Bandwagonesque - Teenage Fanclub

A few blogs ago I mentioned that how to get to gigs was one of the last considerations. Whilst this was understandable when we did not have access to a car, the situation did not improve much once we did. We still seemed to find ways to make it as convoluted as possible. One such example was when Neil and I decided to go and see the Teenage Fanclub at Leeds Uni in 1992. Being from Hartlepool, that in itself would seem like a tall order but when you add in the fact that I was, at the time, living in Hull it made even less sense. But we were going and that was that.
So, after work one evening, Neil travelled from Hartlepool to Hull (which is not on the way to anywhere) and after picking me up we set off across the M62 towards Leeds. Time was tight. Very tight. So tight in fact that we got to the Leeds University buildings just before 9pm.... and then there was the problem of finding a parking space. Not being familiar with Leeds at all we ditched the car on the first piece of grass we could find and rushed into the University buildings. It was a storming gig and we were pleasantly surprised to find that the car had not been clamped or towed away. We had inadvertently dumped the car in the middle of the junction at Woodhouse Lane! An so, at around 11:30pm Neil made the return journey to Hartlepool, via Hull of course. It was a heroic effort on his part.
This album marks something of a watershed for the Fannies as it was critically acclaimed and for a brief moment it looked as if they were destined for huge commercial success. It was not to be but the album has all the right ingredients; glorious harmonies, melodies and distorted guitars. Perhaps Travis, who appeared on the scene a few years later, stole their thunder with a very similar sound. Nevertheless, this album is one of the classic indie albums and demonstrates that pop music was not confined to electronics, samples or dance beats.