When this one came out in 1994, there was so much for me to celebrate. Let's start with the label. The lads followed up stints with the likes of Summershine, Subway and Sarah, to name but a few, by adding Alan McGee's Creation to their impressive ancestry. Then there was the band itself. Chastain and Menck were joined by Jeffrey Borchardt of Honeybunch fame. Mitch Easter not only co-produced the album at his legendary Drive-In Studio, one of the last albums done there, but we all know Easter likes to lend a helping hand on both sides of the glass too. Assistance also came from names like Stephen Duffy, Greg Leisz and many others. There would be songs penned by Matthew Sweet and Gene Clark from his days with Dillard & Clark. Bottom line, for me, this is an all-star cast.
I could go on and on, but suffice it to say all of this added up to 'Teenage Symphonies to God' (oh, I forgot to even mention lauding Brian Wilson!) being just about the best 40 minutes of power-pop you'll ever hear.
"Hold Me Up"
"Why Not Your Baby"
7 comments:
Yep, this was a corker. The Gene Clark cover is fantastic. The debut album on Creation was good, too. Saw them live in Manchester, supporting Teenage Fanclub, around the time of the Post-Greatness EP (love the track Gentle Breeze from that EP).
Darren
TFC and VC on the same bill! Wow!! Filled with envy, Darren.
Classic power pop album should be in everyone’s collection. Not a bad track on there, some of my faves include Atmosphere, Weird Sunmer and Time Wraps around You. Cover art and band photo on the back are very cool too. All and all a perfect record! Would love to have it on vinyl but hard to come by and expensive.
I saw them on that tour as well Darren. Velvet Crush's cover of 'Why Not Your Baby' is lovely - one of my all time favourite songs. Sid Griffin did a nice version too.
Hmm. Either I owned this at one point in my life or it's been on my wants list for so long I just feel like I owned it. Really is worrying when I can't tell the difference.
Cheers, Brian, been listening to this all week. Great stuff. I definitely got hold of it when it came out but then promptly shelved and forgot it (not literally, borrowed it from the library, I think.) Lord knows what I was hearing then. And quite a big discography; I was going to leave it but I'm afraid I'm an inveterate burrower-in with these king of things - where would you go next...?
Hey, MP. Almost missed this comment. You are probably going to want both of the Creation albums. If you want to go back to the work of Chastain/Menck in the ‘80s, seek out the Briar High comp by Choo Choo Train. Tough one to get a hold of (my copy came from Japan), but right in your wheelhouse.
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