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The King is the second album by Scottish alternative rock band Teenage Fanclub, deleted on its day of release in 1991.
| The King | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 27 August 1991[1] | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock | |||
| Length | 32:38 | |||
| Label | Creation | |||
| Producer | Don Fleming, Paul Chisholm, Teenage Fanclub | |||
| Teenage Fanclub chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music |   [2] |
| The Great Rock Discography | 4/10[3] |
The album is often derided as a hastily assembled contractual obligation to US label Matador (allowing the group to sign to Geffen without penalty). In 2020, Matador co-owner Gerard Cosloy confirms that The King was pitched to the label as the second release, but passed, saying it felt more like a contractual obligation fulfillment than a real album.[4] However the group have denied this, claiming that the shambolic, spontaneous nature of the contents was a direct influence of producer Don Fleming, whose music was often improvised. "One night we all got completely wasted. ... and we said, "Let’s make a LP overnight. We’ll just improvise some songs and do some covers and cobble it all together", Norman Blake said in 2016.[5] In a 2006 interview, Blake and Brendan O'Hare confirmed that the album had been recorded immediately after completing Bandwagonesque using pre-booked studio time that became available when the aforementioned album was finished sooner than anticipated. They also claimed that the album was intended to be a mid-price edition of 1,000 but their then UK label Creation Records pressed 20,000 and sold them at full price [permanent dead link].
The album was rereleased on vinyl for Record Store Day 2019.[6]
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| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Heavy Metal 6" | 1:31 | |
| 2. | "Mudhoney" | 6:04 | |
| 3. | "Interstellar Overdrive" | Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Richard Wright, Nick Mason | 3:24 |
| 4. | "Robot Love" | 2:16 | |
| 5. | "Like a Virgin" | Tom Kelly, Billy Steinberg | 4:31 |
| 6. | "The King" | 2:23 | |
| 7. | "Opal Inquest" | Paul Chisholm, Teenage Fanclub | 5:36 |
| 8. | "The Ballad of Bow Evil (Slow And Fast)" | 5:26 | |
| 9. | "Heavy Metal 9" | 1:27 |
All tracks are written by Teenage Fanclub unless otherwise noted
- Teenage Fanclub
- Norman Blake – guitar, vocals
- Gerard Love – bass, vocals
- Raymond McGinley – guitar, vocals
- Brendan O'Hare – drums
- Additional musicians
- Joe McAlinden – saxophone
- Paul Chisholm – additional drums
- Technical
- Don Fleming – producer
- Teenage Fanclub – producer
- Paul Chisholm – producer, engineer
- Keith Hartley – engineer
- Dave Buchanan – assistant engineer
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