Thirteen

A dark and understated album, *Thirteen* was something of a hard left for Teenage Fanclub after the jangling harmony-drenched pop of 1991’s *Bandwagonesque*. Critics and listeners who thrilled to that album\'s clever, compact songwriting and punchy guitar hooks were slow to warm to the slower, murkier *Thirteen*. But *Thirteen* is a minor wonder. If it meanders, it does so with the resigned majesty of rock’s great downer opuses. Where the crisp guitar pop of *Bandwagonesque* took Big Star’s shimmering *#1 Record* as its prime critical touchstone, the fuzz-soaked sprawl of songs like “Hang On” and “Gene Clark” nod more toward the bleary-eyed grandeur of Neil Young’s fabled “ditch trilogy.\" Though it doesn’t burn as brightly or charm as immediately as its much-fêted predecessor, *Thirteen* is nonetheless a collection of remarkable songs; its atmosphere of dread and disillusionment make it one of Teenage Fanclub’s most distinctive releases.