Shadows

Well here we are with a very late review of the latest Fannies album, as I sit at work with not much to do for a lunch break. I actually bought this upon release, as with most of their output, and having read through the other reviews attached to this album have a somewhat wry smirk on my face.

Teenage Fanclub, blah, blah, blah, Big Star, blah, blah, blah, harmonies, blah, Byrds, blah ,blah, Crosby, Stills & Nash (aargh!).Read it all before several times over the years. Look, I love 'em as much as the rest, but the simple facts are that they appear to have donned carpet slippers and smoking jackets years ago, and this album has come and gone as per their previous 3 or 4 efforts. Where the hell has the fun gone? I'm not ready yet to delve into early 70's Calfornian boredom anytime soon, and would describe this latest offering as, pretty, but pretty boring, really.

As a veteran of over three dozen live shows, the chaos and energy that they used to generate live has also gone. I remember a couple of really standout shows on the Bandwagonesque and especially the Thirteen tour with support from The Posies and Superchunk that were a wall of glorious guitar noise. Nah, it's all gone bandy, and lo, the Fannies have slipped into the mists of time, and a band once truly exciting appear to run out of ideas and volume.

Thanks for the memories, chaps, this album won't be high amongst them though, as it highlights a band that is a shadow (no pun intended, but I'll take it!) of its former self. If this is what it's come to, knock it on the head fellas...

The recent death of Teenage Fanclub's great inspiration Alex Chilton from Big Star served to remind you in addition quite how long the boys from Glasgow themselves have been "treading the boards". Like Big Star they have made over their inestimable career some of the most delicious pop/rock songs this side of the Pecos. The list must include songs like "Everything Flows", "Neil Jung", "Sparky's Dream", "Alcoholiday" "Ain't that enough" and "Starsign" which are up as some of the greatest British songs of the past two decades. It only seems like a nano second ago that "Bandwagonesque" their second album was actually topping Nirvana's "Nevermind" in end of year polls and indeed Kurt Cobain never hid his affection for the Fannies and regularly name checked them in press interviews.

Obviously if your looking for Flying Lotus style experimentation in a Teenage Fanclub album look elsewhere. Their strength is always in their songs with song writing duties generally shared between Norman Blake, Gerard Love and Raymond McGinley. As you would expect Roger McQuinn style harmonies predominate and songs packed with warm melodies and killer hooks. To be fair on this album they do branch out with the sumptuous piano ballad "Dark Clouds" and a guest spot for Euros Childs from Welsh wonders Gorky's. Other highlights includes the melodic rocker "Shock and Awe" which is vintage Teenage Fanclub and is guaranteed to bring an extra skip to your step, the truly lovely "Into the city" which is one of their best songs in a long long while and the slow rolling mesmerising country ballad "Today never ends" with echoes of Crosby Stills and Nash is excellent. Opener "Sometimes I don't need to believe in anything" demands no more than you lie back and stare into blue skies and be enveloped by its warmth. As for downsides the single "Baby Lee" borders on repetition and is a bit Teenage Fanclub by numbers and a couple of songs here are on the weak side. Nevertheless you can forgive this band anything. Nick Hornby's excellent book "31 Songs" cites "Songs from Northern Britain" as one of his favourite ever albums and two out of thirty one songs are from Teenage Fanclub. Can I also use this opportunity to request that Rhodri Jones who borrowed my copy of "Grand Prix" in 1996 return it as a matter of urgency! A plea to you dear Amazon readers please don't forget about Teenage Fanclub, they are a quality assured and a national treasure.

I thought TFC's last but one album "Howdy" was a lovely piece and it is maturing nicely (but hey, it got me through a break-up, so...) but I felt that "Man-Made" was a little thin, with only Norman's songs standing out.

This LP promised the same thinness and on the first 2 or three listens I was a little dissapointed - nice noises but where's the passion?

THEN, all of a sudden, the tunes, the harmonies, the instrumentations and the lyrics hit you all at once and you realise this LP is SWOONY - light, airy, colourful and sweet, it is mature fanclub, packed with glistening moments and with an even spread of achievement across the personnel. The absolute platinum stand -out for me is Gerry Love's gorgeous "Shock and Awe" - as lovely and blissful a song as he has written in the past 10 years.

If you had left the Fannies behind, come back. This is a sweet and tender delight of a record that will be the soundtrack to your summer and maybe your autumn too. Think of it as the third part of a trilogy with the softer spoken "Howdy", "Man-Made" and now "Shadows". Heavenly stuff.