There's Something About You
(Teenage fanclub, Stockholm 8/7/05, photo by city kitty)
What you do to me...
I know, I can't believe
For some reason, songs just come to mind for some reason, sometimes. It's not possible to explain, or reason with the subconscious, better just to let them wash over and they'll pass. So it is with Teenage Fanclub's What You Do To Me this weekend. I was never really familiar with the band aside from what I'd hear on the radio, and this track on a compilation.
That compilation album, from the front of a long-lost music rag like all the best ones, is now lost, and it's a sad, sad thing. For it was maybe the finest compilation of it's sort I'd ever heard. Released, I imagine in the mid-90's, it ended up in a charity shop when I bought it, and contained some breathtaking music. The Fall, Sonic Youth, Velvet Underground, Television and Joy Division were just a handful of delights, and the album closed with this jangle classic. By all accounts, Bandwagonesque is one of those albums you should definitely have, a UK indie classic, but I fall short on this front.
What I can tell you is that in between the mild and toned-down buzzsaw guitars plucked from a JAMC record, the Beach Boys harmonies and the catchy-as-the-plague hook lines, repeated over and over to fit an almost shoegaze-y ethic (in the vocal approach, at least) there's a beautiful, sweet classic indie-pop song. So well done Teenage Fanclub.
I'm a generous man. So instead of plumping for just the single track I'll give you another magazine-promo-classic, an another indie-pop classic to boot. Hot tip: The Times today has In The Mood For Love, for free, so if you want good promotional goodies...
Anyway, the track in question is by Seafood, a much-loved but ever under-appreciated band. Their last record, on Cooking Vinyl, revealed a more country-ish bent, with less of the lo-fi guitars of their debut, but for me their defining moment is this dynamic, head-swayingly pretty number, Belt. Watch Yourself Now...
The Music
Teenage Fanclub - What You Do To Me
Seafood - Belt
The 'fo
Artists: Teenage Fanclub/Seafood
Websites: teenagefanclub.com/seafood.uk.com/MySpace
Recommended: Bandwagonesque/Surviving The Quiet
Label: Merge/Cooking Vinyl
Buy: Amazon TF/S
More: Hype Machine TF/S; elbo.ws TF/S
Tags: Teenage Fanclub; Seafood; indie; compilation
2 comments:
RE: The free CD containing Teenage Fanclub, The Fall et al was Vol 10 in a short-lived mag called (if memory serves) Rock Music Monthly (took them ages to come up with it. You're right, it's awesome. The tracklisting is: 1. "I Can't Stand It" - Velvet Underground; 2. "Kick Out The Jams" - MC5; 3. "Friction" - Television; 4. Kanga Roo" - Big Star; 5. "The Pictures on my Wall" - Echo & The Bunnymen; 6. "Transmission" - Joy Division; 7. "Treason" - Teardrop Explodes; 8. "Sugar Hiccup" - Cocteau Twins; 9. "Teenage Riot" - Sonic Yout; 10. "Freak Scene" - Dinosaur Jr; 11. "What You Do To Me" - Teenage Fanclub; 12. "Past Gone Mad" - The Fall.
See? Awesome. Excuse me while I sound like my Dad for a moment, but they really don't make them like that anymore.
Cheers, Jez
(PS - I haven't just memorised this, I have a copy)
(PPS - You don't own "Bandwagonesque"?? Are you shitting me??
Thanks buddy, I'd forgotten some of the other tracks on there. Obviously, Freak Scene is awesome, but the Cocteaus and Big Star tracks are maybe the best on there. Fantastico.
And no, I don't have Bandwagonesque.
And yes, I'm sorry...
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