RobMCFC
Well-Known Member
The Album Review Club
Tellin' Stories - The Charlatans (1997)
Selected by RobMCFC
Introduction
Recently, I was idling away the time trying to compile a list of my favourite 100 albums. Naturally I ended up with about 106 and couldn’t be bothered finishing the job. But sorting these albums by year of release in the spreadsheet revealed a remarkable quirk: despite my long-time love of Americana and US rock, plus my general dislike of most things indie, The Charlatans somehow had the only album released in 1997 that was in my list. Perhaps more remarkably, they achieved the same feat in 1999. So, whilst this nomination could easily have been Us and Us Only, I decided to select Tellin’ Stories.
A Year Between Two Years of Change
1997 was a calm year that sits fondly in my memory – not quite as fondly as the two years either side, but I suppose that just shows what a contended period the late 90s was for me.
In 1996, I moved to the job that I’m still in all these years later. I went to Florida for the first time and that was a big WOW! moment. In 1998, my eldest daughter was born, but in 1997 my wife and I were just enjoying being married (as we still are, but with the added health complications). Tellin’ Stories was released in April 1997, but I seem to remember buying it in December of that year after, I think, hearing “North Country Boy” on the radio. We bought a red Mazda 323 around this time and switched our one-week holiday from Cyprus to Florida instead, such was the profound effect of the previous year’s visit.
The Charlatans
Of course, Tellin’ Stories wasn’t my first exposure to The Charlatans. Like everybody else I’d heard and enjoyed “The Only One I Know”, and its infectious organ riff made it stand head and shoulders above everything else in the Madchester scene. Not that the band were actually from Manchester, but they were strongly associated with the scene thanks to their appearances in Manchester, particularly as a support act for The Stone Roses. They were the only Madchester band to make it to number one in the album charts, a feat they achieved with their debut, Some Friendly.
It’s probably also worth pointing out that even though he is associated with Northwich, vocalist Tim Burgess was born in Worsley, which is just around the corner from where I live.
Tellin’ Stories
But why do I love this album so much when it sits outside of my favourite genres? Well, of course, it’s the music. Tim Burgess doesn’t have the best voice, but he makes the most of it and belts out these tunes with gusto. Mark Collins’ guitar shines on a lot of the tracks, particularly the slide on “North Country Boy”, and Jon Brookes and Martin Blunt anchor things nicely on drums and bass respectively.
Founding member Rob Collins died part way through the recording of the album so Primal Scream’s Martin Duffy stepped in to provide some keyboards in his wake. Exactly what was played by Collins and what was played by Duffy isn’t clear, but either way there are some tremendous organ pieces on here as you’d expect from The Charlatans.
I’ll start my look at the album in an unusual way: dismissing the three tracks that I think are the weakest. Opener “With No Shoes”, with its record scratch and references to “kidneys filled with booze” and “sides of beef” is fairly average, as is “How Can You Leave Us”, although maybe the latter is a poignant ode to the departed Rob Collins. Speaking of which, the final track, “Rob’s Theme”, is an exercise in noodling that maybe the band wanted to put on the album in tribute to their departed founder.
With that out of the way, we have two brilliant runs of four songs each. On the first half of the album “North Country Boy” is a great anthemic singalong that features some superb slide guitar from Mark Collins. The title tracks mixes acoustic and strings to good effect and for something completely different, how about “One To Another”? This should please the BPM crowd with its pounding drums and rock approach to club music. Finishing this first run is “You’re A Big Girl Now”, a quieter acoustic number that is nicely sung by Burgess.
The second run of four great songs begins with another club-influenced effort, the instrumental “Area 51”. This is followed by the short but sweet anthem “How High”, featuring lyrics delivered at breakneck pace and some nice guitar work that combine to produce a catchy song.
Then we come to two songs that for me are two of the standouts of the album. “Only Teethin’” starts with acoustic guitars and toms-toms mixed with a slinky bass and the organ fills are great as the song progresses. And how about that “since you came, my sweet ….” refrain that is so unexpected first time around but works so well?
“Get On It” is a good mid-paced song that is made great by the funky change later in the song. I love it when songs break out into a totally different vibe partway through and this is a superb example.
Final Thoughts
The original Tellin’ Stories album, and the version under review, is 11 tracks long and concludes with “Rob’s Theme”.
Spotify is full of extended album versions where the phrase “bonus tracks” usually equates to “should have been left in the bin”. However, if you are listening to the Expanded Edition of Tellin’ Stories then the extra tracks are well worth a listen, “Two of Us”, “Down With The Mook” and “Title Fight” being particularly good in my opinion.
I’ve really enjoyed re-visiting this album ahead of its nomination and it is one that I go back to fairly often anyway. We all need a few albums in our collection that go against the grain in terms of what we usually listen to, and this is one of mine.
Happy listening.
Tellin' Stories - The Charlatans (1997)
Selected by RobMCFC
Introduction
Recently, I was idling away the time trying to compile a list of my favourite 100 albums. Naturally I ended up with about 106 and couldn’t be bothered finishing the job. But sorting these albums by year of release in the spreadsheet revealed a remarkable quirk: despite my long-time love of Americana and US rock, plus my general dislike of most things indie, The Charlatans somehow had the only album released in 1997 that was in my list. Perhaps more remarkably, they achieved the same feat in 1999. So, whilst this nomination could easily have been Us and Us Only, I decided to select Tellin’ Stories.
A Year Between Two Years of Change
1997 was a calm year that sits fondly in my memory – not quite as fondly as the two years either side, but I suppose that just shows what a contended period the late 90s was for me.
In 1996, I moved to the job that I’m still in all these years later. I went to Florida for the first time and that was a big WOW! moment. In 1998, my eldest daughter was born, but in 1997 my wife and I were just enjoying being married (as we still are, but with the added health complications). Tellin’ Stories was released in April 1997, but I seem to remember buying it in December of that year after, I think, hearing “North Country Boy” on the radio. We bought a red Mazda 323 around this time and switched our one-week holiday from Cyprus to Florida instead, such was the profound effect of the previous year’s visit.
The Charlatans
Of course, Tellin’ Stories wasn’t my first exposure to The Charlatans. Like everybody else I’d heard and enjoyed “The Only One I Know”, and its infectious organ riff made it stand head and shoulders above everything else in the Madchester scene. Not that the band were actually from Manchester, but they were strongly associated with the scene thanks to their appearances in Manchester, particularly as a support act for The Stone Roses. They were the only Madchester band to make it to number one in the album charts, a feat they achieved with their debut, Some Friendly.
It’s probably also worth pointing out that even though he is associated with Northwich, vocalist Tim Burgess was born in Worsley, which is just around the corner from where I live.
Tellin’ Stories
But why do I love this album so much when it sits outside of my favourite genres? Well, of course, it’s the music. Tim Burgess doesn’t have the best voice, but he makes the most of it and belts out these tunes with gusto. Mark Collins’ guitar shines on a lot of the tracks, particularly the slide on “North Country Boy”, and Jon Brookes and Martin Blunt anchor things nicely on drums and bass respectively.
Founding member Rob Collins died part way through the recording of the album so Primal Scream’s Martin Duffy stepped in to provide some keyboards in his wake. Exactly what was played by Collins and what was played by Duffy isn’t clear, but either way there are some tremendous organ pieces on here as you’d expect from The Charlatans.
I’ll start my look at the album in an unusual way: dismissing the three tracks that I think are the weakest. Opener “With No Shoes”, with its record scratch and references to “kidneys filled with booze” and “sides of beef” is fairly average, as is “How Can You Leave Us”, although maybe the latter is a poignant ode to the departed Rob Collins. Speaking of which, the final track, “Rob’s Theme”, is an exercise in noodling that maybe the band wanted to put on the album in tribute to their departed founder.
With that out of the way, we have two brilliant runs of four songs each. On the first half of the album “North Country Boy” is a great anthemic singalong that features some superb slide guitar from Mark Collins. The title tracks mixes acoustic and strings to good effect and for something completely different, how about “One To Another”? This should please the BPM crowd with its pounding drums and rock approach to club music. Finishing this first run is “You’re A Big Girl Now”, a quieter acoustic number that is nicely sung by Burgess.
The second run of four great songs begins with another club-influenced effort, the instrumental “Area 51”. This is followed by the short but sweet anthem “How High”, featuring lyrics delivered at breakneck pace and some nice guitar work that combine to produce a catchy song.
Then we come to two songs that for me are two of the standouts of the album. “Only Teethin’” starts with acoustic guitars and toms-toms mixed with a slinky bass and the organ fills are great as the song progresses. And how about that “since you came, my sweet ….” refrain that is so unexpected first time around but works so well?
“Get On It” is a good mid-paced song that is made great by the funky change later in the song. I love it when songs break out into a totally different vibe partway through and this is a superb example.
Final Thoughts
The original Tellin’ Stories album, and the version under review, is 11 tracks long and concludes with “Rob’s Theme”.
Spotify is full of extended album versions where the phrase “bonus tracks” usually equates to “should have been left in the bin”. However, if you are listening to the Expanded Edition of Tellin’ Stories then the extra tracks are well worth a listen, “Two of Us”, “Down With The Mook” and “Title Fight” being particularly good in my opinion.
I’ve really enjoyed re-visiting this album ahead of its nomination and it is one that I go back to fairly often anyway. We all need a few albums in our collection that go against the grain in terms of what we usually listen to, and this is one of mine.
Happy listening.
