TV Smith
With TV Smith's Explorers having imploded in late 1981 and the success of the Adverts receding further into the past, TV Smith launched his solo career in early 1982, cutting a single, "Burning Rain," with Rondelet labelmates the Nervous Germans. Label politics conspired against the release actually taking place, but the new year saw Smith convene fresh sessions with guitarist Tim Renwick and ex-Adverts keyboard player Tim Cross.
Channel Five, Smith's first solo album, duly appeared in spring 1983 on the newly formed Expulsion label; months later, however, the company went under and, though Smith spent the next two years writing furiously and gigging occasionally, when he next publicly surfaced, it was aboard a new band, Cheap. That project was still going strong when Smith returned to solo work in mid-1989, performing a short acoustic set at an Attila the Stockbroker gig in north London. He followed through by cutting a similarly unplugged version of the Cheap favorite "Newshound" for the B-side of the band's 12" "Third Term" in 1990. Then, when Cheap broke up in 1991, Smith set out solo in earnest.
Early shows alongside Tom Robinson and a new album, March of the Giants, were well received, with 1995's The Immortal Rich further upping his profile. But it was Smith's solo performance at the following year's Holidays in the Sun punk festival, performing the Adverts' Crossing the Red Sea debut album on acoustic guitar, that established him among the country's most electrifying live performers. (His full set was captured on the One Chord Wonder DVD).
Regular gigs with German superstars Die Toten Hosen (with whom he first worked on their Learning English album in 1991) saw 1998's Generation Y released on the punk band's own JKP label. Die Toten Hosen would also act as his backing band on 2001's Useless: The Very Best of TV Smith, re-recording a flawless collection of (largely) old songs. Smith also recorded with Finland's Punk Lurex OK and Spain's Suzi & los Quattros, while he co-wrote a dozen songs on Die Toten Hosen's 1999 album Crash Landing.
In the early 21st century, Smith was performing well over 100 shows a year around Europe and the U.S., a routine that is brilliantly documented in his 2006 book Getting There: The Tour Diaries. The evolution of both his songwriting and his performance, meanwhile, can be traced across 2003's Not a Bad Day and 2006's Misinformation Overload, electrifying sets that defy the somewhat shocking realization that the Adverts are now more than 30 years old.
© Dave Thompson /TiVo
Discography
19 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
-
Useless - The Very Best Of TV Smith
Punk en New Wave - Released by JKP - WM Germany on 1 jan. 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
In The Arms Of My Enemy
Punk en New Wave - Released by Boss Tuneage on 26 mei 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Coming In To Land
Punk en New Wave - Released by Boss Tuneage on 2 mei 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
-
Lockdown Holiday
Alternative en Indie - Released by Easy Action on 27 nov. 2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Land of the Overdose
Rock - Released by JKP - WM Germany on 14 sep. 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Immortal Rich
Rock - Released by Cherry Red Records on 1 jan. 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cheap the Anthology - Remastered
Rock - Released by Easy Action on 15 apr. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A DFFRNT WRLD
Punk en New Wave - Released by Molecular Scream on 5 mei 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Sparkle In The Mud : Unreleased Songs And Demos Volume One: 1979-1983
Punk en New Wave - Released by Boss Tuneage on 24 mei 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Live At The NVA
Punk en New Wave - Released by Boss Tuneage on 28 sep. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Gary Gilmore's Eyes
Punk en New Wave - Released by Tracks&Traces on 26 feb. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lucky Us (Unreleased Songs and Demos Vol. 2: 1983-86)
Punk en New Wave - Released by Boss Tuneage on 1 okt. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Xmas Bloody Xmas
Alternative en Indie - Released by Damaged Goods on 28 nov. 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
No Hope Street
Rock - Released by JKP - WM Germany on 17 aug. 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo