Album Review: TV Smith – Lockdown Holiday

TV Smith is a name that holds much sway in the world of music, especially in the Punk music scene, being around for over 40 years and probably influencing so many along the way, he has always been at the top of the pile when it comes to his live shows and no less ardent when it comes to albums.  Along with all the collaborations, bands that he has graced and solo releases, he has now reached a grand total of 16 albums and that’s not including The Explorer’s.

So to solo album number eight, ‘Lockdown Holiday’ which arrives on November 27th, this release was born when all the gigs had been cancelled, a tour with Stiff Little Fingers was the biggest blow to his itinerary (which I personally had tickets for and still hope it goes ahead in March next year), so off home he headed, but to make matters even worse, whilst on route home and making a pit stop, both he and his partner contracted Covid-19 after a man sneezed in front of them whilst queuing for coffee.

Frustration on what was happening around the country, the mishandling of the pandemic by government was fuel to the fire that is TV’s writing. Track one ‘The Lucky Ones’ covers all this and more, a moment of reflection on how being still alive is actually a chance to do more for those who have been less lucky.

What is never lacking within a TV Smith album, is a sense of purpose, a calling to right wrongs and give backing to the underdog, ‘Bounce Back’ has this, although it also definitely shows TV resilience too.

With a world that lives on a staple of artificial reality, “driverless cars”, “plastic land is ours” just a few of the quotes from ‘Artificial Flowers’ an anthem to those of us that see through the superficialness of the norm.

From ‘Fake News’ that says it as it is, to the title track ‘Lockdown Holiday’ with its stark look at his own predicament as well as the majority of the nation, TV’s inner thoughts on the mess that has yet to truly unfold, are laid bare for us all to hear.  So who will pay? Is a question that will haunt the poor in society for a very long time to come.

‘Send In the Clown’ is up next, no doubt here who the clown is, perfectly analogies as to what we see in front of us, voted in to entertain maybe.

How do you follow such a succinctly put song as that, well you keep up the pressure and show what being out of work, almost dying, having nothing to do other than watch and learn, you write songs like ‘The Race For Last Place’, ‘Join The Mainstream’ if you don’t want an interesting life, ‘Lets Go Back To The Good Old Days’ or should that be the “Bad Old Days”.

All this leading to a POV from Covid itself in ‘I Surf The Second Wave’, a very morose and chilling look at how a virus can wait for its moment, be invisible yet devastating.

Lastly we get to ‘Going Nowhere Fast’ TV’s outlook for a bleak winter ahead.

Pre-order your signed copy direct from TV Smith HERE

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