Alternative TV
Member of: Mark Perry
The Image Has Cracked
Formed in London in 1977 by Mark Perry and Alex Fergusson, then editors of the punk fanzine Sniffin' Glue, Alternative TV was a post-punk group known for incorporating reggae rhythms and pushing the boundaries of the definition of punk toward the experimental and avant-garde. Their first album, The Image Has Cracked, came out originally in 1978 and is a wholly unique piece of British post-punk. Beloved by John Peel, and close confidantes of Throbbing Gristle, Alternative TV is one of the most or…
Direct Action
Since their formation in 1977 Mark Perry’s group Alternative TV have moved far away from their more direct punk rock beginnings into all manner of other areas of music that have sometimes themselves drawn from improvisation, free jazz, industrial and electronic music. On 'Direct Action', Alternative TV’s first studio album since 'Opposing Forces' in 2015, we are presented with six instrumental tracks which steadily rip apart all expectations as they shed all allusions to rock music in favour of …
Action Time Vision
First ever reissue of Alternative TV’s "Action Time Vision", compiled in 1980 and featuring the group’s 7“es from 1977 to 1979. Including bonus track "You Bastard" and new liner notes by ATV singer Mark Perry, the founding editor of punk fanzine Sniffin' Glue.
Snappy Turns (Lp)
Clear 180 gram vinyl. Debut solo album for Alternative TV front man and long-time running UK punk scenester, originally released in 1980 on Deptford Fun City Records. Mark Perry was also the man behind the iconic Sniffin' Glue zine, founded in July 1976. The album was produced by Grant Showbiz, principally known for his work with The Fall, The Smiths and Billy Bragg, and it is literally an art-rock nugget. Sort of an autobiographical work, the record is full of twisted hooks, showing the dark si…
Primitive Emotions
A collection of Alternative TV songs during recent years that have appeared on vinyl-only releases or compilations and suchlike. Includes This Little Girl, Negative Primitive, The System, Radiator, Walls, and Chinese Burn, amongst others. Chinese Burn will be a different version to the one which appears on the Low Expectations compilation 10" on Fourth Dimension. Even if you own some of the vinyl, this will be a neat way of listening to the tracks as they map out an arc in the group's more recen…
Scars On Sunday
Mark Perry has overseen the reissue of 1979's Scars On Sunday, which was originally released as a limited run cassette and is now highly collectible. Comprising material from around the same period as the excellent Vibing Up the Senile Man album period, the ideas behind the music were very much informed by Mark's experience of touring with Here & Now. Perhaps serving as a statement on punk, or the many hordes by this time now completely straitjacketed by it, it could be contended it was conceptu…
Dark Places
** Coloured ** Mark Perry has remained the sole surviving original member and driving force. Alternative TV have been responsible for around fifteen albums since their formation, with the last one, Opposing Forces (2015), proving to be their strongest thus far, marrying of igneous rock, idiosyncratic touches, barbed commentary, and occasional seething undercurrents of dark psych. Dark Places introduces four songs cascading between full-on rock to a kind of abstract minimalist electronics appro…