Everything Flows (Bandwagonesque - Teenage Fanclub)

Name: indiecater

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Product:	Bandwagonesque - Teenage Fanclub
Date:	25/08/03 (250 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The Beginning Stages Of Greatness.

Disadvantages: Earth's Apathy.

What set of songs have enough pure lyrics to make Status Quo hip, contain enough jingles to keep Match of the Day's goal round up soundtracked for decades and averages a generous sack load of sunny emotions per wondrous ditty? Well the answer all lies within Teenage Fanclub's sophomore album 'Bandwagonesque'.

Magically conceived from some Boy Hairdressers and a few Bmx Bandits Teenage Fanclub released their debut 'A Catholic Education' in 1990. While this effort was hardly world beating it set up the Glaswegians for their proper debut 'Bandwagonesque'. While 'A Catholic Education' was recorded in a week, the band decided that a change of scene (Liverpool) and a little more time (a month) might have the desired effect. They brought in producer Don Fleming and the quartet of Norman Blake, Gerard Love, Raymond McGinley and Brendan O'Hare set about fashioning one of the albums of the nineties.

For the uninitiated TFC descend from pops highest altar. Big Star are the bands prime motivation but imagine a contemporary Byrds with a grittier edge and you have a good idea of the ground being furrowed. Over the years Teenage Fanclub have stayed loyal to this early blueprint, perhaps adding a softer melodic edge as a new millennium approached.

'Bandwagonesque' arrived in late 1991, caught up in the scorching trail that was grunge. While it was not entirely out of place at the time its dedicated bow to cast iron melodies meant that it came across as a cuter younger sister. The album spawned several singles that achieved good rotation on MTV's 120 minutes and became an instant critical favorite, something that the band has more or less retained to this day.

TFC's trump card is the fact that there are several songwriters (and vocalists) in the band so the ideas come and thick and fast exposing so many highlights you'd swear you were underneath a vintage chandelier. The bands most

prolific writers are Love and Blake and Blake's 'The Concept' opens the album. With slacker chords, indignant vocal delivery and immortal lines such as 'She wears denim wherever she goes, says she's gonna get some records by the Status Quo' this is a stone cold classic. This sounds like it was recorded after the band had banged their collective heads off an overhead rafter in the studio such is its blissed approach.

'What You Do To Me' is similarly paced, juggernaut melodies and crashing guitars spiced up with lyrical insights as sharp as a Sean Bean character. 'December' is flush with a tantalising riff, a pedestrian momentum that will slow your heart and some illuminating strings that lighten the arrangement. 'Metal Baby' has that underlying dual choral approach that seeks to show us what would have happened if the Beach Boys had lived in Northern Europe.

Even if you don't know who Teenage Fanclub are you'll doubtlessly have heard 'Star Sign' because it's their 'There She Goes'. It might be a little too leftfield to creep into daytime radio schedules but it's every inch a classic. With a driving bassline, easy vocal delivery and beat up percussion this is the sound of greatness, forcing the listener to catch that imaginary tube of shake and vac and dance in a most peculiar way. It takes a couple of minutes to grind into action but don't most drugs?

Sounding like Ash years before the event, 'Pet Rock' concentrates on that west coast sound. The dual vocals have diverging guitars for partners and whole thing almost falls apart near the end save for the assured trumpets. 'Sidewinder' is much more amenable to the casual listener. When the band decide to fillet their off-kilter tendencies they deliver sweet ideas like lollipops in Wonka's back porch. Suddenly you can forget that nasty mattress, thanks to the magic in the air those brok
en sp
rings get replaced by feathered cushions.

If that wasn't enough 'Alcoholiday' throws up similar sleight of sound. This is a song that begs for a campfire and some eager throats. The generic laidback feeling is present and the harmonies produce bungee head rushes without the annoying burst eye blood vessels. While the noise might seem its thrown on the canvas without any consideration you soon discover that this early feeling is a load of (Jackson) Pollocks.

As 'Bandwagonesque' closes the footie fans favorite 'Is This Music?' presents guitar lines as precise as fibre optic cables and arranges them into a tasty menagerie that is as near to poetic as music is ever likely to get. Seering guitars make wonderful shoulders to cry on, in this case they've included a couple of vintage 80's pads.

'Bandwagonesque' has an uncluttered vision. Its ideas are fully realised and
in plentiful supply. Each vignette has an alluring ring of authenticity that
neither time nor familiarity can tarnish. While you listen to the album
it'll feel like you're on holidays, at the end you won't be sporting a tan
but the memories will be cherishable. Teenage Fanclub's time will come, it's
up to you to get there before the hordes.

It's hard to fathom why Teenage Fanclub have never caught the publics imagination. Their 'best of' ('4766 Seconds: A Shortcut to Teenage Fanclub') released last year is astonishing and would doubtless beguile anyone who got to hear it. The strength of this band means that listening to their 'best of' is like scratching the surface of a gold bar hidden in the hull of the Titanic. To the converted it rankles that bands with an eighth of TFC's talent continue to bloat under the media spotlight. It's probably about time you joined a club to call your own.

*** indiecater now authors a music blog at http://mp3hugger.com ***

Summary: The Beginning Stages Of Greatness.