Tellin' Stories is the sixth album by Manchester’s The Charlatans, released 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 featured the groups three top ten singles, which remain their career's highest charting.
Review
The Charlatans made a surprising comeback in 1995, turning in an eponymous
album that earned them their best reviews and sales ever. Tellin' Stories, the
follow-up to The Charlatans, should have been triumphant, but tragedy struck
midway through its recording, when keyboardist Rob Collins was killed in a car
accident. Collins was an integral part of the band's lineup, creating a
distinctive, swirling, neo-psychedelic sound, and it seemed unlikely that the
band could carry on without him, much less record a record as earthy and warm as
Tellin' Stories. Primal Scream's Martin Duffy volunteered to help the band
complete the album, which was basically written before Collins' death, and that
might explain why there are no overt references to his absence anywhere on the
album. Instead, Tellin' Stories is another collection of classicist rock &
roll spiked with dance beats, much like any other Charlatans album. Where its
predecessor was more informed by mechanized beats, the rhythms are more organic,
which perfectly suits the rolling “North Country Boy,” the sweeping “One
to Another,” and the heart-tugging “How Can You Leave Us?” And, like any
other Charlatans album, it doesn't quite hold together, falling apart with
instrumentals and ill-conceived songs toward the end. On the whole, however,
Tellin' Stories is more consistent than their earlier records, and the best
songs showcase the band at its strongest, which is quite an achievement
considering the traumas The Charlatans underwent during its recording. More than
anything, that's a fitting salute to Collins. Stephen Thomas Erlewine –
AllMusic