| The King | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Teenage Fanclub |
| Cover: | thekingfanclubalbum.jpg |
| Released: | 27 August 1991[1] |
| Genre: | Alternative rock |
| Length: | 32:38 |
| Label: | Creation |
| Producer: | Don Fleming, Paul Chisholm, Teenage Fanclub |
| Prev Title: | A Catholic Education |
| Prev Year: | 1990 |
| Next Title: | Bandwagonesque |
| Next Year: | 1991 |
The King is the second album by Scottish alternative rock band Teenage Fanclub, deleted on its day of release in 1991.
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.[2] 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.[3] 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 .
The album was rereleased on vinyl for Record Store Day 2019.[4]