I remember hearing this album for the first time vividly. As a huge Pixies fan, I was excited when the erstwhile Black Francis released his debut, self-titled solo album under his new alias. It was a good album with several standouts. I was happy with it. One year later though, Teenager Of The Year came out. Holy. Fuck. What. An. Album! To this day, it remains firmly amongst my 20 favourite records of all time.
The feral assault of ‘Whatever Happened To Pong?‘ – after a misleadingly pretty intro – grabs you from the off, then you’re shaken into a stupor by the equally relentless ‘Thalassocracy‘. That double whammy absolutely makes you feel like you’ve been well and truly Tangoed (Note for those under 40 – you can google the ads on Youtube).
It’s quite a relief when the melodic strains of ‘(I Want To Live On An) Abstract Plain‘ kick in, despite the fact that we’re barely three songs in on this 22-track album, but its affecting aura and accompanying strings make it feel ever more expansive. Then the gorgeous ‘Calistan‘ – one of Teenager Of The Year‘s multitude of highlights – delights us with its irresistible pull and entertaining lyric: “Went in from the weather when I got wheezy/I play some Pachinko I play Pachisi/And St. Anne is still making it breezy/In the valley of tar that once was L.A.“
Anyway, I’m not going to do a complete ‘track by track’ analysis of the album, suffice it to say that this masterpiece has been lovingly and lavishly packaged in a double gold vinyl edition that celebrates its 30th anniversary, even though it’s 31 years old. But hey, why quibble about such minor details? All you need to know is that the LP still sounds, and looks, fantastic. Hell, even the rather minimalist inner sleeves are somewhat alluring in black and white respectively. It’s a tremendous release, cut at 45rpm for optimum playback.
As to its best moments, it’s difficult to pick, really, as the whole damn thing is just so great, but an obvious choice would be the single ‘Headache‘ due to its easy singalong nature, and bizarrely the only song released in that format from the album. I always loved ‘Fiddle Riddle‘ too, which begins a little like mid-eighties Madness and has a pleasing reggae-ish jauntiness about it, or the thrilling ‘Pure Denizen Of The Citizen’s Band‘, which comes screaming at you like a late 1970s post-punk anthem. Or you could go with the charming ‘I Could Stay Here Forever‘, the frantic punk of the Dead Kennedys-like ‘Bad Wicked World‘ or the initially dreamy ‘Superabound‘, which eventually gives way to something I could only describe as a cacophony of joy reminiscent of Bob Dylan at his unadulterated peak.
So yes, Teenager Of The Year stands up, 31 years later, as the classic record it always was. If anything, it sounds even better now.
Teenager Of The Year – 30th-anniversary double gold vinyl edition is out now on 4AD.
