Teenage Fanclub: Man-Made : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

For a moment in the early Nineties, when Teenage Fanclub's major-label debut, Bandwagonesque, hit modern-rock airwaves on the heels of Nirvana's Nevermind, the Scottish band seemed poised to ride the grunge rocket into the hearts and minds of America's youth. Instead the band jettisoned most of its guitar feedback to become a trusted purveyor of power-pop -- outlasting its contemporaries but settling into a beautiful, tuneful rut. Recorded in Chicago with Tortoise leader John McEntire, Man-Made shakes the quartet out of stasis with a crisp, contemporary slant on its dependable pop classicism. Folk-rock softness belies hard-won lyrics about growing old and dying: Guitarist Norman Blake's "Cells" ranks as the catchiest song ever about decomposing, while Raymond McGinley's monogamous dedication "Only With You" seems destined for a future episode of Six Feet Under. Eerie and lovely, this is the sound of a band that's managed to mature with dark dignity.