Teenage Fanclub's LP Grand Prix was overshadowed on its release by What's The Story (Morning Glory) by their more boisterous label mates Oasis. Both bands were happily and avowedly in thrall to influences from the 60's and 70's, but it's the Fanclub who I return to again and again.
Fuzzy guitars, perfect choruses featuring gorgeous harmonies - splendid tunes, and not a dud on what for my money is the best album ever released on Creation. Their breakthrough LP was Bandwagonesque, which music journos liked to compare to Big Star, and which undoubtedly has the stamp of Alex Chilton running through it, but the first influence that came to me when I got my 7" of What You Do To Me home was Neil Young. The rambling, scuzzy, melodic guitar lines sounded right off Ragged Glory (another fabulous guitar album), and one of the best tracks on Grand Prix is named Neil Jung.
Grand Prix sounded instantly classic when it appeared at the height of Britpop, fighting for attention with releases like the aforementioned Oasis album, and others from Supergrass, Elastica, and PJ Harvey. Play it alongside chumps like the Kooks, Razorlight, and all the other indie boy chancers cluttering up the charts these days and it sounds impossibly exciting.
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