Teenage Fanclub

A review of their album 'Howdy!'

The only way I can describe the newest release from this famous foursome is 'Southern-Fried Scottish Rock'. 'Howdy' is filled with lots of guitar twangs and lyrics with sincerity. And I like it.

Lacking maybe the grunge factor of 'Bandwagonesque' or 'Catholic Education' it nonetheless it still as good on its own merits. The track 'Dumb, Dumb, Dumb' for example is a wonderfully simple song with a little bit of an edge compared with its companions on the LP. Other tunes worthy of a mention include 'The Sun Shines from You' - a sweet love song with lyrics that are honest and from the heart - and track ten 'Cul De Sac' which has a curious but nice and sophisticated retro-loungy sound complete with xylophone. A great change from everything else on the album.

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Connie Hartmann