After proving he could build a perfect pop song around one solitary verse -- and not a particularly insightful couplet at that -- with Bandwagonesque's "What You Do to Me," Norman Blake further reduces the rock & roll formula to its absolute essentials with "Norman 3," the second single from Teenage Fanclub's vastly underrated Thirteen. Not only does Blake neglect to give this radiant song a proper title, but it's as if he dashed off the lyrics while waiting in line at the supermarket -- after an opening verse, he simply repeats the chorus "Yeah! I'm in love with you, I'm in love with you and I know that it's you" ad nauseum, finally coming to a screeching halt only when you're convinced you're stuck on this Möbius strip forever. Thing is, it's great -- the melody towers among Blake's best, and he and his bandmates lock into a lurching, crunching groove reminiscent of Neil Young & Crazy Horse at their most hypnotic. Three non-LP tracks flesh out this single, among them the shimmering "Golden Glades" and a rousing cover of the Gram Parsons-penned "Older Guys." (In a remarkable example of major-label largess, the initial U.S. pressing of Thirteen contained as bonus cuts all three Norman 3 B-sides as well as the exclusive tracks from the earlier Radio single: "Weird Horses," "Don's Gone Columbia," and "Chords of Fame.") ~ Jason Ankeny