Rarely Heard: Television Personalities - Happy All the Time

Television Personalities are a British band centered around Dan Treacy, founded in 1978 and still existent till today. Treacy's quirky, neopsychedelic, off-kilter and often humorous songs always have an otherworldy makeshift character to them, but their beauty is unmistakable and quite a few, like Happy All the Time, are pure pop gems. Television Personalties were never to have any major commercial success in the UK – although their albums sold respectably in Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands and, of course, they have a cult following. In 1998 Treacy seemed to have disappeared completely, and rumours were that he had died. However, in 2004 he reappeared and it became known that he had been incarcerated for shoplifting to feed his drug habit. He spent his time aboard the HM Prison ship Weare in Portland Harbour, Dorset, England - with no contact to the world oustside. And despite news in 2001 that he was seriously ill he still seems to be around, although no new albums have been released since.