No Hits 5.23.05

It's All In My Mind (mp3) – Teenage Fanclub

This week’s No Hits selection was entirely too easy. This is practically the only thing I’ve been listening to for the last five days—over and over and over again.

Teenage Fanclub’s been around for a while—16 years according to the year-by-year history on it’s Web site. I’m sure they’ve done better in Britain (the guys hail from Glasgow), but they never really hit it big in the U.S. Maybe it’s just taken Teenage Fanclub a long time to find their sound. For me, their early work too slavishly imitated Big Star (I like Big Star just fine, just don’t appreciate slavish imitation). With the exception of power pop anthem Star Sign, the band’s 1991 breakout Bandwagonesque was disconcertingly derivative.

But if It’s All In My Mind (from the forthcoming Man-Made) is any indication, they’re doing amazing things these days. Achingly beautiful close harmonies, moody backing keyboards and faint hints of noisy guitar squall are held neatly in place by tight, propulsive drums. If there’s any justice in this world, this perfect pop song will get extensive radio play. But we all know there isn’t.

From Bandwagonesque:

Star Sign (mp3)

Update: You can stream Man-Made--it sounds gorgeous! (Tip from The Catbirdseat.)