Television Personalities

Over the years, The Painted Word, originally released in 1984, has drawn comparisons to Big Star's Third/Sisters Lovers: both are harrowing trips through the black of night. Over the course of 13 tracks, T.V.P.'s main man, Dan Treacy, drags his neo-'60s pop through dissolution, cynicism and straight up depression. Treacy sounds totally exhausted, his voice barely riding a background of fuzz and distortion that shadows him like death. "Now we've all grown up and life's not much fun," he croaks. Indeed.