Various Artists: What a Concept!: A Salute to Teenage Fanclub

In 15 years and some seven albums (to say nothing of their many collaborations), Glasgow’s own Teenage Fanclub produced a lot of great music, and they continue to record, with a new album in the works scheduled for release later this year. While there were three top-notch songwriters within the band (the majority written by either Norman Blake, Gerard Love, or Raymond McGinley), the standard elements of any Teenage Fanclub song always seems to be layers of jangly guitar drenched in rich, multi-part vocal harmonies forming some insanely catchy melody.

In spite of having written so many wonderful songs, the band remains unknown to most of the general public. Commercial success has eluded them, so outside of devoted fans, their legacy could always use an extra promotional push. First along these lines was 2003’s packaging of TFC’s greatest hits (Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty Seconds: A Short Cut to Teenage Fanclub), and now a year later comes this extensive tribute CD, executive produced and mastered by Ken West.

While the greatest hits featured 21 select TFC cuts, this generous tribute actually features 24 (and runs a healthy 79:34 minutes). It’s hard to pick out favorites here — there are so many energetic and loving performances — and I’m really biased toward the songs I liked in the first place. That said, this is a most impressive collection from start to end.

The Shazam do a fairly traditional version of “The Concept” to lead things off, and Redd Kross follow up with their raucous, harmonica-laced “Everything Flows”. One of my personal TFC favorites is “Sparky’s Dream”, and John Faye and IKE do it sweet justice, harmonies and all. Michael Carpenter keeps the harmonies flowing with his fantastic version of the delectable classic “Neil Jung”.

Receiver makes “What You Do to Me” sound like their own, and Superdrag do a caffeinated version of “Radio”. Rick Gallego and his Cloud Eleven provide a dulcet cover of another of my favorites, “Ain’t That Enough”. The Gigolo Aunts get close to the mic in their intimate version of “Alcoholiday” (so be careful with those headphones on).

It’s notable how well these indie bands manage to deliver delicious harmonies. Splitsville, in my opinion, actually improve on the spare acoustic feel of the original “Tears Are Cool”. Similarly, Chewy Marble cleverly update and sonically improve upon “Metal Baby”. The Andersons make “Fear of Flying” their own, giving it more beat and harmonies (and selling the delivery of that F word).

Ooh — so many favorites, so little time. Bronco Bullfrog keep fairly close to the jangle-drenched original with their version of the marvelous “I’ll Make It Clear”. The Mockers add guitar heft to the start of “Hang On”, then launch into a wonderful harmony-rich rendition that supposes what They Might Be Giants and Fountains of Wayne might sound like if they ever covered TFC. The ever-talented Cliff Hillis masters the unusual rhythmic twists and turns of “Can’t Feel My Soul” in a phenomenal cover.

Jet Lag add a piano riff and some interesting synth sounds to their version of “The Cabbage”. Mike Simmons, Susan West, and Sparklejets*UK do a truly superb “I Don’t Want Control of You” (talk about scrumptious harmonies). Florida’s Barely Pink (always great with cover songs) check in with solid old-fashioned rocking in “Don’t Look Back”. Marykate O’Neil wrests the B-side winner “Traffic Jam” from relative obscurity with her lovely voice.

Michael Shelley (who teamed with TFC sometime songwriter Francis McDonald in the duo Cheeky Monkey) does a fine job with another of my favorites, “Mellow Doubt”. A most pleasant version of “Winter” is provided by Crash Into June. Walter Clevenger and the Dairy Kings are fine practitioners of the multi-part harmony — the proof here is their splendid southern rock-accented “About You”.

Captain Soul does a fairly straightforward cover of “Your Love Is the Place I Come From”, with pedal steel accents and yet more delicious harmonies. Tam Johnstone’s the General Store clocks in with a semi-psychedelic version of “120 Minutes”, which expands upon the soft original, but remains true to the song’s intentions. Finally, Joyride offers an upbeat slighty-more-electronic rendition of “Near You” (off 2000’s Howdy).

All told, this is a LOT of music, perhaps more than should be covered in one sitting, but it’s a fine reminder of all the great music that Teenage Fanclub has brought our way thus far. Indeed it had me running to my old copies of their records for contrast and comparison, as well as to hear even more of my favorites — hey, 24 tracks doesn’t cover it all.

What a Concept!: A Salute to Teenage Fanclub is a long-running winner of a CD (and a great value when you consider running time and the amount of tracks). I only wish there was more to the CD booklet, perhaps allowing each band to give their reasons behind the choice of song and their particular version of it.

Ken West and the bands here have done a great job in assembling a loving tribute to some of the richest harmonic pop music we’ve ever had. Give it a listen and find out for yourself just how good and joyful Teenage Fanclub music really is.