* (restored)
A series of spoons: an introduction not needed
Members
Britt Daniel (Vocalist, guitarist)
Jim Eno (drummer)
Rob Pope (bass)
Eric Harvey (keyboard, guitar, percussion, backing vocals)
Brief history
The band was formed in late 1993 by lead singer/guitarist Britt daniel and drummer Jim eno. They originate from and still make music from Austin, Texas. The original lineup also included Greg Wilson on guitar and Andy Mcguire on bass. The name ‘spoon’ was chosen to honor the 1970’s German avant-garde band Can who had a hit song titled ‘spoon.’
The debut music spoon put out was on the ep titled “the nefarios ep,” which came out in the year of 1994. In 1995 they signed to the record label matador, one year later releasing the lp “telephono” and again one year later came the ep “soft effects”. The “soft effects” ep did pretty good sales wise and critical wise, which ended up in them landing a deal with elektra records.
Spoon signed to Elektra Records in 1998, the band released ‘A Series of sneaks’ in may, 1998. What looked like the bands biggest break ultimately turned out to nearly bankrupt the band – the album did not sell as fast as Elektra had originally hoped. Spoon was dropped four months after the release of ‘series’, the person responsible for the deal, Elektra’s A&R man Ronn Laffitte, was also fired. Angry with laffitte (who had promised a promotional funding) and the rest of the executives at Ekektra(more precisely, CEO Sylvia Rhone), Spoon recorded a vindictively written two song concept single entitled “The Agony of Laffite”.
Though it all got better in 2000, when spoon signed to merge records and released the ep “love ways”. The next year spoon released the critically acclaimed lp “girls can tell”, it sold better than their previous lp’s sold put together. In the next year of 2002 they released the fantastic album “kill the moonlight”, which accomplished the same selling feet as “girls”. The song “the way we get by” from that album was played in the show “the O.C.”. Which made the single “the way we get by” the best selling single they’ve put out yet. The next album, “gimme fiction”, was released in 2005. The album dubuted at number 44 on the billboard 200. Britt daniel, in 2006, wrote most of the soundtrack to the decent “stranger than fiction” movie.
“Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga” (or as I call it, Gax5), their most recent album, was released in 2007. It debuted at number ten on the billboard 200.
For more commercial success refer to here: Commercial success
Discography
First album – Telephono
The first album spoon recorded. Originally released april 23, 1996 on matador’s label, then ten years later re-released on merge with the ep ‘soft effects’ which instead of being on one whole disc it was on two. (‘Soft Effects’ holds the songs “Mountain to Sound”,”Waiting for the Kid to Come Out”,”I Could See the Dude”,”Get Out the State”, and “Loss Leaders”) I’ve heard from someone that Britt daniel thinks this is a bad album, the critics agree, It got mixed reviews. I still have actually never heard the album.
Track listing –
“Don’t Buy the Realistic” – 3:54
“Not Turning Off” – 3:08
“All the Negatives Have Been Destroyed” – 2:37
“Cvantez” – 2:45
“Nefarious” – 2:47
“Claws Tracking” – 2:32
“Dismember” – 1:45
“Idiot Driver” – 1:37
“Towner” – 3:05
“Wanted to Be Your” – 1:52
“Theme to Wendel Stivers” – 1:58
“Primary” – 1:10
“The Government Darling” – 2:23
“Plastic Mylar” – 3:27
Favorite tracks: Don’t Buy the Realistic
“Don’t buy the realistic” lyrics
All night, be left alone.
Take my, name as my own.
So c’mon and take my hand, c’mon and
c’mon and take my hand, c’mon and
c’mon and take my hand, c’mon and
take my, take my , take my, take my
take my, take my, take my, take my
words are, not much to say.
Face the, gets in the way.
So c’mon and take my hand, c’mon and
c’mon and take my hand, c’mon and
c’mon and take my hand, c’mon and
take my, take my, take my, take my
take my, take my, take my, take my
take my, take my, take my, take my
“Don’t buy the realistic” video showing telephono cover as backround
Others
Not Turning Off
Nefarious
Second album – Series of Sneaks
The second studio album from the brilliant band spoon. ‘A Series of Sneaks’ was originally released on May 5, 1998, then re-released on merge with extra tracks taken from ‘The Agony of Laffitte’ ep in 2002. The album was very highly regarded, and ended up being on almost everyones top 10 list. Personally it’s my favorite album of theirs, and one of my favorite albums ever.
Track listing –
“Utilitarian” – 1:51
“The Minor Tough” – 2:43
“The Guestlist/The Execution” – 2:03
“Reservations” – 2:36
“30 Gallon Tank” – 4:00
“Car Radio” – 1:30
“Metal Detektor” – 3:39
“June’s Foreign Spell” – 3:00
“Chloroform” – 1:10
“Metal School” – 2:54
“Staring at the Board” – 0:54
“No You’re Not” – 1:43
“Quincy Punk Episode” – 2:17
“Advance Cassette” – 2:54
Favorite tracks: metal detektor, june’s foreign spell, metal school, chloroform
Metal Detektor (Live on KEXP)
June’s Foreign Spell
Metal School
Chloroform
With extra tracks from “agony of lafitte” ep
“The Agony of Laffitte” – 3:27
“Laffitte Don’t Fail Me Now” – 3:45
The Agony of Laffitte (KVRX Austin live clip)
Metal detektor lyrics
Metal detektor ringing as i’m walking through the door
with every chance i take i can feel it start to break
to start to break some more
it’s going down some more
i’m gonna break the bank of texas and walk out
it’s a lie no more
all through with playing the wall
i’m gonna break the bank of dakota and walk right back out
it’s going down some more
not gonna fake it no more
just gonna break the bank of texas and walk right out and
make the sound of getting kicked when you’re down
i’m gonna break the heart of chicago and walk right back out
metal detektor ringing as i walk on through the door
metal detektor ringing as i’m walking through the doo
The original album version of “metal detektor”
Girls Can Tell – 3
I will say this is the only spoon album, besides telephono, I don’t know very well. I don’t even own it . . . yet, but my brother does. Anyways this album was originally released feb 20, 2001 on merge. The track “me and bean” is a cover of another austin texas band called the sidehackers. It has an average of 85 on the not so trusty metacritc.
Track Listing –
“Everything Hits at Once” – 4:04
“Believing Is Art” – 4:19
“Me and the Bean” – 3:33
“Lines in the Suit” – 3:47
“The Fitted Shirt” – 3:12
“Anything You Want” – 2:16
“Take a Walk” – 2:26
“1020 AM” – 2:10
“Take the Fifth” – 3:56
“This Book Is a Movie” – 3:33
“Chicago at Night” – 2:47
Favorite tracks: anything you want, Me and the Bean, Take a walk, The fitted shirt
Anything You Want
Me And The Bean
Take A Walk
Fitted Shirt
‘Anything you want’ lyrics’
If There’s Anything You Want
Come On Back Cause It’s All Still Here
I’ll Be In The Back Room Drinking My Half Of The Beer
And If You And Me Is So Right
Why’s It The Same Thing Every Night
It’s Just A Matter Of Time
It’s Almost Measurable
Imagination Ain’t Kind On Us Tonight
You’re At Your Best When You Got The Guns Turned A Hundred
Eighty Degrees
And Finding Out If It Adds All Up Right
We Go Through All The Same Lines Or Sell Out To Appease
But Go To Sleep In A Bed Of Lies
I Made My Own More Than Once Or Twice
And Now Time Is My Time Time Is My Own
And I Feel So Alive Yet Feel So Alone
Cause You Know You’re The One And That That Hasn’t Changed
Since You Were Nineteen And Still In School Waiting On A Light
On The Corner By Sound Exchange
“anything you want” – Live at Stubb’s
4 – Kill the moonlight
Kill the moonlight was originally released on august 20, 2002, and of course the album was critically acclaimed. The album has an 88 on metacritic, the highest rated spoon album. The song “jonathon fisk” is based on a middle school bully who was britt daniel’s classmate. Fisk, is now, supposivly a fan of the band, and he “came to all the spoon shows for about two or three years”. According to wikipedia, the title comes from a slogan in Filippo Tommaso Marintti’s ‘futurist Manifesto’. . . . This is such a great album.
Track listing –
“Small Stakes” – 3:00
“The Way We Get By” – 2:38
“Something to Look Forward To” – 2:17
“Stay Don’t Go” – 3:35
“Jonathon Fisk” – 3:15
“Paper Tiger” – 3:07
“Someone Something” – 2:48
“Don’t Let It Get You Down” – 3:29
“All the Pretty Girls Go to the City” – 3:12
“You Gotta Feel It” – 1:29
“Back to the Life” – 2:21
“Vittorio E.” – 3:39
Favorite tracks: jonathon fisk, paper tiger, someone something, the way we get by
Jonathon fisk video
Others
Paper Tiger
Someone Something
The Way We Get By
Jonathon fisk lyrics
Maybe You Remember Maybe You’re Locked Away
Maybe We’ll Meet Again Some Better Day Some Better Life
Mmmm Jonathon Fisk Speaks With His Fists
Can’t Let Me Walk Home On My Own
And Just Like A Knife Down On My Life
So Many Ways To Set Me Right
It’s Such A Long Way Home
It’s How The Story Goes
And It’s Like Atom Bombs And Blunt Razors
Atom Bombs And Blunt Razors
Jonathon Then Says It’s A Sin
But He Don’t Think Twice Cause To Him
Religion Don’t Mean A Thing
It’s Just Another Way To Be Right Wing
Just Like A Knife Down On My Life
So Many Ways To Set It Right
That’s How It Goes That’s How The Story Goes
It’s Such A Long Way Home
You’re Too Old To Understand
Cause I Just Want To Get Home Now
I Just Want To Get Home Now
Jonathon’s Right Down On My Life
So Many Ways To Set Me Right
On The Long Walk Home
That’s How The Story Goes
And Jonathon Fisk Always A Risk
Tells Me He Counts My Teeth Every Night
I Want To Get Them All Back Now
I Want To Get Them All Back
And I Want To Turn Him Around
Gimme fiction – 5
Gimme fiction, my least favorite spoon album, came out May 10, 2005 on merge. The album came bundled with a bonus disc, which I’ve been told is pretty bad. From what I’ve heard, it’s mainly just really low-fi songs and demos. The songs “I turn my Camera on”, and “Sister Jack” have both been featured on tv, such as the song “I Turn My Camera On” was featured on an episode of the simpsons titled “Any Given Sundance” which aired this year. If you pre-ordered the album It came with a free poster and button of the album’s cover.
Track listing
“The Beast and Dragon, Adored” – 4:18
“The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine” – 2:58
“I Turn My Camera On” – 3:32
“My Mathematical Mind” – 5:02
“The Delicate Place” – 3:42
“Sister Jack” – 3:35
“I Summon You” – 3:55
“The Infinite Pet” – 3:56
“Was It You?” – 5:02
“They Never Got You” – 4:59
“Merchants of Soul” – 2:49
Bonus Disc Cover and Track Listing –
“Carryout Kids” – 2:47
“You Was It” – 3:57
“I Summon You” (demo) – 4:00
“Sister Jack” (piano demo) – 1:43
Favorite Tracks: they never got you, the infinite pet, sister jack, the beast and dragon, adored
”They Never Got You” live
Others
The Infinite Pet
Sister Jack
Beast and Dragon, Adored (Live on 89.3 The Current)
“They Never Got You” lyrics
You
When you were coming up
Did you think everyone knew
Something unclear to you
And when you were thrown in a crowd
Could you believe yourself
Did you repeat yourself
Cause no one would hear
And just say it again
Cause they never got you and you never got them
Don’t let it break
Don’t let it start
Don’t let em in
Don’t go too far
And cover your tracks
Cover the path to the heart
Don’t let those footholds start
And don’t let no one in
Cause they never got you and you never got them
You
When you were breaking up
They was just waking up
And back in that place where you come from
Did it pay to play along
That’s where I’m coming from
I’ld rather roll it myself or just let it be
Cause I never got them and they never got me
No I never got them and they never got me
6- Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
The sixth and most recent spoon album, was released on the date of july 10, 2007 on merge records. Its cover art is taken from a portrait of artist/sculptor Lee Bontecou, taken by Italian photographer Ugo Mulas in 1963. The crazy ga title, is taken from the tentative name for “The Ghost of You Lingers.” The original name was meant to sound like the piano piece in the background. Britt Daniel says the title is a “great little Dadaist term.”
“Don’t Make Me a Target” was originally written for the previous album “Gimme Fiction”, and they practiced it “quite a bit”. Though they didn’t get it quite like the way they wanted it to till this album. Also the track “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb” (my favorite track) was one the had a lot of trouble with. Leading them to record it three different ways, which the ‘space rock’ version is included on the bonus disc.
The vinyl of this album doesn’t have a run-out groove so it justs continually loops on the music after the song “Black Like Me”
Track listing
“Don’t Make Me a Target” – 3:55
“The Ghost of You Lingers” – 3:34
“You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb” – 3:08
“Don’t You Evah” – 3:36
“Rhthm & Soul” – 3:30
“Eddie’s Ragga” – 3:39
“The Underdog” – 3:42
“My Little Japanese Cigarette Case” – 3:03
“Finer Feelings” – 4:54
“Black Like Me” – 3:25
Bonus track only available on itunes
11) “Deep Clean”
Favorite tracks: rhythm and soul, my little japanese cigarette case, you got yr. cherry bomb, don’t you evah, the underdog
Rhythm & Soul
My Little Japanese Cigarette Case
You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb
Don’t You Evah
The Underdog
Bonus disc – Get Nice
“I Got Mine” – 2:34
“Be Still My Servant” – 1:24
“Leave Your Effects Where They’re Easily Seen” – 0:56
“I Summon You (Cool)” (alternate version) – 1:28
“Mean Mad Margaret” – 1:37
“Love Makes You Feel” – 2:38
“You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb” (alternate version) – 3:13
“Tasty Fish” – 1:18
“Dracula’s Cigarette” – 1:24
“1975” – 1:39
“I Can Feel It Fade Like an AM Single” – 3:12
“Curfew Tolls” – 1:33
Favorite tracks: 1975, love makes you feel, space rock version of yr. cherry bomb, I can feel it fade like an AM single
1975
Love Makes You Feel
I Can Feel It Fade Like an AM Single
Rhythm and soul live
Rhythm and soul lyrics
Come loosen up,
so hung up
Come count the ways to forever
Remember, the winter gets cold in ways you always forget
ah you know
Mm-a rhythm and soul
Get your hands out your back pockets, boy let it go
Here comes the man you saw in Kazan,
He just fixing his coat
rhythm and soul.
Dollars and cents ain’t no accident
Not in the name of democracy.
Come get there, come be there
Come let your socks fall down to your shoes
Oh, you know
And you know rhythm and soul
Get your ankles moving their sockets
Oooh there you go
Here comes the man
He followed you from Kazan
He can’t leave it alone
Ah no rhythm and soul
When you take a picture and it falls in your lap
Take another picture and your springing the trap
You been sold
You can’t bat this with your eye
Change your tie
And get wise
Rhythm and
Tracked houses,
Square
couches,
Short legs and square shoulders,
Pot holders,
Egg and soldiers
Y’ tank rollers, you all know this
Yeah you know, oooh the rhythm and soul
Get your fingers moving their sockets
Tune in Tokyo
You’re just the man
The one I saw in Kazan
One of us went for the throat
RHYTHM AND
Discography
Albums
“Telephono” (1996, Matador(re-release in 2006 on Merge))
“A Series of Sneaks” (1998, Elektra( re-release in 2002 on Merge))
“Girls Can Tell” (2001, Merge)
“Kill the Moonlight” (2002, Merge)
“Gimme fiction” (2005, Merge)
“Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga” (2007, Merge)
EPs
“The nefarious EP” (1994, Fluffer)
“Soft Efects” (1997, Matador)
“30 Gallon Tank” (1998, Elektra)
“Love Ways” (2000, Merge)
“Don’t You Evah” (2008, Merge)
Singles
“All the Negatives Have Been Destroyed” (7″/CD5, 1996)
“Not Turning Off” (7″, 1996)
“Anticipation” (7″, 1998)
“The Agony Of Laffitte”(CD5, 1998, Saddle Creek)
“Anything You Want” (7″/CD5, 2001)
“Everything Hits Once”(CD5, 2001)
“Car Radio” / “Advance Cassette” (CD5, 2001)
“Text Later” / “Shake It Off” (split 7″, 2002)
“Someone Something” (7″, 2002)
“Jonathon Fisk” (CD5, 2002)
“Stay Don’t Go” (CD5, 2003)
“The Way We Get By” (CD5, 2003)
“I Turn My Camera On” (7″/CD5, 2005)
“My First Time, Vol. 3” (digital single, 2005)
“Sister Jack”(UK and US, 7″/CD5, 2005)
“The Underdog” (UK and US, digital single/7″ promo, 2007)
“You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb” (Europe and Australia, digital single, 2007)
“Don’t You Evah” (digital single (Diplo Mix), 2007; CD5, 2008
It’s like I knew two of you, man / The one before and after we shook hands
*
p.s. Hey. ** David, Hi. David W. was a pal of mine, but you probably know that. I think Diamanda is a cool person, but I’m not huge on her music. I have a lot of friends who are. In my recent experience, tooth pulling is a lot less of a big deal than I’d thought. Good luck with that. ** Maria, Isabella, Camila, Malaria, Gabriela, Hi. Eek. Fingers crossed for D. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. I’ll check your links once I’m outta here. Thanks. ** Dominik, Hi!!! I will, I will. Ha ha, very nice love there. Love sharing my box of Matcha Pocky with you, G. ** _Black_Acrylic, Yep. You’re the best kind of fan, man. Leeds United should change their logo to a picture of your smiling face. I’m not kidding. ** Misanthrope, Hi. I would hope so. Aces on the chilled and relaxed. My weekend? It was good, got a little behind on some things, but whatev’. ** Brandon, Hi. Glad you came back. No, I’m looking at the schedule of the retrospective and trying to pick the ‘must sees’ almost as we speak. There’s a bunch I haven’t seen, no surprise given his big oeuvre, and its unavailability in these parts. I’m not sure if ‘Birth of a Nation’ is in the lineup, I’ll check. You’re in LA, my hometown or part-hometown. Where do you live? I still have an apartment in Los Feliz. Oh, yeah, I saw something about ‘Out of the Blue’ getting rereleased or something? I saw a pre-release screening of it wayback, and Dennis Hopper was there and talked. Pretty cool. I loved that film, of course. How does it hold up for you? Linda Manz = god. I hope your week is very sparkly. ** Corey Heiferman, Hi, man. New friends are the best. I’ve made a few of them myself recently. The film: Ideally we’re finally in the last stages of raising the needed funding, but we’ve had so many disappointments along the way, it’s hard to hope too much, and yet we might be there by the end of the month. If so, we’ll go to LA and start the prep work. We’ve been hoping to shoot in June, but it’s getting so tight that we might have to wait until September. Anyway, I really hope we’re almost at the green light. Thanks for asking. I hope you’re feeling okay. ** Steve Erickson, Glad to hear it’s only an ugly cold-like experience. Here the cases are dropping dramatically. Bad luck re: your friend. I only know one person has it right now, and he’s asymptomatic. Everyone, Mr. Erickson has done a ‘Queer Music Roundup’ about recent releases by Queer artists, and you can go see what’s going on on that front here. ** Brian, Hey, Brian. Yes, ‘Moonfall’ has no small number of Sirkian dialogue occasions. Like the one you mentioned. I appreciated ‘If the earth deserves a second chance, then so do we.’ Among many others. The absurdity level was wonderfully high throughout. The saddest thing is there are probably a handful of disaster movies that had tentative green lights that now have glaring red ones. There’s the teeny-weeniest chance that ‘Moonfall’ could be giant in China and save the day, but … My week? Uh, hopefully finish this long gestating little novella that Zac and I are co-writing. I have to read a poem in the launch event for that Piero Heliczer book I featured here recently on Thursday. This actress who was in a number of Ozu films was also the first female Japanese film director, and some of her films have just been restored and are being screened here, and the word is that they’re really good, so I might see one of those. Maybe some good film funding news, I pray. And …the usual. Yours? Anything look like it’s going to surprisingly blow your mind? ** Okay. Today you get a restored post from a long, long time ago, made by a long lost distinguished local named Panda, who, if memory serves, was about 16 years old when he made this guest post. He must be in his late 20s by now, and I doubt Spoon are still his favorite band, but you never know, and I thought his fandom and dedication made this post very worthy of a second life. Hope you agree. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 