I didn't know the backstory on the Television Personalities when I discovered this album at University Records in Lubbock in the late '80s, but let's just say that I wasn't surprised, long after first hearing it, to learn that head TVP Daniel Treacy has struggled quite publicly with mental illness and depression for most of his life. The first time most people hear "I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives," it sounds like a pisstake, but there's a definite feeling of empathy for the former Pink Floyd leader in that song. In fact, the entirety of And Don't the Kids Just Love It? -- the trio's debut album following nearly three years' worth of singles under a variety of band names -- has an ineffable sense of sadness, even in comparatively upbeat tunes like "The World of Pauline Lewis." Maybe it's the album's odd, lo-fi production, which gives it a curiously hollow, detached sound, or maybe it's the way Treacy's adenoidal voice can't help but sound "sad." Regardless, this album is a touchstone of modern British indie music: huge chunks of what happened in the UK between the Jesus and Mary Chain and Coldplay can be traced right back to this album.

Stewart Mason