Television Personalities Honoured with New Vinyl Reissues

BY Alex HudsonPublished Aug 25, 2011

In recent times, Television Personalities have kept things current with new albums and contemporary cover songs. This fall, the long-running English indie pop lifers will take a well-deserved look back with a pair of reissues.

Following recent re-releases of their classic 1980 debut ...And Don't the Kids Just Love It and the following year's Mummy Your Not Watching Me, TVPs are giving some much-deserved vinyl reissue treatment to They Could Have Been Bigger Than the Beatles, a collection of singles, demos, outtakes and rarities that was initially intended to mark the band's breakup in 1982. Of course, they got back together soon after, so this compilation ended up being just another celebrated record in the band's lengthy career. This new reissue will come out on vinyl via the label 1972 on October 25.

Perhaps even more excitingly, that same day the label will also drop The Painted Word (pictured). This long out-of-print 1984 LP was the band's comeback album after their aforementioned breakup, and showcased an awesomely skewed take on post-punk and psych pop. It's also perhaps the band's most touching moment, as Jens Lekman helped re-demonstrate years later with his heart-breaking cover of "Someone to Share My Life With." 

There's no bonus material on the vinyl reissues, but these records will give fans of songwriter Dan Treacy a much-needed chance to pick up some of his most-beloved work on wax. You can pre-order them both here and here.

Also, be sure not to miss the band's upcoming self-released seven-inch.

They Could Have Been Bigger Than the Beatles:

1. "Three Wishes"
2. "David Hockney's Diary"
3. "In a Perfumed Garden"
4. "Flowers for Abigail"
5. "King and Country"
6. "The Boy in the Paisley Shirt"
7. "Games for Boys"
8. "Painter Man"
9. "Psychedelic Holiday"
10. "14th Floor"
11. "Sooty's Disco Party"
12. "Makin' Time"
13. "When Emily Cries"
14. "The Glittering Prizes"
15. "Anxiety Block"
16. "Mysterious Ways"

The Painted Word:

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 Won't 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"
14. [Untitled]

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