdness.

“The Painted Word, alongside Big Star’s Sister Lovers and any one of Nick Drake’s LPs, is one of the best emotionally introspective records I’ve ever heard. Dan Treacy’s songs tear me apart. This is their finest moment. Both the humour and tragedy of the songs are beautiful.” — Alan McGee

Television Personalities Painted Word Track Listing:

1.  Stop And Smell The Roses
2.  The Painted Word
3.  A Life Of Her Own
4.  Bright Sunny Smiles
5.  Mentioned In Dispatches
6.  A Sense Of Belonging
7.  Say You Wont Cry
8.  Someone To Share My Life With
9.  You'll Have To Scream Louder
10. Happy All The Time
11. The Girl Who Had Everything
12. Paradise Estate
13. Back To Vietnam