The Times

                             June 6, 1995, Tuesday

SECTION: Features

LENGTH: 336 words

HEADLINE: Wonderful formula won

BYLINE: Paul Sexton

 BODY:
    Teenage Fanclub,  Empire, W12

   IN SOME parallel universe where the music business still plays by the old
rules,  Teenage Fanclub  are blaring from radios and Dansettes nationwide, Paul
Sexton writes. Back down here, their unbeatable combination of cool images and
great songs can, it seems, be held at bay.

    That does not mean that the Scottish quartet did not enjoy healthy first
week sales for their splendid new album Grand Prix. Simply that a band with such
an impressive portfolio of singles ought to be airplay essentials and denizens
of the upper regions of the charts. Instead, they're always stuck in second
gear, just outside the ''Fun 30'', as Tony Blackburn would have put it in the
era that the Fannies remember so fondly.

    All such frustrations are being put on hold during their latest British
tour, which arrived in Shepherd's Bush to find the locals gagging for Glaswegian
guitars. The Fannies were happy to oblige, going about the task with trademark
geniality. ''Nice to see you, to see you ...'' offered lead singer Norman Blake,
apologising for having no catchphrases of his own.  Flippancy aside, the early
delivery of What You Do To Me and its juxtaposition with new material made it
clear how much  Teenage Fanclub  have matured of late. That first dash into the
Top 40 three years ago remains agreeably melodious but is based entirely on a
two-line lyric and comes and goes within a couple of minutes.

    These days the group writes songs of altogether more impressive dimensions,
especially Neil Jung and the two Grand Prix singles to date, Mellow Doubt and
Sparky's Dream.

    Putting the tin lid on any idea that they might merely be half-arsed
riffmongers with some vague ambition to be Beatles for the 1990s, co-writer
Raymond McKinley took the lead on what could well be the first use of the word
Verisimilitude in a rock song title. ''I don't need an attitude,'' he sang.
''Rebellion is a platitude.''

    A winning evening for the campaign for real songs.