In reply to birdie num num: I still love you num num! <sniff!>
Sorry if I sounded overly dismissive, I actually enjoyed large parts of the Tate Liverpool, I just didn't think it sounded like what the OP was looking for. Was it the Marianne Faithful bit which had all the Philip Treacy hat moulds? They were oddly beautiful.
Maybe part of the problem was I missed out on the Monet/Turner/Twombly bit (I know, I know, short of time) then went to the Maritime Museum which made me cry, then went up to Crosby Sands to see Gormley's 'Another Place' which I found quite affecting. So out of the whole day, a lot of the things in the Tate were made to look rather.. hollow I suppose.