- Audio CD (15 Jan 2001)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Format: CD
- Label: Creation
- ASIN: B000024TV7
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Audio Cassette | Vinyl | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 37,391 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Whether Thirteen amounts to a subconscious or deliberate rejection of the possibility of major success remains one for the armchair psychologists: certainly, the feeling at the time was that all Teenage Fanclub needed to do to make America roll over like a tickled puppy was bash out another spangly glam album along the lines of Bandwagonesque. Instead, to the undoubted mortification of their record company, accountants and heirs, they came up with the dark and baleful Thirteen, an album which was much criticised for not being what it patently isn't--ie Bandwagonesque II--and which sold like iced lollies on a cold day, but which, on its own merits, might even be Teenage Fanclub's best album.
The beginnings do not calculate to please: a rumble of distorted guitars that sounds like someone trying to start a misfiring truck, but from which emerges the outrageously pretty, flute-laden ballad "Hang On". From there, Thirteen is one great song after another. Though the melodies are made to fight through a slough of angry guitar noise, they're as good as any Teenage Fanclub have written--which, naturally, means they're as good as any. "Radio" is an exuberant jangle that would have sounded well at home on Bandwagonesque. "The Cabbage" is a superior Byrds pastiche that includes the eloquently embittered phrase "Are we together?/I guess we're not/Asked you for nothing/That's what I got"--a rare example of a genuinely venomous Teenage Fanclub love song. In the wholly admirable Teenage Fanclub canon, Thirteen is the misfit, the gatecrasher, but nonetheless worth owning for that. --Andrew Mueller
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Going by what reviews I had read of the fanclub, this appeared to be their weakest effort and so I bought it with caution lastly. I can see no faults in it whatsoever.
Here are a list of the songs
Hang on - Great heavy/quiet song beautiful melody (Love)
The Cabbage - Ridiculously catchy rocker (Blake)
Radio - Fast rocker-reminiscent of starsign (Love)
Norman 3 - Beautiful song, great guitars, one of the best moments on the album (Blake)
Song to the cynics - Lovely guitar work, cute lyrics (Love)
100 mins - One of the best songs on the album, haunting melody (McGinley)
Escher - amazingly good tune, wonderful guitars (Blake)
Commercial alternative - Fine tune fine lyrics (Blake)
Fear of flying - Yet another standout, slowburner and hauting tune (Love)
Tears are cool - Another beautiful Raymond melody and truly touching lyrics. Perhaps the prettiest song on the album (McGinley)
Ret Liv Dead - Soaring melody, lovely compact audaciously superb classic fanclub (Blake)
Get Funky - Funky little instrumental (Fanclub)
Gene Clark - Fantastic mind blowing gorgeous ending to a wonderful album (Love)
Here are a list of the songs
Hang on - Great heavy/quiet song beautiful melody (Love)
The Cabbage - Ridiculously catchy rocker (Blake)
Radio - Fast rocker-reminiscent of starsign (Love)
Norman 3 - Beautiful song, great guitars, one of the best moments on the album (Blake)
Song to the cynics - Lovely guitar work, cute lyrics (Love)
100 mins - One of the best songs on the album, haunting melody (McGinley)
Escher - amazingly good tune, wonderful guitars (Blake)
Commercial alternative - Fine tune fine lyrics (Blake)
Fear of flying - Yet another standout, slowburner and hauting tune (Love)
Tears are cool - Another beautiful Raymond melody and truly touching lyrics. Perhaps the prettiest song on the album (McGinley)
Ret Liv Dead - Soaring melody, lovely compact audaciously superb classic fanclub (Blake)
Get Funky - Funky little instrumental (Fanclub)
Gene Clark - Fantastic mind blowing gorgeous ending to a wonderful album (Love)
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This album, the follow-up to the deservedly well-received Bandwagonesque, was dismissed as disappointing on its original release but listening to it now, some 17 years later, it sounds almost as pleasing as anything in their canon.
Okay, it's not quite as stupendously great as Bandwagonesque, Grand Prix or Songs From Northern Britain but then few albums are.
The harmonies are there, the songs are consistently strong and only the occasionally thin production lets them down. However, anyone who cares for this band will love this album.
While I'm at it, it's worth saying: Big Star were good but not as good as Teenage Fanclub. So there.
Okay, it's not quite as stupendously great as Bandwagonesque, Grand Prix or Songs From Northern Britain but then few albums are.
The harmonies are there, the songs are consistently strong and only the occasionally thin production lets them down. However, anyone who cares for this band will love this album.
While I'm at it, it's worth saying: Big Star were good but not as good as Teenage Fanclub. So there.
7 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I already had Grand Prix & Songs From Northern Britain, two 5 star albums. So when I bought Thirteen I was looking forward to another great album.
I listened to it once, then stuck the CD back in it's case and onto my shelf where it gathered dust for a while. This album sounded really poor, like anything had just been stuck together. Then one day I decided to give it another listen, I was hooked!
Thirteen is still TFC, perhaps the guitars are just louder than normal here and there, it does sound a bit rushed and the production of the album isn't quite as good as usual. But despite not sounding as polished as other TFC albums, this album still has a certain charm and appeal.
"Norman 3" is my fave off the album, "120 Mins" is sweet enough for any other TFC album and among others, "Radio" and the excellent "Song To The Cynic" are also top tunes. This album is probably Teenage Fanclub musically at their worst but it still gets 4/5. That just shows the quality of (who must be) the most forgotten band of recent times. TFC fans will know what I'm talking about.
If you haven't got any TFC album, then buy Grand Prix, S.F.N.B. or Bandwagonesque first. Then consider this one.
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