Tellin’ Stories
The Charlatans
1997
Album Summary
Tellin' Stories is the fifth album by the British alternative rock band The Charlatans, released on 21 April 1997. It includes the final contributions of founder-member and keyboard player Rob Collins who died in a car accident midway through recording. The album was their most commercially successful, having three top ten singles, which remain their career's highest charting.
WikipediaI 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.)
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.
Some solid 90s era Britpop/alternative tunes. A tad on the generic side but overall quality album. Favorite Track: Area 51 Relisten: Yes
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.
I'm sorry the fothermucker died, condolences to the family, etc, but I still don't like Britpop.
Britpop hangover. Best Tracks: North Country Boy, One To Another, How Can You Leave Us
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.
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
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.
“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
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.
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.
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.
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!
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
what is it about brit pop where you just know it's brit? idk but this was fun drivey soundtrack music
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.
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.
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
I never understood why these guys weren't bigger. They had all the bits of Britpop I liked, just with better guitar (and everything else) tones.
Surprised at how strong this was, however, it sounds like how a YouTube video looks when it's not properly loaded and you need to pause for it to figure it all out. A great record.
Even though it’s a bit too similar to oasis, this album started out super strong with the first 3-4 songs being great. I got somewhat tired of it by the end though so it’s a low 4. One to to another or north country boy are probably my favs.
Sounds liked they're trying to be someone else, 'get on it' just sounds like their big rolling stones number. Enjoyed the listen though, might listen to again.
Easy listen, good album. Never listened to them before but enjoyed this
I had pretty low expectations going into this album, but it was really fun, and I enjoyed it. When it popped up for me today, my first thought was "hooray, another album by Great Value Oasis." I'm glad that I was wrong. I loved that that the songs here had such a wide variance in sounds, especially the blues-ier songs like "How High." I love good keyboard parts, and this album definitely delivered on that, especially with "Get On It" and "Only Teething," both of which reminded me of Primal Scream (after reading about the album on Wikipedia, I was blown away to learn that Primal Scream's keyboardist helped finish the album after the original keyboardist died in a car accident. Sometimes my ears surprise me with what they can pick up). I loved "With No Shoes" and "Tellin' Stories" as well. The instrumentation and vocals on this album were really great, and while the sound here definitely has the 90's BritPop feel, this album manages to remain unique. I will definitely listen to this album again.
Tempted to give 4 stars, but I think I have to deduct at least half a star because this band is a fairly blatant copycat of Oasis. The music isn't awful though.
The Oasis comparison hit me from the first chord. It's not bad, I just couldn't really escape that initial impression. Favorite tracks: "Get On It", "One to Another"
Actually a really nice sound-like a clean Levellers. I like a lot of these songs, might add to library, but not very memorable past the first listen.
There was that one Rolling Stones record review that said all of Led Zeppelin's blues covers other than When the Levee Breaks sound bizarre parodies... The vocals on some of these tracks sound like bizarre parodies of Pop. The rest of it just sounds like big standard pop to my ears. What's alternative about it, other than the haircuts? Decent music.