Though many consider it a dubious distinction, Jad Fair has fashioned a lasting career out of what is essentially a negative musical talent. Willfully ignorant of theory and mostly tone-deaf, Fair, first with his groundbreaking group Half Japanese and more recently as a kind of plug-in solo artist, creates beauty and excitement from the sheer force of his emotions.
Though related stylistically to two-chord rockers like Lou Reed and Jonathan Richman, as well as to rock savants like Skip Spence and Daniel Johnston (with whom he collaborated on a '93 album that the jury is still out on), Fair's artistic temperament is probably best characterized by the size of his output: at least 50 recordings in various permutations. He works alongside anyone who will have him, a tendency that has resulted in collaborations with iconoclast popsters like The Pastels, Yo La Tengo and Kramer. Not surprisingly, these partnerships end up sounding like less than the sum of their parts, since Fair's out-there performance personality tends to dominate the proceedings.
Teenage Fanclub contain three ace singer-songwriters, so their collaboration with Fair boded ill, but the album they just released, "Words of Wisdom and Hope," is first-rate. Despite TF's top billing, it is Fair's record, and the collaborators know their place. As the leading lights of the post-grunge power-pop revival, these Scots have their Alex Chilton and their Neil Young down cold, but for Fair, they've fashioned a cool ensemble sound that resembles the Modern Lovers in their prime.