essential record of the day: Television Personalities--And Don't the Kids Just Love It (1980)

Could you imagine what it must have been like to be Dan Treacy in 1978?

Treacy, the progenitor of the Television Personalities at the height of the punk movement in late 70s Britain. among his peers were bands considered to be classic examples of the genre--Wire, the Clash, the Buzzcocks and the Sex Pistols. and Dan loved them. but he didn't understand why the punks had foresaken their history. the punks turned their back on the 60s mod and psychedelic bands that had paved the way for them--the Creation, and early Pink Floyd among others and poor Dan just didn't understand it. those bands were just as good and should be remembered always.

i think that it was the punk rebellion against rock history that lead Dan Treacy to create the Television Personalities. with the early singles, Treacy managed to amalgamate the punk asthetic with the music of days past and create a sort of proto-punk pop sound that no one has every really come close to approximating.

now, on the eve of the first new record from Television Personalities in ten years, we can look back at Treacy's history and see that he had problems approximating it himself. but in 1980, just a few years into the process, Treacy, and by extension Television Personalies, released their best collection of this fusion of punk and 60s pop, And Don't the Kids Just Love It.

some of the songs on And Don't the Kids Just Love It are essential Television Personalities--"I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives," "La Grand Illusion" and "A Picture of Dorian Gray" are essential listening for the TVPs adept. but the thing that makes And Don't the Kids Just Love It stand out from later TVPs releases is that every song is pretty much a TVPs classic. songs like "Geoffrey Ingram," "The World of Pauline Lewis" and "Look Back in Anger" are as good as anything that has ever appeared on a TVPs "Greatest Hits" collection (for what that's worth.)

i would argue that apart from a few releases from Treacy's peers--the Clash's London Burning and Wire's Pink Flag and Chairs Missing--And Don't the Kids Just Love It might be the best record to come out of the late 70s/early 80s British punk scene. but its more than a punk record, and that's why it is so damned good. Grade: A