Given their subsequent impact, it’s worth remembering that it was all over for The Adverts by 1980. Although Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts has since been heralded as a standout release of the late 70s, the band that made it lacked the momentum to even push on into a new decade.
They made Cast Of Thousands in 1979 and shut up shop without too much fuss. But TV Smith soldiered on.
He’s currently performing a Best Of The Adverts tour, (which makes you wonder how long the set might be) – but why lean so heavily on a brief piece of history when he’s still writing songs like the sublime Us And Them and the zealous Man Down?
If The Libertines had ever made a third album, the furious Deactivate Autoslave could easily have been on it. Perhaps it’s time Smith stopped playing with the past?
