Perusing through the discography of a band with a long established career such as this, and then choosing some type of logical sequence... a purely subjective exercise towards particular personal preference to begin with? Well, such a task is significantly easier (and more fun) when the band has a few records you can beat up a little bit.
We're talking complete stinkers that have few defenders among the most steadfast of fans... Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music, Cut The Crap by the Clash, Hyperspace by Beck (had to slip that one in there for myself) or The Beach Boys' all-time notorious flop Summer In Paradise. Obvious nadirs of output that can safely be placed at the bottom of a list without having to subject oneself to analyzing the auditory horrors within those records. Trust me, I've owned The Final Cut in physical form for maybe fifteen years now and have played it a total of twice (and the second time was only for the sake of my Pink Floyd look).
On the other side of the theory, you have a group like Spoon. A band that mixes up their sound enough for each album to be notably different than any before or after... yet are so consistently adept at doing so to make almost every record interesting. They will still unmistakably sound like themselves, yet this isn't a Ramones situation either where they have one really damn good song they've ended up playing for twenty-five years. Each Spoon record has its own personality, with plenty of intriguing quirks that on their best efforts reveal themselves after even several listens.
How do you rank a discography from a band that doesn't really have a bad record, and a generous handful of damn great ones? That was indeed the Spoon Challenge. I think I got it right, but let's dig deeper and see how I went regardless.
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Spoon was formed in 1993 by guitarist/singer Britt Daniel and drummer Jim Eno, who met as members of another Austin, Texas group called The Alien Beats (Eno was a audition fill-in for the original drummer who never showed one day, funnily enough). The Alien Beats collapsed and Daniel began releasing solo material under the stage name Drake Tungsten, featuring a bunch of songs that would later appear on early Spoon records. Within a year, as Spoon, they released an EP called Nefarious, released their debut album a couple of years later (featuring re-recorded versions of songs from the EP) which gathered the attention of Elektra Records. They signed up to produce their second record, A Series of Sneaks.
After said second record didn't sell as well as hoped, the label dropped the band rather unceremoniously (Daniel would later write and record a pair of B-sides mocking the label exec who had abandoned them). They've largely stuck with independent record labels since, finding enough growing success in the two decades onward that they've become well regarded as one of the more recognizable indie rock bands of the 21st century... with songs appearing in wide released films, Simpsons episodes and live performances on network late night shows. The lineup has shifted over time (never seeming to have anything resembling a permanent bassist) but Daniel and Eno have been the constants since the very beginning.
They've released ten full length albums, from their debut in 1996 to their latest one just this February. Here's how they stack up next to one another.
#10. Telephono (1996)
***
That very same debut mentioned above. For what it is trying to do it's an okay record. There's a chaos to the sound and Britt Daniel hasn't quite found his distinctive voice yet. Sometimes he's doing the unpredictable ranting of a Black Francis, vague perplexity of a Michael Stipe or deliberately off-kilter like Stephen Malkmus (Pixies, REM and Pavement are unquestionable influences upon the band at this proto-stage, Pixies especially with a quiet-loud dynamic that becomes predictable on Telephono after a while). Strangely better on later listens, as a few tunes (the noisy opener "Don't Buy The Realistic" and REM-infused closer "Plastic Mylar" specifically) help lay a foundation for what the band will become. Hey, it's a far better creative blueprint than Pablo Honey was. Otherwise though, it's very fundamentally stuck in the time of its mid 90s release without a whole lot to make it distinctive. They haven't found who they are yet.
#9. A Series of Sneaks (1998)
***1/2
The first step forward, although apparently not forward enough for Elektra Records. Britt Daniel here sounds a lot more comfortable singing like himself, and those distinctive Spoon grooves are beginning to sneak (see what I did there) into things.
Sneaks is essentially the band testing out a bunch of (mostly) quick ideas: you get the building urgency of "30 Gallon Tank", the ska infused "Quincy Punk Episode" with its distorted punk vocals, a quietly addictive simple groove in "Metal Detektor" and a very late 90s ballady alt-rocker in the closer "Advance Cassette" (the song MuchMusic forgot to play in 1999 for twelve year-old me). Between Telephono and this album, the band released the EP Soft Effects, which hints at their sound stripping away the hoarseness and finding a greater sense of polish.
Some regard this record as an overlooked classic in their catalogue, the band themselves still seem quite proud of it, and I certainly think it's quite good at moments. Not all of it works though and as an album it's a disjointed listen. Quite a few of the ideas don't exactly land or linger as memorable melodies. When it hits though it's simply fantastic, overall a solid effort from a band still very much stretching their wings and figuring out what works and what doesn't. Also, possibly their best album cover.
#8. Hot Thoughts (2017)
***1/2
Their adventure into a modern synth-heavy, Los Angeles influenced (where the band was headquartering at the time) record went a lot better for them than it did for Beck. Sorry Mr. Hansen, but as much as I love ya.... you also made one of the worst albums I've ever heard. Please bounce back soon.
On that note, if you're heard me talk about Spoon in person, you've likely heard my "Britt Daniel on a bicycle" story more than once, which I still swear is true! It was 2019, I was working the Beck/Cage The Elephant show at Budweiser Stage here in Toronto. Spoon was opening, and ten minutes before they went on stage I saw a blond dude in shades riding slowly around the River Walk on a bicycle. Despite the obvious absurdity of the idea (a pre-gig ritual?) it was definitely Britt Daniel and nobody will ever convince me otherwise.
Hot Thoughts is an odd album in their catalogue. They've ditched the jangly guitars for atmospheric keyboards, electronic beats and modern sleekness... still giving it their own distinctive vibe but there's almost something too clean about it, too smooth on the surface for a band that embraces an off-kilter approach now and again. Still it has plenty of terrific songs: "Do I Have To Talk You Into It" is the most classic type of Spoon tune you'll find here (one you could probably place on any of their more recent albums). The title track is an unsettling opener with its weird droning keyboard as is the simply quiet and spooky "Pink Up" (which gets a bizarre and forgettable reprise as the closing track "Us").
The record loses a lot of steam in the second half as some of these songs tend to blend together in their sameness... a rare occasion this very cool band loses points for trying too hard to be cool. It all gets a little too into itself and isn't compelling enough to pull that off.
#7. Transference (2010)
****
The precision opposite of Hot Thoughts, and a very strange record within the catalogue. Where Thoughts is full of studio trickery: layers of keyboard atmosphere and dense sounds... Transference plays like a sparse, live on the floor collection of demos. It can't possibly be true, but a lot of these songs sound like they're being performed for the very first time on these recordings... or even made up on the spot. Hey, Britt Daniel was clearly influenced by the Pixies after all.
Minimalism is the game here, with Jim Eno's drums mostly stripped to basic two hit beats while Daniel's electric guitar likewise keeps the effects pedals in their boxes. Even the production, without being gruff or anything, gives the sense of a band playing in somebody's living room... the sound is so small and sparse for such an accomplished group. It's a Lo-Fi, bare bones record made by a professional and incredibly tight rock band, and it works because there are plenty of good songs. The frantic buildup of "I Saw The Light", the stomping urgency of "Is Love Forever?", the emotional "Out Go The Lights" or the gritty riff of "Got Nuffin" just to name a few.
This isn't one of Spoon's albums I go back to as often as others, but I can say the first time I caught them live they were touring this record and these songs work notably better in concert (especially the closing track, which drags on rather repetitively in the studio version). Not a record to play for somebody you're trying to introduce to the band, since it is a grower and the unusual production makes for a confusing first impression. Still an album I like quite a bit, one that occupies a neat place in their history.
#6. They Want My Soul (2014)
****
This is where I differ from popular consensus a bit, as many consider this among Spoon's very best efforts. I agree this is very good, but even after eight years I've never built as strong a connection or enjoyment with it as I have many of their other albums. That can be explained in how I associate Soul with a bizarre transitional period in my life, but then also there are others higher on the list that can likewise claim such a status.
They Want My Soul came about after a mini-hiatus from the band. Britt Daniel went off to form Divine Fits with Dan Boeckner (A Thing Called Divine Fits is a semi-forgotten fun indie-pop album) and that electro-synth type of sound was definitely still in Daniel's mind when coming back to make this record with Spoon. The addition of keyboardist/guitarist Alex Fischel certainly helped this also: songs like "Inside Out", "New York Kiss" and "Outlier" bring a dark and heavy keyboard groove to the proceedings that they hadn't had before.
There is plenty of that usual Spoon 'working hard effortlessly' style also: the sweet "Do You" (with its excellent music video), the booming opener "Rent I Pay" and another classic buildup-er in the uneasy "Knock Knock Knock". It's all a good mix of what the band had already established they were very good at, with the beginning of their diversion period into the more atmospheric stuff Hot Thoughts is filled with... only that the way they did it here doesn't dominate the spirit of the proceedings.
#5. Girls Can Tell (2000)
****1/2
The real "big step forward" and where ranking these records becomes extremely difficult. You could argue this is in fact Spoon's best album and I would hardly dispute that claim. It certainly might be their most important: the one that gave them enough exposure and recognition (on an indie label no less) to keep going as a band after Elektra screwed them over.
Girls Can Tell is simply an wonderful record, filled with memorable songs front to back and the flow between each track is pristine. The transition from the lamenting "Lines In The Suit" into the lightheartedly sentimental "Fitted Shirt" just moves so naturally. You also get the very rare Spoon instrumental ("This Book Is A Movie"), a relatable breakup song ("Anything You Want") and the eerie closer "Chicago At Night", a leftover from the Drake Tungsten days and one of my favourite tunes they've ever done. Play it when you come to Toronto, won't you.
Britt Daniel has described Girls Can Tell as the first time "we felt we could make a record without the wheels on the cart falling off after" which definitely shows. Gone is the sporadic "throw this at the wall and hope it becomes a hit" approach of Sneaks... replaced with a consistent elegant pop groove that has become a trademark of Spoon to this day. There's a lot of electric piano on this record and it makes you feel like you should be drinking a cocktail in a smokey neon lounge somewhere. Incidentally, of all their records this might be the best one to play at a party.
#4. Lucifer On The Sofa (2022)
****1/2
The five years between Hot Thoughts and Lucifer represents the longest gap between Spoon albums. As it happens, the majority of Lucifer had been completed by March 2020... I think we all know what happened shortly afterwards.
Feeling they preferred the live versions of their songs over their studio counterparts, the band returned to their original homebase of Austin, Texas to try and capture a different vibe than previous albums. While unable to record in the studio because of lockdowns, Daniel occasionally drove from Texas out to Los Angeles to work with Alex Fischel on some of the new songs, something he (Daniel) said inspired him greatly... "just being out in the wide open world". Indeed, many of these songs have a rather expansive sound to them, whether it be the star gazing ballad "Satellite", the adventurous "Wild" or superbly catchy "My Babe", which builds from something akin to a midnight walk through a garden with your sweetheart into a full fledged hard rocking ode.
The album brings those hard rockers too, which is certainly welcome after the moodiness of They Want My Soul or impenetrable atmosphere of Hot Thoughts. "The Hardest Cut" swaggers it's way into an addictive hook, the chaotic "On The Radio" brings back Britt Daniel's distinctive wail... while other tunes like the sleazy "Devil and Mister Jones" or the odd seduction of the closing title track (which would also slide perfectly into Girls Can Tell) are all typical seductive Spoon hooks, underlining the greatest strength of this album. It's not exactly a return to their roots, as this album is far too grand or modern for that... rather it's more of a return to the specific things they do really well: catchy grooves, wild guitars, interesting melodies and their trademark mix of style and substance (with notably more of the latter than any of their 2010s output).
It's an incredible record, deep with little touches and nuance that reveal themselves further upon each listen. I can't get enough of it, personally. Just an absolute winner.
#3. Kill The Moonlight (2002)
****1/2
My introduction to Spoon, and I suspect the same for many others as well. While I can happily take credit for turning many of my friends onto this excellent band before they were a known-ish act, it was a childhood friend of mine who first brought them to my attention. We were early in high school, slowly drifting apart as sometimes happens at these intersections of life. He came over to my mum's house with a new CD by some band I'd never heard of with an odd name (taken from a Can song it turns out). He played it twice on my stereo and I didn't react much to it that evening. A long while later, I found one of those songs stuck in my head... some unforgettable piano lick... and I realized I really liked this. The album was Kill The Moonlight, and the song of course was "The Way We Get By", arguably their most iconic tune.
Moonlight, Spoon's fourth album, builds upon the melodic progress of Girls Can Tell but eliminates the lush pop melody for empty space, stark beats and sporadic scrambling effects. The opening track "Small Stakes" describes this approach perfectly: that staggered drum loop kicking in, the oddly distorted riff droning through the song while Daniel's vocals come in and out through various delay effects.
A lot of the album plays like snippets of songs, as though the band decided instead of a "beginning progressing towards an ending", to just record various middles of concepts. Thing is, it works brilliantly. Britt Daniel is a noted fan of Wire and in a way this is an elegant homage to their classic post-punk record Pink Flag. The songs on Kill The Moonlight that play like full fledged songs ("The Way We Get By", "Jonathon Fisk", "Don't Let It Get You Down", "All The Pretty Girls") are among the very best the band ever recorded... while these other 'snippets' still leave lasting effect despite their minimalism. The longing romanticism of "Paper Tiger" hits you with its naked emotion within all that glitchy weirdness, or the marvelous "Stay Don't Go" which somehow creates a successful beat from a loop of somebody saying "ooh! ah! Oo oo ah!"
The record loses some steam with the final three tracks, particularly the vague closer that seems too intentionally a finale... which is a minor shame considering the sheer brilliance of the front nine. Still an undeniable landmark album in modern indie rock, one that still surprises even two decades later.
#2. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (2007)
*****
An unbelievably tough call to place this one short of the crown. A listen to this album instantly teleports me to Summer 2007 and those transitionally odd feelings that come when you're about to leave your teen years behind forever.
The album though is nearly flawless. 2000s Spoon gradually began using more and more piano (something Britt Daniel said he was initially reluctant to do, not thinking it'd be "cool") and the two first tracks of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga are entirely driven by that instrument. "Don't Make Me A Target" is essentially if you looked up Spoon in a musical dictionary, but then that anxious piano of "The Ghost of You Lingers" while Daniel's muffled vocals sing from some other earthly plain... it haunts in a way such a title would suggest. The record thankfully lightens up after that initial intensity, with the light delightful pop of "You've Got Yr Cherry Bomb", the unforgettable funky bass hook of "Don't You Evah", the teetering "Rythm n'Soul" (which sounds like a leftover from the previous record), or the sly "Eddie's Ragga".
Most casual fans of the band will probably know "The Underdog", which is probably my least favourite track on Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. It's a perfectly fine tune, and the novelty of Spoon bringing in a trumpet section is amusing. The real highlight of the latter half though is "Finer Feelings" with its twisting and turning melody, soul-bearing chorus and sneaky groove. An overlooked gem hidden behind a grand parade of jewels.
The album itself is truly a consolidation of Spoon's powers, with uniquely great melodies, odd effects, successfully off-balance left turns and a band delivering it all as tightly as anybody. Until Lucifer, this was their last album playing things mostly straight before diving into concepts and experimentation... and arguably this is still their peak fifteen years later.
#1. Gimme Fiction (2005)
*****
Not that Spoon is a concept album band by any measure (in fact I can't think of many bands less likely to do such a thing) but Gimme Fiction comes as close as they possibly could. While many of their records feature a consistent theme (the retro loungeiness of Girls Can Tell, the raw lo-fi atmosphere of Transference, the grand scope of Lucifer, the spookiness of Hot Thoughts etc), those albums still all feel like a collection of songs merely played within that particular sensibility. Gimme Fiction instead plays as a cohesive journey: something beginning in a specific place and taking its twists and turns but never losing sight of the path. Even the Famous Song(tm) "I Turn My Camera On" slides into place early within the natural flow of it.
There is a lot of sweeping instrumental space on this record, notable for a band that tends to like minimalism oftentimes. Songs like the opener "Beast and Dragon Adored" (which adds to the cohesive journey/narrative feel here by lyrically referencing later songs on the record) or "My Mathematical Mind" are grand compositions loaded with collages of sound. Meanwhile, the two irresistible extended sorta-jams near the end ("Was It You" and "They Never Got You") have little touches and textures within their repeating melodic simplicity (like the opening and closing rainstorm on "Never Got You"). Even the more conventional rock tunes, such as "Sister Jack", the closing "Merchants of Soul" or the jittery distant groove of "I Turn My Camera On" aren't merely here just for a good time... there's an intense emotional unease among all of them. Britt Daniel himself has some thoughts on the making of Gimme Fiction, and it's fascinating to read his mindset song-by-song in regards to it (such as how the cryptic "Merchants of Soul" isn't really about anything, it turns out).
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is the more accessible listen, but Gimme Fiction in my mind is the richer piece of music... a record that dances with apocalypses, sentimentality and (in Daniel's own words) emotional distance. They pull off these heavy ideas without the music bogging itself down because the band knows how to capture this introverted mood subtely: the classic Spoon formula of inventive and groovy melodies. In the seventeen years since its release, Gimme Fiction has begun to be looked upon as an indie-rock classic... an appraisal that is well deserved. Simply a uniquely marvelous record from a uniquely marvelous rock band.
I got a feelin' it don't come cheap
I got a feelin' and then it got to me
It took it's time working into my soul
I got to believe it come from rock and roll
They're playing in Toronto this year, August 26th. Hope to see you all there.
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