Customer Reviews

Bandwagonesque

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

All the reviews are true, (except only giving it 4 stars) This album is the highlight of a very confusing time in music. When the world was hypnotized by Nirvana and labeling every rock band into the grunge category, you have a band that truly stood on their own terms and wasn't trying to make you feel sad. Rather they were creating moods of their own.

How can you describe the feeling on "The Concept" it's just musical stone still bliss. I think of this song as being locked into a timeless moment, and the music is able to swirl around your soul so very snuggly.

"Alcoholiday" is the song that makes strong men weep. Something about the singing really bends the mood and you feel at peace with their sound, caught in a twister of oohs and aahs. Out of all of Teenage Fanclub's works this has to be their moment in time. I find myself always going back to this one when I want to listen to them.

Teenage Fanclub have made a better album than this in the form of Grand Prix but Bandwagonesque is an equally essential purchase. Part self-conscious evocation of sixties' pop, part grunge-inspired guitar fest, Norman Blake, Raymond McGuinley and Gerard Love pointed the way for a host of cross-Atlantic guitar bands with a Lennon/Wilson fixation and a modicum of talent. Alcoholiday, a blaze of criss-cross guitars and heart-breaking lyrics, is one of the finest singles never released, while The Concept, Star Sign and Guiding Star are not far behind. Utterly wonderful.

The inevitable (and well deserved) comparisons to Big Star aside, this is "it" when it comes to jangly guitar rock in the 90's. Along with "The Auteurs" and "The Apples in Stereo", "Teenage Fanclub" dusts off Chilton-Bell's sound and turns it into their own powerful machine gun of angst. If you love power pop of the classic variety this CD belongs on your changer 100% of the time. The challenge for anyone who teen'd in the 70's is to listen to "December", "The Concept" or "Guiding Star" and NOT be transported back to High School. Buy this CD yesterday (at this price buy copies for anyone you know in their 40's who hasn't smiled alot lately)! It's only one of the top 10 CD's of the 90's!

Big Star means Big Time for me. Their number one record is one of my fave records, all time fave and i think such records deserve admiration, respect and a following crowd behind them. And when the crowd is good like these fellows, nothing to say. Alex Chilton but mostly Chris Bell must have liked this collection of beautiful, haunting rock songs. Teenage Fanclub have never touched this perfection again (unfortunately).

I just bought this album due to the fact that everyone says it is so great and because it is really cheap. Everyone is right. This record is fantastic. It is full of great songs like The Concept, What You Do To Me, and I Don't Know to name a few. Really if you are into highly melodic music with some distorted guitars I highly recommend purchasing this record.

This is where is all started (discounting A Catholic Education). One of the great underrated bands of the last decade showed just what they were capable of in the messy, poignant, joyous collection of songs that is Bandwagonesque. Big Star blah blah - Teenage Fanclub stand on their own as a great band who write great songs, full stop. And they invented Travis.

December, Guiding Star, What You Do to Me and Alcoholiday are all lovely, but my favourite is the Gerry Love penned instrumental Is This Music, though how the Fannies managed to get their guitars to sound like bagpipes is a mystery not uncommon in Scottish bands (remember Big Country?).

Bandwagonesque is not as smooth as later Teenage Fanclub offerings, the wonderful Grand Prix, the excellent Songs From Northern Britain and their latest long player Howdy, but in its sheer ragged exuberance it stands out as one of the best albums of the 90s.

With a sense of earnestness and a broad wink, this Scottish band has concocted a sound comprised of snarly guitars, melodies that beg to be whistled, and harmonies that are positively haunting. A couple of the tracks happily tread closely to bubblegum (viz. Metal Baby),others, namely Alcoholiday and The Concept, soar nearly to the sublime. If you are young, or ever were, you will enjoy this record.

BANDWAGONESQUE was my introduction to Teenage Fanclub. This is "The Fannies" 3rd release and their first successful achievement. It also gained notoriety by beating out Nirvana's Nevermind, My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, and R.E.M 's Out of Time as 'Album of the Year' by Spin magazine.
This album's lyrics and melodies shows that the Band were highly influenced by The Byrds, The Beach Boys, and of course Big Star.
I really can't believe Teenage Fanclub weren't considered the future of British Rock. Oasis and Blur won over that Crown. Blech! ...Kind of sad since Teenage Fanclub features 3 Master singer/songwriters in Blake, Love & McGinley.
BANDWAGONESQUE has so many wonderful highlights in twelve songs. It seems like it would be a 'Greatest Hits' for any above average Rock band. Although their later stuff is just as Good. Check out 1995's Grand Prix, which is even more lush w/ guitars a shinin' bright and clear, also no fuzz-boxes. Yep, BANDWAGONESQUE & GRAND PRIX are my two favorite studio albums by this marvelous band.
My favorites on BANDWAGONESQUE include: Opener - "The Concept" - "December" - "What You Do to Me" - "I Don't Know" - *Star Sign* - "Metal Baby" & "Sidewinder" but ALL are close to perfect 'lil pop-rockin' Hits, well to me at least.

This album reminds me of a great alternative rock radio station in Minnesota circa 1991. Just at the time I thought "rock" was dead, along came that radio station and albums like this. "The Concept," "What You Do To Me," and "Star Sign" received regular rotation on the old KJJO, and what great tunes they were. Over the course of time this album has become a favorite in my collection. Good times. Great tunes. If it weren't for my discovery of classic alternative bands like this I'd probably be listening to country-and-western now. Ugh. :)

If you love perfect early 1970's style pop, this is for you! One of my all time favorite cds, rich with lush harmonies and rock and roll guitars. Well constructed songs that rival any of the many bands they have been compared to (Big Star, Badfinger.)

This is their first commercial effort and all of their other releases are great as well. Start with this one and buy your way through the collection. This is an underrated gem which rarely strays far from the cd player.