Guiding star (Teenage Fanclub) (LP 4101- 4106)

Teenage Fanclub  Bandwagonesque (CD, Sony Music, 1991) *****  

Teenage Fanclub  Thirteen (CD, Sony Music, 1993) **** 

Teenage Fanclub  Grand Prix (CD, Sony Music, 1995) ***** 

Teenage Fanclub  Songs from Northern Britain (CD, Sony Music, 1997) ***** 

Teenage Fanclub  Howdy! (CD, Sony Music, 1995) ***** 

Teenage Fanclub  Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-Six Seconds - A Short Cut to Teenage Fanclub  (CD, Poolside, 2003) ***** 

Genre: Alt pop, power pop

Places I remember: HMV

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Ain't That Enough (Songs from Northern Britain)

Gear costume: The Concept (Bandwagonesque)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: Teenage Fanclub of Bandwagonesque vintage (their third album) are Norman Blake (vocals, guitar), Gerard Love (vocals, bass),
Raymond McGinley (guitar, vocals), Brendan O'Hare (drums, vocals).

Bandwagonesque was big in the year of Nevermind - in fact some critics rated it higher than Nirvani's album. Its punkish power pop sound is that good (think The Stooges mixed with Matthew Sweet and Big Star). 

Thirteen continued the brilliant harmony driven power pop and although it took the lads an age to make, it still rocks and pops like a good'un. The guitars are a big part of the band's sound which is why I mention Matthew Sweet - I can imagine him singing these songs and his influences are similar (Neil Young, The Byrds, Big Star). 

Grand Prix was summed up in The Independent's review as a "breathtakingly superb (album) with finely honed dynamics, nagging harmonies and deceptively simple lyrics". That could be said of all these albums actually.

Songs from Northern Britain was no exception. That description certainly fits the single Ain't That Enough. It's a perfect pop song! The rest of the album features another great set of power pop treats.

Howdy! was their seventh studio album and the streak of superb power pop albums was maintained thanks to the combined talents of the band's three singer/songwriters - Gerard Love, Raymond McGinley, and Norman Blake. Joining them on this album are their latest drummer -Paul Quinn and Finlay MacDonald on keyboards.

AllMusic focused on the band's 'top-drawer craft, lovely three-part harmonies, delicately strummed guitars, and flawless arrangements'. It is a more understated effort but still unmistakenly Teenage Fanclub.

The compilation/ taster album Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-Six Seconds - A Short-Cut to Teenage Fanclub is worth including. It includes fourteen singles, four album tracks, and three new songs written for the album.

The AllMusic review is, as usual, a great summation: It's all here, from the messy Badfinger "tude" of "The Concept" to the Sweetheart of the Rodeo-era harmonies on "Ain't That Enough" and the stereo-panning of "Dumb Dumb Dumb." Despite the omission of some fan favorites like "God Knows It's True," at 21 tracks this is easily the best from the beatific sludge of A Catholic Education to the criminally neglected Howdy!.

Where do they all belong? I have lost touch with TF since Howdy! - it turned into So Long! Be up for more if I ever come across them.