“Mummy, Your Not Watching Me” by Television Personalities - album review

features in: Album Chart of 1982 →Album Chart of the Decade: 1980s →

TJR says

Second album from Dan Treacy's group, released in January, 1982. Echoing some of that “Metal Box” bass n drum sparsity of a few years earlier, “A Day In Heaven” is strangely charming, whilst “Scream Quietly” is the sort of thing Syd Barrett might have done if he'd stuck with music into the new wave era. The annoyingly spelled “title-track” brings little to the table, but the over-the-top psychedelia on “Brian’s Magic Car” gets me smiling again - they sound like they’re having fun and it’s infectious. Once you get onto their ramshackle-amateurism-as-technique wavelength, each track's potential becomes apparent, and you're willing them on to deliver. This is exactly what happens for me anyway, and I find myself thoroughly in the slacker-groove-zone for “David Hockney’s Diaries” with a creepiness that shocks like Genesis P-Orridge: “I want to see my paintings hang, In every gallery, I want the world to stop and stare, Whenever it sees me, But most of all I want to be, In David Hockney's diaries”. Linking the art theme, “Painting By Numbers” is probably the catchiest thing here, and comes off like a lo-fi “Pictures of Lily”. The art trilogy's wearing thin by the time “Lichtenstein Painting” rolls in, but “If I Could Write Poetry” finishes the set on a stronger footing; the vocals are out-of-reach, but there are some lovely melodies to go with the brill indie basslines provided by new recruit, Bernie Cooper. An acquired taste and I don't mind having a bit of a nibble.

The Jukebox Rebel
05–Apr–2011

Tracklist
A1 [03:03] 5.1.png Television Personalities - Adventure Playground (Dan Treacy) Indie
A2 [04:42] 6.1.png Television Personalities - A Day In Heaven (Dan Treacy) Lo-Fi
A3 [04:14] 6.8.png Television Personalities - Scream Quietly (Dan Treacy) New Wave
A4 [03:09] 4.8.png Television Personalities - Mummy Your Not Watching Me (Dan Treacy) Indie
A5 [03:56] 6.0.png Television Personalities - Brian’s Magic Car (Dan Treacy) Indie
A6 [03:44] 5.0.png Television Personalities - Where The Rainbow Ends (Dan Treacy) Moodcore
B1 [06:46] 7.3.png Television Personalities - David Hockney’s Diaries (Dan Treacy) Post-Punk
B2 [03:26] 6.9.png Television Personalities - Painting By Numbers (Dan Treacy) Indie
B3 [03:13] 5.4.png Television Personalities - Lichtenstein Painting (Dan Treacy) Indie
B4 [02:58] 6.0.png Television Personalities - Magnificient Dreams (Dan Treacy) Indie
B5 [05:09] 6.8.png Television Personalities - If I Could Write Poetry (Dan Treacy) Indie

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