Television Personalities
They Could Have Been Bigger Than The Beatles
Label ©  Fire Uk
Release Year  1982
Length  57:22
Genre  New Wave
Personal Star Rating [1-5]  
  Ref#  T-0167
Bitrate  224 Kbps
  Other  
  Info  
    Track Listing:
      1.  
      		 Three Wishes  
       5:25  
      2.  
      		 David Hockney's Diary  
       2:49  
      3.  
      		 In A Perfumed Garden  
       3:49  
      4.  
      		 Flowers For Abigail  
       3:37  
      5.  
      		 King And Country  
       6:00  
      6.  
      		 The Boy In The Paisley Shirt  
       3:50  
      7.  
      		 Games For Boys  
       2:39  
      8.  
      		 Painter Man  
       2:47  
      9.  
      		 Psychodelic Holiday  
       3:15  
      10.  
      		 14Th Floor  
       2:19  
      11.  
      		 Sooty's Disco Party  
       2:21  
      12.  
      		 Makin' Time  
       2:51  
      13.  
      		 When Emily Cries  
       4:17  
      14.  
      		 The Glittering Prizes  
       3:13  
      15.  
      		 Anxiety Block  
       3:06  
      16.  
      		 Mysterious Ways  
       5:04  
    Additional info: | top
      Full title - They Could Have Been Bigger Than The Beatles. 2002 reissue of their 1982 release. Some of TVP's greatest moments, 'Three Wishes', 'When Emily Cries', The Creation's 'Painter Man' & 'Makin' Time', The Byrd's '8 Miles High' reworked & more.

      Review by Stewart Mason

      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" and "Making Time." The original Whaam! release of this album came in hand-painted black-on-tan sleeves with no liner notes or other information. The Dreamworld and Fire reissues have different sleeves, and the American Velvel release has full track annotations and liner notes (by Creation records head Alan McGee and Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake), along with the sleeve of the Fire reissue.
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