The Album Review Club - Week #195 (page 1310) - A New World Record - ELO

THEY WANT MY SOUL SPOON



I’ve never heard of Spoon , but I was looking forward to another new discovery from BAWBMT that join TMO in my personal top 5 from this thread.
Unfortunately it doesn’t, that’s not to say I didn’t like it.I enjoyed most of the tracks it was easy listen to drive or work to, no one song completely grabbed me but I agree the run from track 2 to 8 were solid songs.i don’t get the FOW comparison who I much prefer foggy? They were much more melodic and lyrically funny.

Anways , good pick.



7.5 /10
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
That's a very important point that I think few picked up on, and I'm going to borrow it for today...

I think this artist helps more than others to blur those lines that @Out on blue 6 mentions. I'll even admit that when I first heard Spoon, I wasn't sure where they were from, including which country? just due to the voice grittiness (and it's still there here) and their overall musical approach. If I was cornered into a US city, I would have guessed NYC and would have been very wrong.

I think that's a great point on the timeframe, and this (and others from them) was my clear favourite 10+ years ago in my listening travels. It goes back to those memories for me in first hearing it, and the sound they were creating at that time.

Oh brother, where do we even start with that one? Sigh... :-)
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I have all of the Spoon albums but they're a band I like rather than love. Think that is reflective in the scores.
I put them in the same musical bracket as Death Cab and The National but I personally like those more.
 
Rushed review as I'm away but it's had 2 listens...

Quite liked the first song, different. The rest? Annoying. Start stop start stop on every song. His voice can't carry the music very well. Found it a bit dull if I'm honest. Forgettable. Whole album, apart from the first song washed over me.

Then again I'm not really an indie fan.

4/10
 
RobMCFC said:
They Want My Soul – Spoon

When I saw the words “Dave” and “Fridmann” in the same sentence, I must admit I set my expectations low. On another forum more than a decade ago, a few were raving about this great Aussie band called Tame Impala. Mr Fridmann did the mixing and he seemed to mix way too much gloss, sugar, syrup, kitchen sink in there. I still don’t understand the attraction of Tame Impala, but that’s for another day.
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I didn't realize that connection and didn't have time yesterday to respond, but I'll point out the producers below for some of the mixing of songs...
RobMCFC said:
You can hear some of the same thing going on here, on tracks like “Inside Out” and “Do You”, but thankfully, there’s more to this than studio knob twiddling.
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Only "Inside Out" can Dave take credit for. "Do You" was produced by Joe Chiccarelli.

RobMCFC said:
I like the choppy guitar chords and keyboard stabs on “Rent I Pay”, which is a very Stonesy start to the album.
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Dave is smiling thus far. ;-)
RobMCFC said:
“Inside Out” suddenly sounds very glossy compared to the opener, and I detect the hand of some “master producer” and not in a good way.
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Ouch, you got him!
RobMCFC said:
“Rainy Taxi” gets the album back on track. It’s melodic, there’s an overall breeziness but there’s a nice crunch to the guitar, especially in the outro.
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Ok Dave, you can take a bow. ;-)
RobMCFC said:
“Knock Knock Knock” has a dramatic start, almost flamenco like in its use of acoustic guitar and a sound that is anchored by a rich bass. The ongoing acoustic balanced against the razor-like electric later in the track really works well.
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Dave used just enough "cowbell" there. ;-)

RobMCFC said:
“Outlier” is a very busy track, but I like it. This is another track that evolves as it progresses - amongst all the slick production, a chiming/jangly acoustic guitar makes a good counterpoint to all of the keyboards.
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Ironically this was a Joe Chiccarelli produced song, which I would not have guessed.

RobMCFC said:
I didn’t like the title track at all and whilst I enjoyed “I Just Don’t Understand”, with its jaunty piano and “Let Me Be Mine” again pairs an acoustic with a satisfying bass, the end of the album was a mixed bag.

Most of the albums that I love have a more rustic feel than the music on offer here, but that doesn’t mean to say that I don’t like something slicker every so often. A great example of this, The War on Drugs, and their album Lost in the Dream, was also released in 2014. Whilst They Want My Soul isn’t operating at this level – there are a few over-glossy missteps - there’s enough in there for me to enjoy and on the whole, I enjoyed a production that had a lot of attention to detail. Great choice @Black&White&BlueMoon Town and a solid 7/10.
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Thanks for listening, hopefully this ends your string of true "indie" to have to listen to. There's always an alternative, likely up next...
 
Apologies all for not being kore involved this week, have been mad busy and little time to get to listen. Some times you cant see the Forest from the trees!
But I did manage to get a couple of listens in yesterday...and i really enjoyed yet another new band for me.
Thought a fair bit that was interesting and gave me little different ideas. Particularly liked the intro. Rent I Pay was excellent and then on Just Don't Understand I thought he was trying to imitate Liam Gallagher.
Going to give this another listen when I nip out to shops in a few mins.
Disappointed I didnt have more time with this and will certainly be making a bit more time for Spoon.
Its a apologetic 7.5 from the Derry jury
 
LGWIO said:
Apologies all for not being kore involved this week, have been mad busy and little time to get to listen. Some times you cant see the Forest from the trees!
But I did manage to get a couple of listens in yesterday...and i really enjoyed yet another new band for me.
Thought a fair bit that was interesting and gave me little different ideas. Particularly liked the intro. Rent I Pay was excellent and then on Just Don't Understand I thought he was trying to imitate Liam Gallagher.
Going to give this another listen when I nip out to shops in a few mins.
Disappointed I didnt have more time with this and will certainly be making a bit more time for Spoon.
Its a apologetic 7.5 from the Derry jury
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I see what you did there in that second sentence. ;-)

Tough one, I was hoping the jury got their listens in prior to yesterday evening, but we can't all make it look as easy as the first guy or intro song that can always be relied upon to hit the net.
 
Spoon - They Want My Soul

I'm new to Spoon, I can side with most posters that feel they lack 'grit' or a certain something, it's hard to pinpoint. The overall sound is good and polished, there is a nice blend of melodies and atmospheric sounds. I can hear the FOW comparison and light versions of others bands - The Kooks 'Let Me Be Mine' , Pink Floyd 'Knock, Knock, Knock' , The National 'New York Kiss' - all very good songs.
'Inside Out' is the stand out, so tranquil, one of those i could quite happily listen to over and over.
'Rainy Taxi' also worth a mention.
Good pick!

6/10
 
Oh, the irony: plenty of complaints about a lack of grit yet I quit enjoyed this week's offering! Still, They Want My Soul by Spoon managed to score an average of 6.29 from 14 voters. For context, that puts them is a dead heat with Jimmy Eat World and Bad || Dreems. Thanks to @Black&White&BlueMoon Town for the nomination.

As you may have read yesterday, this week's nominator, @southamptonblue , will be posting his selection a little later today, with or without clues.
 
RobMCFC said:
Oh, the irony: plenty of complaints about a lack of grit yet I quit enjoyed this week's offering! Still, They Want My Soul by Spoon managed to score an average of 6.29 from 14 voters. For context, that puts them is a dead heat with Jimmy Eat World and Bad || Dreems. Thanks to @Black&White&BlueMoon Town for the nomination.

As you may have read yesterday, this week's nominator, @southamptonblue , will be posting his selection a little later today, with or without clues.
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Actually a bit earlier.....literally just walked in the door!
With clues.....but probably easy....no idea how to post pics, so rely on words ;(

The band, 2 words.........
1st word.....what I wish I had more of?
2nd word.....the nickname of my friend Rob Blackman?

The album.......
If Adam and Eve arrived on Earth today, the title is the first thing they would say?
 
I've got a few more with those clues I can attempt but banking on that

Pizza Crunch - advertised enlightenment
Money Mark - ending credits
Sunshine strip - settle

See if it is something like Money Bob - get me out of here..
 
Sleep Token - Take me back to Eden.

Released last year I believe? .....for a reason (only known to me) I will write a short review next week, rather than now.
Have a listen, and as always, if just one person doesn't know them/it, but likes it, then job done!
 
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