So Desperation Day is upon us once more. Last year I tried that whole “Seven Days of Valentines” bit, but missing the first installment and being burnt out by the fourth was a pretty clear indication of the venture’s futility—granted, it did allow me to post a choice nugget from my (and, apparently, now Matt’s!) favorite guilty pleasure, the perpetually unforgettable, Miss Kylie Minogue. Anyhoo, in lieu of that protracted display, why not cut the proverbial crap and just throw-up what we’re really after on the precipice of another forlorn V-Day—one of those classic odes to heartache, preferably set to a melody catchy such to help one ignore the nigh crushing ineptness of his/her (okay, his) romantic endeavors.

The ticket: Teenage Fanclub. Seriously, if there’s one regret I have about this blog, it’s that too little attention has been paid to Glasgow’s finest—by many accounts, the crown jewel of the Britpop and nineties scenes (Noel Gallagher famously declared the group the second best band in the world). Truly the modern day equivalent to Badfinger (see: this, that, the other), TFC is one of a handful of too-oft-forgot bands from the past thirty-some years who consistently produced those test-of-time-worthy melodies you wind up humming fifteen years down the road when shit inevitably hits the fan…. Seriously, everyone go back and listen to the legitimate phenomenon that is “Sparky’s Dream.” Do it like now.

TFC’s raison d’être, though, are tunes like “Hang On”— those songs that never quite decide whether their own, hopeless romanticism is enough to fight off the overwhelming sense that happily ever after is doomed to the perpetual horizon and typically mix best with long sighs and coulda-been stares. Here’s the live demo of the song off the band’s 1993 single, which with starkly acoustic piano and jaded vocals absolutely reeks of lovelorn detachment. Happy Valentine’s y’all….