Occasional Albums Thing 037 - TV Smith “Channel Five”

If you’ve been following along here then you’ll likely already know that I am something of a TV Smith fanboy. For those that are in the dark about this absolute hidden treasure, TV Smith was the singer and principle songwriter for The Adverts, whose debut album “Crossing The Red Sea With…” I would argue is easily in the top 5 of the first wave of British Punk albums (I’m not sure “The Clash” makes my personal top 5 so that’s how highly I think of “Crossing The Red Sea”). Following The Adverts demise he formed TV Smith’s Explorer’s who released a single in “Tomahawk Cruise” that should be revered in the annals of British alternative music, but sadly almost no-one knows it, and an album whose title track, “The Last Words Of The Great Explorer”, is one of my favourite songs by anyone, anywhere, ever !

“Channel Five” was TV’s first solo album following the demise of the Explorers after a fractious tour. Many of the songs here had been written for and demo’ed as Explorers songs for their next album. The album was eventually recorded by what TV describes as the classic “three Tim’s” line up, TV (his real name is Tim Smith), Tim Cross (who previously played with Mike Oldfield !) and Tim Renwick (Sutherland Brothers & Quiver, Pink Floyd and thankfully redeemed himself playing sessions for Bowie), a strange pairing to be be making a record with a Punk Rocker to be sure.

I bought it on release in 1983 and it was such a departure in sound that it took me a long time to get my head around it. The whole album is very keyboard heavy (the influence of Mr Cross I surmise). There is no drummer listed on the credits and the drums are therefore (very obviously) a drum machine (the whole album would have been hugely improved by a real drummer). Tim Renwick is, judging by his CV at least, a very accomplished guitarist but in places he veers very close to a sound that’s way too Mark Knopfler/Dire Straits for my liking (particularly noticeable on “On Your Video”) and on occasions his bass playing gets a tad too slappy/Mark King stylee to boot.

On release the album bombed, a combination of very little promotion/distribution by a record company on the brink of collapsing and honestly, it didn’t sound great. I also bought a CD re-issue in the 1990’s, that had too much other stuff on it (demo’s etc. that I’ve never been a fan of hearing, they were originally unreleased for a reason…remind me of that statement in a few weeks !) and again, it didn’t sound great. But the thing that saves “Channel Five” is the songs. The overall sound of the record (keyboards and drum machines) I can only think was a cost thing, this was the easiest and cheapest way to record the songs. The sound of the record (as in mastering and pressing) was unfortunate.

There are though, despite all my griping above, at least 4 TV classics on here and the rest are damn good too. The overall theme is that we thought the world was gonna end in a nuclear cloud in the early 80’s, either that or we’d all be consumed or worked to death in some capitalist/consumerist dsytopia. TV Smith set the idea of an approaching apocalypse, of whatever sort, to some gloriously melodious songs. “War Fever” (the albums lead single, released just as Thatcher’s Tories announced an election riding the tide of jingoistic fervour around the Falklands conflict…how not to get radio play huh), “Burning Rain” (“All eyes on the skies, It’s not safe to go outside, The weathermen got it wrong again” the after effects of that nuclear holocaust) and “Beautiful Bomb” (“You think these are dangerous things, But thoughts keep changing” a ballad about a guy who builds his own nuke and falls in love with it as TV claims in the sleeve notes) speak for themselves, songs of war and the aftermath.

“The Suit” discuses how we are overwhelmed by what our surrounding culture expects of us rather than what we really feel and, the best song on the album to my ears, “Fire In The Darkness” looks at how we may end up slavishly obeying corporations…

There’s mouths to feed, Work at greater speed
Push the country back again, bring another lorryload in
Are you safe in the crowd ? Do you like being pushed around ?
It’s the profit margin, That’s why they pack you in.

(ringing any bells ?) It also has the best chorus on the album in the very singalongable “Shout from the rooftops, Raise the alarm, There’s human beings down on the factory farm”.

“On Your Video” has us all addicted to our video screens where we can get all we need with unlimited screen access (“If it isn’t up on your screen, it will be, You’ll be ruler of all you see, completely”…remember this was written over 40 years ago). And just to add a bit of spice “A Token Of My Love” introduces DIY dismemberment with a very perky synth-poppy sound given its subject matter and “Your Haunted Heart” chucks in a slice o’ necrophilia !

The reason we are talking about “Channel Five” now is because in 2024 TV managed to uncover a safety copy of the master tape, has had it re-mastered and re-issued on red vinyl with new sleeve notes, the album “in pristine quality and the way it was meant to sound” as TV says on his website. The songs inside are great it’s just their, at times, somewhat sterile musical settings that I’ve never been able to get on with fully, but in the main the songs themselves are great. It would be a treat to hear TV do one or two of these songs in his acoustic sets and nothing will alter the fact that, to me, TV Smith is one of the great treasures of Punk Rock and alternative music…

Fire In The Darkness - https://youtu.be/Z435DqKRyws?si=RulArF9_OSsnUdmB