Here are power poppers The Richies, a Melbourne band who worship at the altar of Teenage Fanclub (and, to a lesser extent, The Beatles – but don’t all power pop bands worship The Beatles?):
The Richies – “I Wanna Make It With You” (2003)
“I Wanna Make It With You” appears on their 2003 album, Forever And Today. I had a bit of trouble deciding which track from the album to choose, as the album is uniform in its quality (no one track is weaker than the other), and all the songs are pleasant and Teenage Fanclubesque (the band even have the cheek to call one of their songs “Fanclubesque”).
Nevertheless, “I Wanna Make It With You” is fairly representative, but the main reason I chose it because it has a cute little middle eight that absolutely has nothing to do with the rest of the song (it starts at 1:38). It sounds to me like the chap(s) who wrote the song had a very Beatles-ish tune tune lying around, and decided to plonk it in the middle of one of their very Teenage Fanclub-ish songs (e.g., “Which song?” “It doesn’t matter. Try that one.” etc). It sounds like they also decided to give their Teenage Fanclub-ish song a very Beatles-ish end. Weird but fun.
The more I listen to the album, the more I think: this is an enjoyable little album. It doesn’t aspire to conquer the world, just get you smiling for 40 minutes.
So, if you’re wondering what an Australian Teenage Fanclub album sounds like, here’s one right here:
Incidentally, I have a minor criticism with one of the lyrics. I reckon the boys missed a golden opportunity in “Oh No, Okay.” At the 1:04 mark they sing “I won’t do no harm / And I won’t break your heart,” but I much prefer “I won’t do no harm / And I won’t break your arm“:
The Richies – “Oh No, Okay” (2003)
Buy Forever & Today at Bandcamp ($5 digital download, or $7 for the CD: magnificent bargain)
Buy Forever & Today at Popboomerang Records ($10: bargain)
Buy Forever & Today at CD Baby ($12: almost a bargain)
