New Book on Life & Times of TV Smith Out Now! Get... "YOUR TICKET OUT OF HERE"

[Uli]

Even TV thinks this book is useful. He told me in Munich that he played a gig in Mannheim the day before (Sat. 5th), his first in this town since the days of the Explorers! (He told me he'd looked it up in the electronic version of the book.) 

[Tj]

That's great Meike, TV finding out about his own life story from reading someone's elses book.

 I bet Dave Thompson would beat TV Smith on Mastermind even if the subject was TV Smith's music career in the 70's and 80's.

[Tj]

The pages with the most songs in in Dave's book are pages 99/100. These are teh 80's demo's recorded in the period where the TV Times fanzine folded and Dave Thompson was shipped to America limb by limb.

As part of my journey through the muical career of TV Smith and my labour of love to place his songs in an even more acurate order than in this great ARCHIVE compiled by Klaus...

http://www.tvsmith.com/archives/songs.php

I'm going to attempt to offer some amendmants to Dave's list of demo's recorded in the 1984 - 86 period (in between Production House and Cheap).

Blind Love is first mentioned in Your Ticket Out Of Here on page 94 when it was played live by TV Smith's Party Line

Get It Off My Mind and Today were discovered on a cassette tape under a bed by TV Smith just a few years ago (as mentioned on page 156 when Dave shares the story of EARTHBOUND 4 'The Channel 5 Show' live in Essen on 30th October. ...The favourite gig of C5's live) 

Losing You is actually She's Losing You (see page 89)

New Fake and The Real Fate are probably one demos called The Real Fake

Shipwrecked On The Rocks Of Love was actually demo's by a female singer although TV Smith was to later sing it life at EARTHBOUND UK 2008 in Wallington

The Right Time could be called Right Time (what's a 'The' between friends?)

Leisure Time is listed on the 'Lost In The 80's' notes given to Klaus by Tim Cross in June 2002 and should therefore be added to this list

Treadmill is currently a total mystery...

...Time to ask a man who knows.

Here's some further information about the 57 songs that make up the legend of the 80's demo's...

http://www.tvsmith.com/forum/index.php?topic=5904.0

[Tj]

So here it is for you Dave my full researched list of the 57 80's Demo's in aproximate order...

Carrying On (1981/2 by TV Smith – Explorers wake)

1. Parade
2. Be Brave
3. Wheels Out Of Gear
4. Impulse Buy
5. Open Up Your Heart
6. The Impossible Person
7. Beautiful Bomb
8. Break Up The Party
9. New Ways Are Best
10. People Don't Know
11. Carrying On

Bonus single

12. Move On
13. In My World of Worlds

New Discoverers (1983/4 by TV Smith's Party Line)

14. Downbeat
15. I Already Have Your Heart
16. Little Knocks
17. New Discoverers
18. Newshound
19. One Of Our Missiles Is Missing
20. She's Losing You
21. The New You
22. Trans-Time
23. Trojan Horse
24. Wedding Dress
25. Lucky Us
26. Finger of Fashion

Drowning On Dry Land (1984 by Production House)

27. Poison Mind
28. Beauty Treatment
29. Lion and The Lamb
30. Safe House
31. Leisure Time
32. Spy on the Line
33. Sure Thing
34. Drowning on Dry Land
35. Top Ten
36. Land of Plenty
37. Blind Love
38. Make Your Escape

Putting Up A Front (1985/6 by TV Smith)

39. Divide and Rule
40. Feet On The Ground
41. King Of Hearts
42. Lean Towards The Light
43. Love Chain Letter
44. Putting Up A Front
45. Shipwrecked On The Rocks Of Love
46. The Real Fake
47. Right Time
48. Get It Off Your Mind
49. Today

Bonus EP

50. Lord's Prayer
51. Silicon Valley Holiday
52. The Haves and Have Nots
53. Treadmill aka My String Will Snap

A Cheap EP (1986-88 by TV Smith’s Cheap)

54. 200 Blows
55. Cheap
56. Headhunters
57. Borderline

[Tj]

...Apologies for the repeat Uli, but not everyone reads every post.

And I wanted Dave Thompson to see what I'd been researching through his great collectors guide (with more than a little help from Tim Cross and Klaus).

Back to the guide. Cheap next...

On page 102 we see how amazing the Cheap song set list was at the early shows. The first of our last four 80's demo's appears with the Mrs F favourite; 200 Blows. Cheap, Headhunters and Borderline later complete the set.

A question for TV about Buried By The Machine? Is the b-side of Third Term actually taken from the 1988 Studio session where 200 Blows was recorded (see page 106). It certainly doesn't sound anything like the album version number 9005 as shown on pages 108 and 109.

Another interesting point in Dave's book is that on page 110 he shows that the demo referred to elsewhere as the Cheap demo of Gather Your Things And Go was actually a TV solo afair.

I always think of the Cheap period as not one of my favourites. Then every time I play the album and the Peel tracks it really impresses me.

TV just doesn't have filler years.  

March of the Giants next in my journey reading, watching and listening to the magic of TV Smith (thanks for the Ticket, Dave). The rise and rise of TV Smith. From solo acoustic novice to legend in a mere decade. 
 

   

[Uli]

Another interesting point in Dave's book is that on page 110 he shows that the demo referred to elsewhere as the Cheap demo of Gather Your Things And Go was actually a TV solo afair.

I always think of the Cheap period as not one of my favourites. Then every time I play the album it really impresses me.

Same here! And thanks for clarifying the question about the demo of "Gather your things and go".

[anotherdt]

Treadmill is currently a total mystery...

No it isn 't   Remembering that many of these titles were either taken from scraps of paper as I heard them (and forgot to ask what they were called), or from helpfully untitled cassettes... Treadmill is probably "My Spring Will Snap"...

[Tj]

Of course why didn't I think of that!

Thanks Dave.

I think Klaus probably did think of it when we discussed this when you first asked us to edit the guide. I just couldn't reacll what he said back then.

[Tj]

This amendment is for both Gabumon (in the Set List Archives) and Dave.

The so called untitled song that followed We Want The Road at the Jackson Lane gig was in fact 'In There'. 

"I'm virtually steering it
I'm awake and I'm aware

I'm in there

I'm living it, feeling it
Seeing and believing it
I'm running through the options
And the world responds immediately
Totally, convincingly
I can be what I want to be
Wire myself up, dive into the machinery"

Sunday 21st May 1995
London - Jacksons Lane Centre - with Tom Robinson
 
No Title   Comment
1 Can't Pay, Won't Pay     
2 Gary Gilmore's Eyes     
3 Strong Horse     
4 We Want The Road   / Untitled song followed (The song was In There)
5 Tomahawk Cruise     
6 Eurodisneyland Tomorrow     
7 March Of The Giants     
8 Lion And The Lamb     
9 Gather Your Things And Go     
10 The Day We Caught The Big Fish     
11 Earth 2     
12 Straight And Narrow     
13 Immortal Rich     
14 Thin Green Line     
15 Bored Teenagers     
16 One Chord Wonders     
17 Immortal Rich     
18 Runaway Train Driver

Ths gig marked the first playing of One Chord Wonders since The Adverts in 1979. TV played it with a toatlly unprepared Tom Robinson. Setting a trend TV would repeat many times over the years. My favourites being the encores with Kid Strange and Stoner of the Doctors of Madness and the punk sing-a-long at Strummercamp with Captain Sensible, John Robb and Henry Cluney of SLF. 

[Tj]

I'm now up to Not A Bad Day in my journey through Your Ticket Out Of Here and the music of TV Smith.

This was a very special time for me as it was in this period that I re-connected with TV Smith and he beacme my favourite music artist of all time.

Here's some updates of Dave's superb guidebook to all things TV Smith, which I've named the best book of 2009. (See 'Best of 2009' theme in world Chat).

On page 83 Move On is actually called Move Up according to TV Smith. Move Up, In My World of Worlds and Beat Up Your Boyfriend are the three songs that are totally missing pressumed lost for good. In fact much like Gaye and TV's final animal anti-vivisection version of Cut Up it looks like Beat Up Your Boyfriends was only briefly rehearsed by The Adverts.

On page 136 TV played Walk Away after The Easy Way at the London gig on 20th December (does anyone know the name of the venue?). The really special thing about this gig was that TV played both these classic Explorers songs on piano. He later repetead the two songs back to back at the first EARTHBOUND* but this time he let Tim 'Tubular Bells' Cross handle the keyboard. Please also note that TV played all the songs after Generation Y with Tom Robinson.

On page 138 TV's best selling ever song Pushed Again by Die Toten Hosen is called Pushed Aside in the blurb underneath. Have I got that right, Uli?

On page 148 the Not A bad Day songs should have started at number 0305 as 0304 had already been taken by the free download single Not In My Name (which appeared as a hidden extra on Not a Bad Day).

Note to TUTS: The Erik Russell and TV Smith gig at The verge on pages 143 and 144 was the first gathering of TV Smith's new fan club; the TVSmith United Tour Supporters aka the TUTS. Two days later Richard Strange, Tim Cross, Ian Rolland and Atilla The Stockbroker played the first *EARTHBOUND at Glastonwick 7 Music and Beer Festival in Southwick. The day in between Klaus and I interviewd Erik Russell and then Tim Cross at Southwick. These were to have been the first of many planned interviews made especially for Klaus's TV Smith Forum and Website. Watch this space for future interviews and features TUTS. 

 







 

[Uli]

I'm now up to Not A Bad Day in my journey through Your Ticket Out Of Here and the music of TV Smith.

This was a very special time for me as it was in this period that I re-connected with TV Smith and he beacme my favourite music artist of all time.

On page 138 TV's best selling ever song Pushed Again by Die Toten Hosen is called Pushed Aside in the blurb underneath. Have I got that right, Uli?

Yes, you got it right, the lector's got it wrong. 
A few typos or printing errors here and there, but nothing too confusing. 

NABD was a special period for me too. I bought Gen Y at my first gig in late '99, thus NABD was to be the next new studio album ("Useless" was new recordings as well, but mostly old songs of course).
I remember talking about Tim Renwick (as I'd discovered his name on "March of the giants") with TV at a gig in Sept 2000, he told me that Tim was going to record some guitar for the next album. It took three long years until I was about to hear it! Long time, but worth the wait and all that. 

[Tj]

Even TV thinks this book is useful. He told me in Munich that he played a gig in Mannheim the day before (Sat. 5th), his first in this town since the days of the Explorers! (He told me he'd looked it up in the electronic version of the book.)

Uli

 

Big Untidy: “Do you know how many copies of Red Sea were originally released on red vinyl?”
TV Smith: “I really can´t remember – so I turn to Dave Thompson and his TV Smith Armchair Guide book... and he says 500, which sounds about right to me!”

 

Uli is right again. The Armchair guidebook is called 'Your Ticket Out of Here'.

[anotherdt]

A fine review, from "Goldmine" magazine

http://www.goldminemag.com/article/tv_smith_your_ticket_out_of_here_complete_collectors_guide/

[Uli]

Yes, a very well-written review!! 
Read the review and get the book, everyone! 

[Rockula]

Yes, a very well-written review!! 
Read the review and get the book, everyone! 

Does TV take any copies to gigs?