Among other things, power-pop is one of those ever-so-slightly-obscure genres whose mention may inspire the uninitiated to ask what you mean by that.<\/p>\n
Well, see, you take two guitars\u2014the janglier the better, and if you don\u2019t recognize that adjective, go listen to some middle Beatles or early Byrds\u2014and compose some tight, punchy songs and arrange them for maximum catchiness with a steady backbeat, layered harmonies and singalong choruses. The lyrics can be anything you want\u2014sometimes sunny, sometimes mournful\u2014but the music is always catchy and concise.<\/p>\n
Teenage Fanclub might have started out in the early \u201990s as a sludgy, lumbering proto-grunge outfit, but by \u201995\u2019s Grand Prix<\/i>\u2014their fourth proper studio LP\u2014they had completed their evolution into full-on power-pop revivalists. And they weren\u2019t at all subtle about their affection for the genre\u2019s classic practitioners along the way\u2026 first they named a song \u201cGene Clark\u201d (Byrds) and then an album \u201cThirteen\u201d (Big Star), and early EPs included covers of tunes by the Beatles and the Flying Burrito Brothers.<\/p>\n
In the manner of so many of power-pop\u2019s iconic outfits, Teenage Fanclub features multiple talented singer-songwriters in guitarist Norman Blake, guitarist Raymond McGinley, and bassist Gerard Love, who trade songs all the way down the track list, joined here by drummer Paul Quinn. (The TF drum chair has been a bit of a revolving door, but that\u2019s another story.)<\/p>\n
What\u2019s fascinating from the perspective of someone like me\u2014who\u2019s backing into Teenage Fanclub after years of listening to bands influenced by them\u2014is hearing those influences reflected back. The sturdy riffing and rich harmonies of opening pair \u201cAbout You\u201d and \u201cSparky\u2019s Dream\u201d immediately remind of The Legal Matters, while hooky, hummable \u201cDon\u2019t Look Back\u201d and laconic lament \u201cTears\u201d could both be Fastball covers. Except, of course, I have that exactly backwards\u2026<\/p>\n
Some reviewers have suggested more substantial differences in quality and approach between the band\u2019s three songwriters than I can detect here; to my ears McGinley, Love and Blake are peas in a pod. Certainly McGinley and Blake match wits beautifully on the back-to-back \u201cVerisimilitude\u201d (which offers the album\u2019s best line: \u201cI don\u2019t need an attitude \/ Rebellion is a platitude\u201d and borrows a familiar tweaked-out organ sound from Elvis Costello) and \u201cNeil Jung\u201d (a witty and rather profound break-up song), while Love antes up with the propulsive \u201cDiscolite\u201d (featuring an earworm riff and layered harmonies fresh off a Big Star album).<\/p>\n
For whatever reason, the Beatles influence feels more obvious on the slower songs; on \u201cTears\u201d they add strings and horns for pathos and pizzazz, while the rather mournful, sing-songy \u201cSay No\u201d feels like a Rubber Soul<\/i> outtake. By the time Blake stretches the word \u201cde-e-e-ear\u201d into a four-syllable extravaganza in the slight but catchy \u201cI\u2019ll Make It Clear,\u201d all you can do is smile.<\/p>\n
Grand Prix<\/i> drops off a bit at the end; McGinley\u2019s penultimate \u201cI Gotta Know\u201d is a rather dull droner, and then Blake gets weird with the closing \u201cHardcore\/Ballad,\u201d 18 seconds of ragged punk chords followed by a 1:22 solo acoustic ballad that doesn\u2019t leave much of an impression.<\/p>\n
Perhaps it\u2019s just that I don\u2019t get the joke, because the overall impression I\u2019m left with is of a lot of strong songwriting and arranging and some terrific bits, but without a lot of character. The power-pop bands of similar vintage at the top of my list\u2014Fountains Of Wayne and Fastball, for two\u2014sprinkle their songs with humor, often of the self-deprecating variety, and use it to make pointed observations about human nature and the vagaries of fate. While it shows up occasionally here\u2014notably on \u201cVerisimilitude\u201d\u2014to these ears, humor often feels like a missing ingredient on this album.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
In sum, the concise Grand Prix<\/i>\u201413 songs spread across 42 minutes\u2014is something of a hard candy treat. There\u2019s plenty of sweetness in the hooks and harmonies and a pleasant crunch to the guitars\u2014it all just feels something less than completely satisfying in the end. I suspect the guys in The Legal Matters would disagree, but c\u2019est la vie. I\u2019m still glad they listened.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":33173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[10009],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-44971","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-teenage-fanclub","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44971"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}