Thirteen

About

A dark and understated album, <i>Thirteen</i> was something of a hard left for Teenage Fanclub after the jangling harmony-drenched pop of 1991’s <i>Bandwagonesque</i>. Critics and listeners who thrilled to that album's clever, compact songwriting and punchy guitar hooks were slow to warm to the slower, murkier <i>Thirteen</i>. But <i>Thirteen</i> is a minor wonder. If it meanders, it does so with the resigned majesty of rock’s great downer opuses. Where the crisp guitar pop of <i>Bandwagonesque</i> took Big Star’s shimmering <i>#1 Record</i> as its prime critical touchstone, the fuzz-soaked sprawl of songs like “Hang On” and “Gene Clark” nod more toward the bleary-eyed grandeur of Neil Young’s fabled “ditch trilogy." Though it doesn’t burn as brightly or charm as immediately as its much-fêted predecessor, <i>Thirteen</i> is nonetheless a collection of remarkable songs; its atmosphere of dread and disillusionment make it one of Teenage Fanclub’s most distinctive releases.

via Apple Music

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