Is This Music? - Teenage Fanclub Uncovered - A Spotify Playlist

With a new album from Teenage Fanclub on the horizon I've been immersing myself in the surprising amount of records of theirs that I own. LPs, CD & 7" singles along with appearances on compilation LPs and magazine freebies. With this in mind I present you with a Spotify playlist of songs they've covered. Some are on LPs, some on B-sides, some on tribute albums, but all given the Fanclub makeover and all an insight into their likes and influences. There were also a couple of Neil Young tracks ('Burned' and 'Don't Cry No Tears'), but they aren't on Spotify so I couldn't tag them on. Anyways, I'll stop prattling. Long live the Fanclub!

Claudio Cataldi – Here She Comes Now (Ltd. Col 7”)

Sicilian songwriter's tribute to the Velvets!

The ever-expanding smorgasbord that is Fruits de Mer's back catalogue gets even more tasty with this latest 7” from Claudio Cataldi, a singer-songwriter based in Palermo in Sicily. He may be familiar to FdM fans from his cover of Syd Barrett's 'She Took A Long Cold Look' which the label released a year or so ago. He's now turned his attention to the Velvet Underground with a beautifully lo-fi bedroom take of 'Here She Comes Now'.

Cataldi's take on the Velvets classic is backed with three Cataldi originals, one of which, 'All My Friends Are Here', is unavailable elsewhere. It mixes US slackerdom with homespun baroque-folk warmth, and will appeal as much to fans of J. Mascis and Elliot Nick Drake as those of Barrett and the Velvets. To my mind it's the best of the label's April releases. Do check it out, along with Claudio's back catalogue via the links below.

Released as a limited edition colour vinyl 7” (600 copies).

Tracklisting

1. Here She Comes Now
2. All My Friends Are Here
3. Final
4. Ropes and Strings

Click here for more on Claudio Cataldi.

Click here for Fruits de Mer Records.

The Velvet Underground And Nico - 45th Anniversary deluxe box set

All the Velvets' albums are truly superb, but there is something special about their debut. It contains some of their best songs - Sunday Morning, Heroin, All Tomorrow's Parties, Femme Fatale et al (always wanted to say that!) Factor in the iconic Warhol banana cover, the literary, classical and experimental influences and you have an album that's simply years ahead of its time. The band were such an unlikely grouping, a truly disparate set of characters coming to make so much more than the sum of their parts.

It's becoming de rigueur for classic albums to be reissued in these deluxe box sets and this LP is an album that warrants such attention. To celebrate 45 years since its release Universal Music/Polydor are putting out a bumper 6 disc collection featuring the original studio album in stereo and mono, rehearsal tapes, acetates and live material, as well as Nico's Chelsea Girl LP. It also contains an 88-page booklet with photos and an essay by none other than Richie Unterberger. (Click here for an interview I did with Richie earlier this year)

NB. Any of my friends or family reading this may want to snap one of these up as my Christmas pressie. Just a thought.