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Melody Maker 30th April 1994 SINGLE OF THE WEEK TELEVISION PERSONALITIES Far Away & Lost In Joy (Vinyl Japan) |
| Weird how Creation's Al Mc Gee and Bobby G will always go on about
their Chiltons and their Parsons, while the man who influenced them above any is still (i) creating
music and (ii) producing the odd moment of almost unbearable beauty. Perhaps Dan Treacy isn't cool
enough for them. I understand that, after all, he's real. Television Personalities have been England's great forgotten band for too long. The four songs' concerns here are more of the usual : loss of friends, embarrassment, betrayal, lack of desire for life, fear, observation of a loved one from afar - sung with weary resignation over an endearingly clumsy, slightly numb, sweetly sad and slow backing. Pop music, I guess, but this music is truly magical. I love the way everything Dan does sounds so unfinished, so human. I empathise directly with his voice, his phrasing, the way he stumbles when he should run...and what does music come down to in the end, if it ain't empathy? Everett True |