Tellin’ Stories

I don't know why, but this album actually struck me quite well. Beginning at a high acceleration, the songs sort of lose energy, but in a way that feels almost cathartic. The best way I can express it is the feeling at the tail end of a party, where there is almost too much going on, so then you leave with a van full of people and begin dropping them off, and by the end of the ride it is just you and one other person talking about life together. Really nice.

This is some really good Brit-pop -> in an alternate universe most of these tracks would replace the same timeless status as Oasis' big hits. This is a better band with better songwriting (melodies, dynamics, whocaresaboutlyrics :).....) - the single "One To Another" was immediately recognizable and got some radio play way back in the day - deservedly so. Even though this may not be anything super-complex or groundbreaking, this is a great melodic guitar album that is easy-entry and eminently catchy with fantastic songs. And I was going to give it a solid 3 but as I've found myself listening to it on repeat and am already on my 4th listen - this is a 4 star keeper for me. 7/10 4 stars (One small nitpick is that I'd love to hear a remix; this sounds a little ... cloudy... for my liking.)

What is the point of this. I can tell this book was edited by an English music reviewer. There's a reason I've never heard of this band. Generic garbage

“Tellin’ Stories” by The Charlatans (1997) Here we have more eye-rolling British pop from the last millennium. With super safe lyrics that studiously avoid controversy or offense, these Charlatans give us words around which to wrap music. Sometimes it’s an ill fit. It’s as if they really don’t have anything to say, but they want to say it with style. Tunes are composed with pleasant enough melodies, and the chord structures sometimes go beyond the ordinary, but without a mood to match. It seems random. Even the jazzy experimental compositions “Area 51” and “Rob’s Theme” fall flat. And the Dylanesque “Get On It” is thirty years too late. Are these guys coasting on previous success? The unrelated collection of songs on this album are conventional enough to guarantee popular airplay. They’ve got the fundamentals down. And it’s well produced, but with little dynamic variation. The biggest weakness here is lack of groove or dominant riffs—nothing to grab the listener. Hoping for something special, one comes to the fadeout of the last track asking, “Is that it?” 2/5

Some solid 90s era Britpop/alternative tunes. A tad on the generic side but overall quality album. Favorite Track: Area 51 Relisten: Yes

More gerneric British alt rock. 4/10.

This sounds like a cheerier version of Oasis. This just feels like another random British band that made it because they were relatively popular when the original list was made. I've still only gotten 1 jazz album on this list, but there seems to be an endless supply of late 90s to early 00s British rock bands that I have to slog through to get to good albums. 2/5

This is by far the most by-the-numbers record we've listened to from this list. It's insufferably generic with some of the most vanilla guitar tones I've heard on a record. This wave of British rock that made purposefully boring Stones rock is entirely skip-able. It's amazing that this band was around before Oasis, but saw their success with Brit pop and decided to throw their hat in the ring after being overshadowed by the Stone Roses in the early 90s. Just give up if this is all you got. They waited until the outro track "Rob's Theme" to give us an interesting track on this album. Sheeeeeesh Wtf kinda drugs were these folks taking in the 90s anyways? Boring pills? Snooooooze.

Well this was funny as i just finished his book, named the same as this album. While this album is not my favourite Charlatans album - thats probably the debut Some Friendly or the follow up Between 10th and 11th - its still a great album and i cannot give it anything but a 5. The book? You should read it! Some great anecdotes in there. And yeah, Tim Burgess has great music taste and there's a lot of name dropping in there.

Some blasts from the past fleshed out with some decent tracks I'd never heard. I wish I was more into this stuff first time round.

I try so hard to love the Charlatans as they are everything I want in a band but then again they just aren't. With the exception of a couple of early singles I have always found the band excel at being average. I wouldn't go as far as calling the also rans as they have etched out a reasonably successful and long career, they have just never burnt as bright as some of the contemporaries. So that brings me to this album Tellin' Stories, it came out at a time where Brit Pop was on the wane, big beat had stared to take over, Blur had reinvented themselves etc. Nothing on this albllum is exciting or new. Even 25 years on it feels like a lesser version of other bands. And Tim Burgess, his vocals start to grate by the time the album finally ends. For reasons, I can't even remember, North Country Boy is one of my least favourite songs of the era. I cringe when I hear it. Anyway, not a bad ablum but maybe not that essential either.

Before listening to this my only exposure to the Charlatans was their single 'The Only One I Know' which is a banger that I pretty much never skip if it comes on shuffle. With No Shoes is a solid opening but unfortunately all I can think of is how they probably found Rob Collins, booze cruiser, With No Shoes when he died in a car crash after being more than double the BAC limit flung out of his sunroof. North Country Boy is groovy and shows that the album has a cohesive direction in its sound. A bit forgettable mainly because I was still laughing about how Rob Collins managed to get ejected from his car while drink driving and then still stand up before passing away in an ambulance on Monday 22 July 1996. Tellin' Stories is fantastic, I have no idea what this guy is saying but I can only assume he's tellin' cautionary tales about the dangers of driving a BMW 520i on the B4233 after having a big day at the pub with your producer in the car who would survive with minor injuries. One to Another is where I realised that this band has more to offer than just 'The Only One I Know', the vocals here work well with the guitar work and the keyboard riffs are fantastic. The song is supposedly about a guy trying to keep his relationship together but I like to think the title is a nod to how Rob Collins went from being a getaway driver for his mate to being involved in a fatal single vehicle collision that left his wife widowed and his daughter without a father. You're A Big Girl Now is a song about how Rob Collins' daughter will have to learn to live without her late pisswreck father (who is not present on this track). How Can You Leave Us was initially written by Burgess about a girl, some lyrics were changed after Rob Collins' death (not a joke i copy-pasted this straight from wikipedia) Area 51 is a great instrumental piece which really highlights the talent of Rob Collins as a keyboardist. This song is like a nice intermission between the two halves of the album. Rob Collins demonstrates here that he is very good with his hands, even if he can't put on a seatbelt to save his life. How High is the question the British public were asking when it was revealed that Rob Collins was ejected from the sunroof of his BMW. Only Teethin', much like a lot of Cool Britannia and Britpop, is clearly very inspired by 60s rock and roll; a time when the Beatles were big, Britain was a somewhat serious country, and a time before the 1962 Road Traffic Act which criminalised drink driving and before seatbelts were made mandatory in 1983. Get On It sounds like someone put on some Bob Dylan before a jam session and now they have to get the annoying vocals and harmonica out of their system. It's songs like this that make me understand why the producer, Ric Peet, would get into the car with a drunken convicted armed robber, ironically named Rob Collins. Rob's Theme is an instrumental that was included after the passing away of the keyboardist of The Charlatans, Rob Collins. In all honesty, this is a sweet tune and it warms my heart to see a loving tribute to Rob on here (even though his brother/the label decided to leave him off the album cover?). This song slaps, but as there are no lyrics I am going to find it difficult to make another joke about drink driving and crashing your car. Almost as hard as I find it to believe that Rob Collins was able to get only four months in prison and charges dropped for assisting his mate in robbing a store. But seriously, this song is great and is 100% getting added to some of my playlists. Neil Young (who has 9 albums in this book, God help me) once said it's better to burn out than fade away. Rest in power Rob Collins, may you join your brothers in arms in Alcohalla, the afterlife for all brave booze cruisers. 7 DUIs out of 10

Blah blah blah, drone drone drone.

I'm sorry the fothermucker died, condolences to the family, etc, but I still don't like Britpop.

Very bland album from the band that nobody wanted to own up to liking at the time. They were a few years too late, too poppy, a bit whiny and derivative. This album was pretty much what I was expecting, like a poor man's version of all the more accomplished bands around that had already done the same thing a decade or so earlier. The murky production didn't help much and there wasn't anything to stand out, no amazing guitar or exciting compositions, just lots of stuff that sounded a bit like other bands. I was considering a 3-star rating, but I think I'll drop this one to a 2.

Britpop hangover. Best Tracks: North Country Boy, One To Another, How Can You Leave Us

I want to start this review by giving the lead singer Tim Burgess a special shout out. Anyone enjoying this project should also check out Tim’s twitter listening parties (you can reply a lot of them on his website), something he started during Covid lockdowns and what got me back into listening to full albums, which then lead to me starting this project. Anyways on to the review…. The Charlatans are one of the underrated bands from the Britpop era. To me, Telling Stories is a captivating and energetic album that showcases their musical talent and diversity. However, I can appreciate that those who do not like Britpop might think this is very average or bland. Musically, I was impressed by this album. The standout track was their biggest hit, One to Another, which has a catchy chorus and a powerful guitar riff. This album is already in my frequent rotation of Britpop albums, so I might be biased. I give it 4 stars out of 5.

3.5/5. Not the worst alt-rock I've been thrown, but by no means is it amazing. Overall it sounded better than other alt-rock albums I've listened to.

Хороший альбом, позитивный, так сказать :) И вроде не к чему придраться в нём. Классный бритпоп, легко слушается, но не цепляет как-то ничем. Всё как-будто дефолтное какое-то. Слова обычные, голос обычный, супер выдающихся гитарных или ударных соляков не замечено. Разве что можно отметить внезапные вставки соула, которые отсылают нас к Бобу Дилану немножко. Чуваки ещё заявляли хип-хоп, но как-то особо я тут его не услышал особо. Хоть и ждал. Может быть, они имели в виду инструментал Zone 51 как хип-хоп, но что-то как-то не...

I really struggle in rating albums like this. It is inoffensive and not remarkable, but also pleasant enough that it didn't intrude in any unpleasant way. A decent album to put on while I drink my morning coffee and browse the ol' Internet on this Sunday morning, but on the other hand, it lacks a certain spice to make me want to listen to more. It is worse off being kind of boring or being kind of painful on the ears? Settled on 3 stars based on the merit that (morbidly enough) it is a wonder that this album flows as smoothly as it does considering the circumstances behind it's production. It helps that this album does not drag.

Hmmm, for some reason I thought the Charlatans were a 00s indie band. This was fine I guess, sounds like all britpop which I'm not a massive fan of, I think unfortunately britpop got a bit overplayed for me and I'm bored of it but I guess for the time it would have been great.

Not so bad overall. Catchy Britpop with memorable choruses and great instrumentation throughout. Feels like it could belong to such a list, except from one little detail: this record, supposedly the magnum opus of The Charlatans, was released in the second half of the nineties, not the first. To be more specific, it was released one month before Radiohead turned the game of British (alt-)rock on its head with *OK Computer*. Talk about a last-minute feat before that whole Stone Roses / Oasis-adjacent sound immediately became less relevant. This situation might explain the Britpop "fatigue" of some listeners on this app (sometimes harshly expressed), and so the album's relatively low global score. It's true that this record goes through very predictable stylistic twists and turns at times, from Rolling Stones-indebted compositions to Stone Roses / Primal Scream-like syncopated rhythms and heavily guitar-laden spots à la Oasis. And this to the point where it sometimes feels you don't even need to listen to the album to know what's in it. Add the fact that the record's second half is far less impressive than the first (except for one organ-enhanced cut reminding me of Bob Dylan circa *Highway '61 Revisited*, before one instrumental closer paying tribute to the band's keyboard player--who tragically died during the sessions of *Tellin' Stories*), and what you have here is a record that clearly lacks something to *truly* stand out. Pretty good music is still pretty good music, though. Had this thing been released three years earlier, chances are The Charlatans would have been a more famous figurehead for that whole Britpop thing, maybe up to the level of Oasis themselves. To be fair, Blur was still more interesting as an album band than any of those acts, but to use words used by The Charlatans themselves, that's a (music tabloid) "story" I'm gonna tell in another time, kiddies. 3/5 for the purposes of this list of "essential albums" 8/10 for more general purposes Number of albums left to review: 155 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 364 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 214 Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 271 (including this one)

not bad... but had to give it a couple of listens to actually hear it - - know what I mean?

Britpop delontón donde no hay que destacar nada. Suenan como unos Oasis descafeinados. Interesante cuando copian a Dylan, debieran haber tirado por ahí mejor. De fondo.

There's some proper Gallagher pronunciation here innit. What a mess.

Tedious baggy. Distinctly average.

This one feels especially inessential. I suppose the one thing in its favour is, were you to ask me to simply imagine a rock album from 1997, the resulting mental composite would sound a lot like 'Tellin' Stories' by the Charlatans. 'One To Another' has a bit of a sting in the tail; 'How High' ain't too bad; and I quite enjoyed the quirky instrumental 'Area 51'. Everything else just sounds safe, conservative, uninspired and boring.

Meh.

I’m not familiar with the rest of their discography, but this album just sounds like a poorly produced Oasis copycat

Not the worst but honestly quite boring.

This was very generic and boring. I don't really care for Oasis but this seemed like a worse form of Oasis. I feel like including stuff like this is an insult to so much that could have been included.

bland, boring, and dull

I said it before and I'll say it again, I don't like Britpop. There are some artists like Suede who can actually make something good with the genre but most popular Britpop artists are just stale and often times even bad. I hate Blur, I don't like Oasis, I cringe to Supergrass and now the Charlatans come as well to give me a new feeling: annoyed. The songs are all the same in terms of songwriting and much more than Oasis was but they are all so wannabe humorous. Not a good album. The atrocity starts with 'With No Shoes' which right off the bat is a terrible song title. But the song itself might be worse. It is a bad mix of harmonica and synths in the intro that turns into an annoying mix of Neo-Psychedelia and and Britpop with vocals that feel like the disabled son of The Verve and Oasis. It's just wannabe Britpop without any of the qualites that would make actual Britpop a tad bit interesting. There is nothing new here, it's just Oasis all over again but with worse songwriting and a worse vocalist. 'North Country Boy' does the exact same thing again but is even worse. The opening track is really bad and often just unbearable but THIS, this is just unlistenable, one of the worst songs ever. Terrible vocals, songwriting that does not work or fit the song and even worse backing vocals that feel like they appear a beat to late. This feels more like a improv Demo than an actual and finished track. Terrible, straight up terrible. The title track 'Tellin' Stories' isn't much better either. It tries itself on Baggy which will the album do later on more often but here, where it starts, it doesn't work to begin with. The different aspects of Baggy that they try to do on the track are just dissonant with the rest. It genuinely sounds terrible. If this was some wacky Experimental shit it would be good but this is Britpop and not The Velvet Underground or Robert Wyatt. Terrible, again. And if that wasn't enough, they now try to do Breakbeat inspired Britpop. That not only sounds like a terrible idea but it actually is. This feels like if the Prodigy just collabed with Oasis but neither of them bringing own stuff to the project. It does not work, sounds bad and didn't even have potential to begin with. The only fact that it's not completely terrible and just very bad is that there are moments without vocals and they are just bad or boring which is actually the highest in terms of quality you can get out of here: boring. 'You're a Big Girl Now' would've been better if it actually covered 'You're a Big Girl Now' by Bob Dylan but no, they wrote own lyrics. The song feels way too overproduced to work as a pleasent Folk tune. It sets its focus on lyrics that are not good. And it also has the terrible vocals the album had so far. Terrible. The second half of the album starts with 'How Can You Leave Us' which returns to the Baggy influences and they are implemented and executed much better here than they were before. I still think that it's a bad song but the songwriting is actually quite passable at points. It's mainly the vocals and some guitar parts that really throw me off here. 'Area 51' brings in more trippy synths which do actually kind of work and are not too far away from being Trip Hop which would actually work with their sound as long as someone else was doing the vocals. Luckily, this song is without vocals and is purely instrumental. The songwriting has some nice ideas and the production isn't too bad. I wouldn't say that I like it but this song gives a little bit of hope that there might be another song lurking here that isn't totally unlistenable. This is still bad but it's much more okay-bad. The more energetic approach at the start of 'How High' made me hope that they might go into a Punk direction but no, just Britpop. Terrible songwriting, bad delivery, annoying performance. The main problem of 'Only Teethin'' is that it is streched to over 5 minutes. The song is bad, not terrible and has some redeeming qualities like the drums but the sheer length just annoys most of the track. If it was half of the length, it'd be bad and that's it but with the way that they streched it more and more and more is just annoying. The result is really, really bad but not as bad as most the songs served so far. And if that wasn't streched enough, 'Get on It' feels like the worst that Country Rock could've influenced. The harmonica sounds bad, the different instruments sound terrible together and I'm not even going to talk about lyrics and songwriting. And on top of that it is streched to nearly 6 minutes of playtime. Nothing here works... Terrible. The album, luckily, ends with 'Rob's Theme' which is the biggest genre change on the album. It's not even really Britpop anymore as it's a straight-up Trip Hop tune with some psychedelic and Ambient elements added. It's one of the better tracks that the album has to offer although I still think that it's a mildly bad track mainly because the structuring of the track feels unfocused and not fully fleshed out but I think that even though it's bad, it's the albums "strongest" track. favourites: none least favourites: most Rating: strong 1 to light 2 https://rateyourmusic.com/~Emil_ph for more ratings, reviews and takes

Love this

Interesting

Loved it! Great songwriting and overall vibe. Favorite track is number 10: Get it on. Can’t wait to play this one on high rotation.

Feels like I'm 15 again, loved this album then and listened the hell out of it, so it's great to hear again. Loads of musical layers, brilliant lyrics, it's a big noise. What a band.

So much drive in this album quite rocky in parts

Great band. Great album. 💚 The Charlatans

A delightfully nostalgic listen. My brother used to hammer this album and it took me straight back to the 90s. Don't think I've ever actively sought out Tellin' Stories before, but i loved it!

kinda decent sound but not an enjoyable album by any means

very cool

Love this album, great one to wake up to in a van near Manchester on the way to a festival where Tim Burgess is playing

Just love this album. Key record for 90s Britain.

Poxa, até agora não teve nenhum que eu já tivesse ouvido do tanto desse. Não tem como ser menor que 5. FDS. Aquele show em Recife...perdi umas células auditivas ali.

One of my favourite albums of the 90s the 4 singles are superb. Definitely the high point of their career. One to Another is one ofthe greatest indie disco tunes of all time. 4.5 stars bumped up to a 5.

Awesome. Kinda like oasis

Maybe I’m just on a vacation high but everything sounds so great to me right now. I loved this so much!

It was a very relaxing album that made me feel upbeat. Sounded very similar to the Ocean's soundtrack

Rating this on its own merits and not based on it sounding like other britpop bands.

Right up my street

kinda like Elvis Costello. I like it. Would listen to more

Great album really enjoyed it.

Great!

Glad I didn’t skip this one.

Pues sí me gustó. Suena muy a muchas cosas de las que sobaban en ese entonces en eso lares, pero tienen su marca personal. Escucharlo es como meterte en Lock Stock and Two smoking barrels.

Sounds like we’ll executed mid-90s Britpop.

Solid, enjoyable Britpop album.

I liked this, but it wasn’t particularly memorable.

Buen pop noventero

Good stuff

Kinda emo

Ganz nett! Der Hit "the only one I know" ist leider nicht dabei. Oasis lässt grüßen. Macht Lust auf Indiefilme aus UK mit Musikboys in Skinnyjeans.

Seems very good. Definitely worth another listen.

on dirait un coming of age movie des 2000's de la campagne écossaise. DERRY GIRLS enjoyable oooh nice guitar solo tbh idk if i see myself returning back to it ok one to another is a bop how can you leave us also great how high = <3 so far, it's a 4. un peu funky les solos get on it est très bien ça me semblait ne pas casser trois pâtes à un canard au début mais la fin de l'album est vraiment bien quant à la voix du mec, pas transcendante mais délivre bien les lignes ok c'est quoi cet amour des 90's pour les interludes vous êtes pas Bach, alors on se calme. ouais les 2 interludes sont sympas mais je ne les écouterai pas de moi-même one of them looks like he's got a frog in his mouth yeah a 4. = 80/100 great qualities, not exactly always my style

i really like the sound

Pretty good! Favourite tracks were With No Shoes and Tellin' Stories.

It's fine. Solid 90s alt rock. It doesn't seem that anything about this album is super special.

One of these stars is due to nostalgia. I like the Charlatans but they don't exactly excite me.

Sounds like Oasis or maybe Oasis sounds like them. Good sound anyways.

Liked the bass line (piano / keyboard) of One to Another a lot. Liked 'Get On It' quite a bit too, great buildup. Didn't love the vocals

A fun listen. If not for these guys, there's no MGMT, Kasabian....

So wait...is this Oasis? No? This is not Oasis? This is Oasis, right? Ok, with that out of the way, it's actually really good. I love the guitar riffs. These are really great pop/rock songs. I mean if it was Oasis...and I'm still not sure it's not...this would be one of the good Oasis records.

Anche in questo caso è la prima volta che sento i The Charlatans. Questo disco è stato un ascolto davvero divertente! Nonostante fossi distratto mi sono fermato più volte a sentire o a guardare quale pezzo fosse. In questo gruppo si sente la parte che mi piace dello stile inglese, quell'influenza punk vera che unita al rock un po' alternativo crea un mix davvero sfizioso e non autoreferenziale. La produzione mi è sembrata un po' amatoriale ma sto sentendo anche con delle cuffie di merda quindi lascio passare. Bravi The Charlatans, non vi dimenticherò. 4 abbastanza giusto.

Britpop meets Madchester grooves.

It has a nice oasis vibe to it. Will definitely listen to more

what is it about brit pop where you just know it's brit? idk but this was fun drivey soundtrack music

Great album, brought back memories of growing up in the 90s.

Proper britpop

An album from my university days! I loved listening to this again! It seemed so familiar, yet it is old. I can’t help but think it is timeless in its melodies and smart lyrics.

very listenable pop music

Wow that was a 90s band for sure. I thought it was good but not terribly distinguishable from other core 90s bands. I felt I was hearing a sound like Foo Fighters and Filter when I was listening to them. Solid and well done but not 5/5.

Sunny slice of 90s indie... nice

Cool and edgy still

Wish.com version of oasis/blur. Very good though

Aww yeah pour that BritPop on me!

Wat standaard alternative rock. Goed album, maar springt er niet persé uit

One of the Best by the Charlatans. One of the Best from the UK indie dance rock era in the 90’s.

Solid, enjoyable Britpop album. Great, catchy songs with a mostly low key vibe that is hitting me just right today. This is an album I think I'll be coming back to. Fave Songs: Get on It, Only Teething, How Can You Leave Us, Tellin' Stories, You're a Big Girl Now, North Country Boy, How High

I wasn't sure if I was familiar with the band until I saw them listed as The Charlatans UK. All of the music on Tellin' Stories was new to me, and I couldn't say if I've heard anything from this band before. The Charlatans seemed like they would fit in with Blur, James, Oasis, and the Verve. "One to Another", "Area 51" and "Only Teethin'" were saved to my personal playlist. I'd be interested in hearing more from this band.

4/5. Psychedelic oasis Radiohead Brit-pop pretty good except for Big Girl song

Bold and brash, full of ego. The vocals hover a little around Liam territory - not surprising given the Britpop territory at the time. This reminds me of listening to The Evening Session every night. The Charlatans always seemed to have a single out - a bit like The Smiths a decade earlier. North Country Boy bit of an anthem; there's a killer bass on One to Another. This was the start of the more thoughtful songwriting from the band. Tremendous stuff.

I certainly get the Oasis vibe with this one, but don't hold it against them and thought the whole album had a nice groove to it.

This is how English rock singers and indie rock bands were supposed to sound, circa 1992 – just the slightest sneering to the singing and the loosest . So call it state-of-the-art. This band is in one’s sweet spot, both temporally (i.e., era) and stylistically (i.e., a phile of Britpop in all its forms). But the operative question here is how well it holds up, and the answer is, very well.

This is a solid brit-pop brit-rock album. These guys were definitely up there with Oasis. I like, but don't LOVE brit-pop, but even so - this album is pretty darn good, and there's a few songs I have taken from it (With No Shoes and One to Another)

Really chill Brit-Pop album, really good sounds, singer left something to be desired, but that's honestly just my personal preference for vocals

Loved this. Hints of Dylan, Jeff Buckley, smashing pumpkins. Good melodic rock

Wasnt to sure about it from first few tracks. But 'one to another' onwards was completely on board. Madchester innit

Really really good, but not quite brilliant - so I guess it'll be 4 🌟! The big hits and that title track are the most immediate, but it's all pretty solid - just missing a bit of spark in my opinion

some oasis-a-like but good