March 1, 2002

Teenage Fanclub & Jad Fair : Words Of Wisdom And Hope

Unessential collaboration. With nice bits...

6 / 10 On long wintry afternoons in the NME office, thoughts naturally turn to
sunnier climes and those potentially perfect indie-interfaces: the Coral
and Reef; the Bees and the Hives.
Suffice to say, the collaborative appeal of Teenage Fanclub and Jad Fair
is not amongst them. Jad, of course, is the head-honcho of soppy
indie-stalwarts Half Japanese. More worrying is the fact that Jad is
notorious for being unable to carry a tune even if you handed it
to him in a samsonite briefcase and handcuffed it to his arm.

Not that 'Words...' doesn't posess a certain appeal. With
amiable janglers the Fanclub providing a predictibly pleasant backdrop,
Jad's syrupy ruminations on life -think Lou Reed on prozac- take
on a certain primitive charm.

"It's a throwback to the Fanclub's experimental days of 'A Catholic Education'"
pleads the PR by way of explaining the total absence of hummability. And so it is.

Jason Fox