SONG OF THE DAY (#247)

'start again,' by teenage fanclub

sometimes i'm just in awe of the slew of great records releases 1997. it was a banner year in my book and one i'll always look back at fondly and lovingly. it was the year i moved back to cali and i bought a ton of cds and i went to a ton of shows--as many as three a week, which is saying something considering i lived about 70 miles from l.a. at the time. it was exhausting, but it was totally worth it. i think if you were to ask anyone who was big into the scene in those days--i saw all the same folks at all the same shows--i'm sure they'd say it was one of the best years of their lives. it was certainly one of mine. it was like being part of a movement--a tiny movement, to be sure--but a movement nonetheless. it was super cool to feel like a part of something that most people hadn't the foggiest idea about.

not least among all those great records from that year was teenage fanclub's 'songs from northern britain.' in fact, it was probably one the better albums from 1997, but the likes of oasis, suede, blur, pulp and radiohead dominated the charts of the headlines. naybe it was because teenage fanclub didn't care about innovating; maybe it was because they were content to take a classicist approach to songwriting. maybe it was the merging of big star-esque power pop with byrds-esque harmonies in a time where not a whole lot of bands weren't doing that. who knows. all i know is that teenage fanclub is still one of the finest bands around. in 1991 spin magazine named their major-label debut, 'bandwagonesque,' their top album of the year. that's quite an honor, methinks. go do your homework and see what else was released that year ['nevermind,' for one] and it makes that placing all the more impressive.

'start again,' for me, is the quintessential teenage fanclub song. it's all about the harmony and melody. amazing stuff. the band released its most recent album, 'man-made,' in 2005 and spawned the equally gorgeous 'fallen leaves.'

��� teenage fanclub: start again / live in brazil
��� teenage fanclub: fallen leaves