Audiopile Review: Here they come, la-la-la-la-la, the square-peg punks. But who are the square peg punks? Think of Alternative TV, whose early career trajectory mirrored that of The Fall before a lurch into extreme post-industrial weirdness. Or Subway Sect, a mod-revival group simply too quixotic and bloody-minded to ever become The Jam. These groups often get shunted under the convenient umbrella of post-punk. But really, they’re part of a pre-punk underground continuum that embraced everything from pub-rockers Dr. Feelgood to godlike prog genius Peter Hammill. Perhaps the most explicitly pre-punk obsessed square-peg punks were Dan Treacy’s Television Personalities. When Treacy named his band’s third album ‘They Could Have Been Bigger Than the Beatles’, he was not aiming for sneering punk iconoclasm. He sincerely wanted to be The Beatles. The album is a heartbreakingly lovely collection of lo-fi psychedelic pop songs (and covers!), with lyrics referencing everything from pop art to John Peel’s hippie-era pirate radio show. Along with Subway Sect, the TVPs pretty much invented indie pop. But there’s not much on this album that could be described as straightforwardly ‘twee’. It’s too passionate and chaotic for that. The real legacy of this phenomenal album (and its possibly even better follow-up, ‘The Painted Word), was on the neo-psychedelic scene that centred around Creation Records. In this regard, Treacy and his mates were too ahead of their time to ever get the success they deserved. Honestly? They SHOULD have been bigger than The Beatles. But when you’re the kind of band that would randomly put a 1978 single (‘14th Floor’) on an album four years later, you’re never going to fit in.

Originally released in 1982, ‘They Could Have Been Bigger Than The Beatles’ was the influential band’s third album. A collection of singles, demos, outtakes and rarities that was intended to mark the band’s breakup in 1982, had they not got back together again so soon. This 2024 reissue comes with faithfully restored artwork, from one the album’s original hand painted sleeves.

The record features ‘David Hockney’s Diaries’, ‘The Boy In The Paisley Shirt’ and ‘Psychedelic Holiday’. With the formidable Daniel Treacy at its core, Television Personalities remain one of new wave’s longest serving and seminal artists, with a career spanning over three decades. The indie pop visionaries have influenced many people across the industry including Pavement, The Lemonheads, Fat White Family, MGMT and Creation Records’ Alan McGee.

“Its scope is incredible, its ambition outstanding and its heart damn near broken.” Melody Maker