Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque poll

normally, I'd agree that dirtier would be better, but in this case, it doesn't really work for me.

I would take the point about the messier elements of Bandwagon, but to me there are 4 or maybe 5 tunes on there that destroy everything else they did, before or since.

That's what 'saves' it for me - that, and the fuzz

Songs from Northern Britain tops 'em all, imo

listening to these dudes a lot lately. i had never heard grand prix until recently. i don't know if it's better than bandwagonesque but it sure sounds nice.

would not have guessed back in the day that they would have such a consistent, solid catalog 20 years later but here we are

Only one (lacklustre) album in the last 10 years though. Every album they knocked a few edges off until eventually there's nothing left.

I missed the fuzz...part of that trend of indie bands who really turned the distortion down as the decade progressed

I like the last album a lot fwiw

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/music_scotland/6944812/Scotlands-greatest-ever-album-Rollin-v-Bandwagonesque.html

A place in teh semi - finals now up for grabs.

Listening to this now, it's so obvious now that Supergrass were "inspired" by the riff on 'Satan' when writing 'Richard III' ...

Oh, and this is 'Alcoholiday' all the way. At one point I wouldn't have hesitated to claim Grand Prix was the superior record, but right now I'm not completely sure.

that's because Bandwagonesque, Grand Prix and Songs From Northern Britain are three of the greatest rock albums of all time and differentiating between them is basically impossible and oh by the way they were all written and recorded by three core fookin' geniuses and thank god they met each other and formed a band many many years ago.

wot no thirteen?

that's because Bandwagonesque, Grand Prix and Songs From Northern Britain are three of the greatest rock albums of all time and differentiating between them is basically impossible and oh by the way they were all written and recorded by three core fookin' geniuses and thank god they met each other and formed a band many many years ago.

I agree. I don't think they would have had a hope in hell of being as big as Oasis in the mid '90s, but they should at least have been as big as Suede.

In hindsight, I think they picked the wrong singles from Grand Prix, or in the wrong order. Creation had this 'come back with a slow burner' for lead single angle at times and they probably should have just gone for Sparky's Dream from the getgo. Don't Look Back (electric) should have been a proper single as well. The album did well but they should have managed a proper hit or two at the time.

Ain't That Enough of course went top 20, but I think by then that was off the back of it being new material following a relatively successful album. Did it even get much airplay? After then, their top 40 days were over entirely.

Yeah, absolutely. How 'Sparky's Dream' wasn't a huge hit in 1995 is beyond me. I mean, if The Boo Radleys were managing to have hits, then surely Teenage Fanclub should've had them as well. 'Mellow Doubt' is a beautiful song, but not something that screams out "lead single" ...

to be fair they had one hit

xxxxxpost Thirteen is terrific, but it is not on the level of the other three. (Then again, I don't really think Bandwagonesque is *quite* on the level of GP / SFNB, myself.)

But like if you're a band and Thirteen is not one of your three best albums, you're doing pretty darn good. It's terrific! (I said that already.)

I think it gets a lot of unwarranted criticism simply as a result of being the follow-up to Bandwagonesque.

Re-listening to Thirteen now and, yeah, this doesn't deserve half the shit it's had over the years.

Gene Clark would be in the running for my all time #1 fannies track.

I will say, I was lucky enough to see one of the Creation Tour 3-night runs (Band/13, then GP/NB, then Howdy/b-sides) and the best song of the whole thing was probably "Radio"

Thirteen starts and ends well, just sags a bit in the middle imo

Funny, I think some of the stronger songs are the middle ones, but overall the main issue is the somewhat murky/lacklustre production (but yes, "Radio" really leaps out at you). The idea that the album was "savaged [...] upon its initial release" (I'm quoting AllMusic) doesn't seem to square with the actual contemporary reviews that I can find linked on Wikipedia (A- from EW, 4/5 from Q, 7/10 from NME, 3.5/5 from RS). They're much the same as the retrospective reviews, like the one Pitchfork did last year (7.2), which I think is exactly right - solid album, just no comparison to the 8.5-9 level of Bw/GP/SfNB.

Select panned Thirteen for definite. Remember MOJO was positive. It was years before I heard anything about it being a 'disappointing' album. Always sounded like the bridge between Bandwagonesque and Grand Prix to me.

Of course the band did at least one interview (NME cover) where they said they didn't enjoy making the album and Gerry is fairly dismissive about the lead single, his own Radio, so I guess it's not wise to give the press free reign to pan your new album by talking it down

as a gerryhead ive got to agree with this judgement there