Television Personalities
split up in 1982, after five years as D.I.Y. pioneers. It turned out to be a temporary development (although
Ed Ball
,
Dan Treacy
's artistic foil, never did return, busying himself by turning his side project,
the Times
, into a full-time -- sorry -- proposition), but the split was marked by the mysterious compilation
They Could Have Been Bigger Than the Beatles
. An unannotated collection of re-recorded versions of tracks from their first two albums, early singles, and unreleased outtakes, this should by all rights be a complete mess. Funnily enough, it works a treat, being more consistently entertaining than 1982's
Mummy Your [sic] Not Watching Me
, though not as conceptually perfect as 1981's excellent
And Don't the Kids Just Love It
. Highlights include a much-improved new version of
"David Hockney's Diaries"
and the gentle freakbeat of
"The Boy in the Paisley Shirt"
and
"Psychedelic Holiday."
Treacy
also pays tribute to the then-forgotten
Creation
, with enthusiastically sloppy versions of
"Painter Man"
"Making Time."
The original
Whaam!
release of this album came in hand-painted black-on-tan sleeves with no liner notes or other information. ~ Stewart Mason