Shadows (Teenage Fanclub album)
Shadows is the ninth studio album by Scottish alternative rock band Teenage Fanclub, released on 31 May 2010 on the band's own PeMa label in Europe and on Merge Records in North America. It is the band's first new album release in five years. The album contains twelve songs: four written by Gerard Love, four by Norman Blake, and four by Raymond McGinley. Blake's "Baby Lee" was released as a single.
| Shadows | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 31 May 2010 | |||
| Recorded | August 2008 | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock | |||
| Length | 47:54 | |||
| Label | PeMa (Europe) Merge (North America) | |||
| Teenage Fanclub chronology | ||||
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The liner notes credit David McGowan as a member, and he has been a constant tour fixture for a number of years now, playing keyboards, additional guitars, and, more recently, the slide guitar.
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Consequence of Sound | |
| Drowned in Sound | (8/10)[3] |
| Pitchfork Media | (7.4/10)[4] |
| SPIN Magazine | (3.5/5)[5] |
| The A.V. Club | (A-)[6] |
Shadows received favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 81, which indicates "universal acclaim", based on 18 reviews.[7] Matt Collar of Allmusic found the "sparkling and reflective" album a worthy follow-up to Man-Made, and concluded by writing "If the day [described in "Today Never Ends"] is as sun-drenched and relaxed as the songs on Shadows implies, then may it and Teenage Fanclub go on and on."[1] Noel Murray of The A.V. Club wrote "This is a work of rare craft, from a band now inclined to leave behind something timelessly beautiful."[6]
Spin named Shadows the 40th best album of 2010.[8]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sometimes I Don't Need to Believe in Anything" | Love | 4:34 |
| 2. | "Baby Lee" | Blake, Jo Mango, Ziggy Campbell | 4:26 |
| 3. | "The Fall" | McGinley | 5:27 |
| 4. | "Into the City" | Love | 4:29 |
| 5. | "Dark Clouds" | Blake | 2:43 |
| 6. | "The Past" | McGinley | 3:33 |
| 7. | "Shock and Awe" | Love | 3:43 |
| 8. | "When I Still Have Thee" | Blake | 3:31 |
| 9. | "Live with the Seasons" | McGinley | 3:26 |
| 10. | "Sweet Days Waiting" | Love | 3:38 |
| 11. | "The Back of My Mind" | Blake | 4:02 |
| 12. | "Today Never Ends" | McGinley | 4:31 |
Personnel
Credits for Shadows are adapted from Allmusic.[9]
- Teenage Fanclub
- Norman Blake – guitar, vocals
- Gerard Love – bass, vocals
- Francis MacDonald – drums
- Raymond McGinley – guitar, vocals
- David McGowan – keyboards, guitar
- Additional personnel
- Andy Bell – assistant engineer
- Nick Brine – engineer, mixing
- Ziggy Campbell – composer
- Euros Childs – piano, vocals
- Joanna Collinson-Scott – composer
- Tom Crossley – flute
- Robert Dallas Gray – layout
- John McCusker – strings
- Toby Paterson – artwork
- Dave Pye – assistant engineer
- Steve Rooke – mastering
References
- Collar, Matt. "Review: Shadows". Allmusic. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
- "Consequence of Sound review".
- "Drowned in Sound review".
- "Pitchfork Media review".
- "SPIN Magazine review".
- "A.V. Club review".
- "Critic Reviews for Shadows - Metacritic". Metafilter. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
- 12.06.10 10:27 am. "The 40 Best Albums of 2010 | TEENAGE FANCLUB". SPIN.com. Retrieved 2012-01-07.
- "Shadows - Teenage Fanclub : Credits". Allmusic. Retrieved 30 June 2013.