Bandwagonesque

Better than expected, will come back to this

4.5

It’s all a bit meh to me.

Decent enough. Just feels generic.

Just as with the previous album for me (Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space), Bandwagonesque makes a strong case that shoegaze is less a genre in itself than a blend of many influences, but primarily coated and disguised in reverb, gain, and swirling guitar feedback. Teenage Fanclub are probably one of my most beloved incarnations of ’60s pop, blues, and folk-tinged tunes - but make it noise - outside their respective genre’s heyday. Their third album sounds remarkably untouched by time, even 25 years after its initial release. Love it or hate it, but these Scots had a real knack for crafting engaging melodies and they, thankfully, incorporated some of their country’s idiosyncrasies along the way (the strings on “December”), to great effect. This is peak jangling noise pop/power pop. Highly, highly addictive.

Dang this is a really good fun album. Poppy but still crunchy it's delightful.

Na een vroege rock and roll plaat, een vroege country plaat, krijgen we nu een vroege britpop plaat. Deel van de leut bij de 1001 is het gesprek over de selectie. Na het 1001-gesprek van gisteren over deze plaat, moest ik even wiki-en over mijn eerste zin. Want wat is vroeg bij Britpop?

Daarvoor biedt wiki een mooie tijdslijn met gerenommeerde bands. (En nogal off-topic, daartussen een 'hoogtepunt rivaliteit' tussen de twee bekende bands, dus wellicht moet ik het als bron ook met een korreltje zout nemen). Los van de paar bands die al dit soort muziek maakten, voordat de term was uitgevonden. Knalt het genre er vanaf 1990 in. Dus ja: dit album uit 1991 was vroeg. Maar tegelijk staan er in het overzicht al in 1990 bewezen namen als Radiohead en Blur genoteerd. En wat is dan de waarde van dit vrij vergeetbare plaatje ten opzichte van de concurrenten?

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump up to a 5.

You know, sometimes, you can just hear when an album has ‘it’. This feels like an effortlessly good album. Some of these songs were apparently lyrically thrown together in 20 minutes, and you can tell. It’s not groundbreaking stuff here. It’s just a really good example of how less is occasionally more; I think back to the Auteurs’ album from the other day & how loaded it was with flowery language that created an abnormal sense of false confidence that soured the whole album. I look at the laidback style here & I can simply connect to it far more. Occasionally, these guys could’ve broken up some of their looping lyrics & not as relied as much on some extended guitar solos, but I don’t hear any of that as a boon to the music. At its very core, it’s just music that gives both itself & its listener the chance to breathe. If an album can make everything between the verses feel just as good as the verses themselves, it’s doing something right. This album is doing a lot of things right. It’s not necessarily doing it at a high level, but it’s just doing it right.

Is it the best album of 1991? No, at least not at a critical or professional level. It is, however, the type of album you can point to, call it your favorite album of 1991, and generally have someone understand why from listening to it, even if it’s not as timeless as others. That was Spin’s mistake; they picked their favorite album as the ‘best’ album. It’s not my favorite album of 1991, but I can totally see it being someone else’s. It’s extremely relaxed power pop, and despite the layered guitar tones that add a wall of sound to the whole thing, nothing ever feels too obnoxious in the mix. Everybody’s vocals sound really nice too. Lyrically, I wouldn’t even call it as ‘thrown together’ as I made it seem earlier; there’s some genuinely good lines here, a couple of lived-in scenarios, and if nothing else, they can boil down a doubt or an insecurity into a few lines that suddenly make them feel universal. It’s a very generalized album, but it still has weight to it.

Hence, a 4.5 bumped up to a 5. If it continues to click like that, it might go slightly above a 5 someday. It’s one of those albums that just has ‘it’, at least to my ears. I think it earns its place on the list.

As someone who really was a teenage fan of Teenage Fanclub, I think Grand Prix is their best album but I love this one too, ‘will this do?’ cover art and all.

The album was okay. However, there wasn't anything on it that I absolutely have to listen to again. 3/5

'Says she don't do drugs but she does the pill.' No, Bandwagonesque isn't better than Nevermind - for obvious reasons, Spin got that wrong - but that doesn't mean it's not an excellent record. Melody is a motherfucker, & this album proffers melody upon sweet melody, w/o losing itself in saccharinity. Teenage Fanclub have got some edge, sure, but the tracks on this thing are really nothing more than love songs in their barest, most basic form. I think what's most remarkable isn't just how simple the enterprise is, but that the album doesn't exactly jump off the page, & that it doesn't need to in order to impress. From go, the record lets you know what it's about, & that's to let the good times roll. Perhaps I'm just in a good mood, but nearly superb?

There's something oddly charming about this record

Enjoyable fuzz

Teenage Fanclub sound like Guided By Voices but with their edges smoothed out. It’s a bright, fuzzy, cheery sound and an enjoyable enough vibe that it did not bother me too much that it was not exactly unique and none of the songs stood out.

Not gonna lie, I say the album art and was very put off. However, to my delight this is a great album and very much my kind of thing! Really liked Star Sign. In their final track they question "Is This Music?" and it unquestionably is. I also feel I can appreciate the art a little more after I learned that Gene Simmons wanted to sue them for it. It's still super ugly though.

This really seems like something I should like, but it doesn't come together for me. First track is good, but its also the best and promises something not really delivered by the rest of the album.

the instrumental song at the end was the best

I do like a Microsoft Paint lookin' album cover.

I would have sworn I've never heard any of this, but I actually have heard 'The Concept' before, because I watched the movie "Young Adult" where it is a plot point. I gave the movie 3/5, but this album is getting a "too much guitar" 2/5, even though the last couple of songs are 3/5s. It is nice that they share singing and songwriting time among themselves.

Lol: According to Wiki, this "was voted 'album of the year' by American music magazine Spin; [who] both apologized for and defended the selection." As they should.

First of all, doesn’t factor into the score but holy crap what an awful album cover lol.

As for the actual album, really enjoyable listen. Everything up to and including Metal Baby was great. It did fall off a tad after that but came back strong at the end with Is This Music.

Top Track - Metal Baby

Can't stand the voice. Actively dislike the voice. Is milquetoast the right word here?

I had Crocodiles by Echo and the Bunnymen yesterday, didn't like it that much. Listened to today's album, now I love Crocodiles - perspective is everything.

I had heard of this album a bunch, but never actually heard it. The Concept was good with a sort of power pop sound. Satan surprised me as the follow up with it being a noisy instrumental but the rest went back to that nice power pop. And man this is is great for me, this is the kind of album I love doing this project for. This is an album that I should have owned since back then but went under my radar. I mean I was only 10 when it came out, so ya it makes sense, but better late than never.