599 Teenage Fanclub - Grand Prix (1995)

 599 Teenage Fanclub - Grand Prix (1995)

Studio Album - Jangle Pop


About the Act:

Teenage Fanclub are a Scottish band who were formed in 1989. They've sung some songs, made some albums and had some people join and some people leave.

About the Album:

This was their fifth album.

My History with this Album:

None.

Review:

This is what Wikipedia says about this album.

"Upon release, Grand Prix received almost unanimous critical acclaim. Writing for The Independent, Andy Gill called it "winsome and reflective", while Angela Lewis of the same publication described Grand Prix as a "breathtakingly superb (album) with finely honed dynamics, nagging harmonies and deceptively simple lyrics". In 2000, Q placed Grand Prix at number 72 in its list of the "100 Greatest British Albums Ever". It was voted number 624 in the 3rd edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). In 2004, it made number 72 on The Observer Music Monthly's top 100 British albums list. In 2013, NME ranked it at number 282 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time."

I double-checked and this is the same album that I listened to. If there is anybody reading this who knows and loves this album, please get in touch with me to explain it to me. Thanks.

I was bored. Too bored. I almost didn't listen through. I did actually listen through 1.5 times. I found it to be trite and clichéd and not at all interesting. Now I feel bad, maybe I didn't listen properly. So I'm going to NOT post this review yet, and listen again. Not right now. In the morning when I can face it. 

I'm back, I've had a much more focused listen. I have found some positive qualities, but I still don't get the cricical raving.

Let's talk about those positive qualities. It's pretty easy to listen to. Despite being quite upbeat generally, the production makes it light. Musically it's competent. There are songs and singing and the singing is in tune. It's poppy, and I remembered some bit from the earlier listens. It's quite acceptable as background music, and if you have a particular thing for certain kinds of pop-rock you might like it. It has been categorised (in Wikipedia) as Jangle Pop and Dream Pop (and Alt Rock, but I'm less convinced by that). It does have a jangliness to it and a dreaminess to it. It makes few demands of one. It's like sweet porridge. Having had another listen my score has gone up.

However, musically, to me it is so-so. There is nothing that excites me, no good grooves, no infectious chord sequences, no adventurous instrument choice, not a lot of memorable melodies. Musically I found it bland.

Lyrically, similar, I think. Now there are many albums for which I don't even comment on the lyrics. Not all music is about the lyrics and that's OK. I didn't find the lyrics in this album particularly interesting, they are fairly generic, and seem to be to the point. Functional. Also fairly bland.

The biggest source of blandness, though, for me, is the vocal performances. Again, it's quite pop, sung in a non-committal way as if not really thinking about what is being sung. So I know that this sort of delivery became popular for a while, and maybe still is, and is possibly even a component of the concept of "dream pop". It treats the voice like an instrument, again competent, but again, bland. Very, very bland. I think this is the core of my dislike, I think it is rooted in blandness, and I think that this is actually by design. Maybe that's ironic, or maybe there is another level I have not dug into yet, maybe I'm just not enough in the know to know how to get the good listening experience out of this. All this I am prepared to admit. For me, though, deliberately bland is still bland.

6/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1RsRcawTHLE4NRvPXHWu6d

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLy4u88AKUauKBzCYSXGUMqKBM9RQy3_hF

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Prix_(album)



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