Teenage Fanclub

Songs from Northern Britain is supposedly about maturity, family, home and all that good stuff. But paying attention to lyrics has always been hard when a Teenage Fanclub tune leaves the speakers. As with the Byrds, those melancholic harmonies and chiming guitars lull the mind into hazy reverie after just a couple of minutes. It's really quite beautiful. But the best development is the band's newfound interest in rural folk-rock; "Planets" and "It's a Bad World" are stunners because of it.

Scottish foursome Teenage Fanclub got their start imitating the seminal American
power-pop band Big Star. On Songs From Northern Britain, the Fanclub's sixth album,
they've finally outgrown Big Star, only to fixate on the early songbook of the Byrds – it's all
there, from the perfect harmonies to the wistful folk-rock guitars. Considering that
Teenage Fanclub has three songwriters (Norman Blake, Gerard Lov and Raymon... More >