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Some of you ‘normal’ people are getting excited by the World Cup or by
the warm weather, but I must say I am not bothered about either.In fact, this weekend I am avoiding both by staying in, listening to
some new music and updating my blog, which is long overdue.Trust me, it’s better than being stood in an over-crowded pub full of
undesirable types who only go out drinking when it’s summer, an
international sporting event, St Patrick’s Day or New Year’s Eve, and
then spoil it for the rest of us who are regular frequenters of ale
houses. The hot weather brings ’em all out…To keep me company – my girlfriend Susie is away in Barcelona – I’ve
stocked up on red wine and cheese. It could be a long evening….There’s plenty of great new music around at the moment, but I’ve also
been digging around in record shops and online to discover some retro
delights, too.Now, I may not be a fan of summer, but I am partial to the odd killer
sunshine guitar pop tune or two – and the new Teenage Fanclub album
Shadows is full of ’em.It’s easily the best thing they’ve done since 1995’s Grand Prix.
OK, so if you don’t like Teenage Fanclub (hard to believe, I know, but
there are such deluded people out there,apparently) then Shadows won’t
convert you, as it’s classic trademark Fanclub to the max. Jangly
Byrds-meets-Big-Star guitars? Check. Beachboys harmonies? Check. Great
melodies? Check. Well, if it ain’t broke….I always hate it when idiotic, inane presenters like Zane Lowe
proclaim something to be ‘the soundtrack of the summer’, but Shadows
will certainly be the soundtrack of my summer – and hopefully it will
help me to get through the imminent, oppressive heat wave.Here’s the current Teenage Fanclub single, Baby Lee – if you dig this,
you’ll love the album. Yeah, it’s soppy, but so what? It’s better than
crying over a football match…
The Golden Age of Lucky Soul
Lucky Soul’s second album A Coming of Age is aptly named, as it’s the
sound of a band growing up, maturing and developing, finding their
feet and standing proud, ready to take on the world.
Sure, the elements which made their 2007 debut The Great Unwanted such
a joy are still very much in place- ’60s girl pop, meets St Etienne,
Stax and Motown – but this time around, songwriter Andrew Laidlaw has
widened his influences and plundered the history of popular music to
create an album that recreates the experience of rooting through – and
listening to – the best record collection in the world ever. I’d love
to nip round his house and check out his CDs and LPs.
So, we’ve got glam-disco, gospel, Southern fried
soul, country-rock, cinematic orchestrations and Smiths-style
melancholy on the menu. There are nods to Blondie, Dexys Midnight
Runners, Carole King, Neil Young, Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell,
among others.
Singer Ali Howard’s gorgeous ‘little girl lost vocals’ are now
accompanied by more complex, strident and bigger, bolder arrangements.
Rampant opener Woah Billy! is swathed in sultry Philadelphia strings,
Could It Be I Don’t Belong Anywhere (just how Morrissey is that
title?) sounds like Cilla Black’s Anyone Who Had A Heart reworked as a
big soul ballad but via Strangeways Here We Come and Upon Hilly
Fields is a lovely pastoral piece with an After The Goldrush feel.
The opening salvo of Woah! Billy, White Russian Doll and Up In Flames
makes for a powerful three-pronged attack – it’s like listening to a
‘Best of ’60s Soul’ Greatest Hits album; hook-laden killer tracks that
grab you by the throat and demand you shake, shake, shimmy as if your
life depended on it.
Laidlaw has also explored the darker side of life (a dark night of the
Lucky Soul, anyone?) with A Coming Of Age – especially on the title track –
all moody James Bond strings, but with a spiky Johnny
Marr-ish guitar riff. There’s a pervading sense of heartache to
many of the songs – Warm Water and Southern Melancholy are two of the
saddest, yet most swoonsome, tunes I’ve heard in a long time.
If there’s a better pop album than A Coming of Age released this year,
then I’ll eat my (porkpie) hat.
Say It With Garage Flowers 