Every Spoon but the big shiny one

Play it: Spoon Girls Can Tell
Play it: Spoon Love Ways

On a tip (from Pitchfork, no less,) I heard that Spoon's back catalogue would finally be made available October 25th, while I was on vacation. So in advance of that, I had set up this elaborate post about crossing the time/space continuum, writing about it a week prior and wondering (asking you, the reader,) what the future was like (had we gotten our flying cars yet, etc.) However that post was about my favorite Spoon album, A Series of Sneaks, which, as yet, is still unavailable (which is criminal in my book, WHY NO SNEAKS??.)

I won't weep, though, as we do at least get Girls Can Tell, and the Loveways EP in Rhapsody (more then a week later then promised) from the fine folks at Merge Records.

In the wake of Spoon's label woes (see, the story needs A Series of Sneaks w/ it's companion The Agony of Lafitte to do this... WHY NO SNEAKS!) Spoon recorded Girls Can Tell, a nearly-perfect pop masterpiece. Because they were without label (where's Sneaks?) they had no time limits in the studio, thus the more-polished sound. Some, including myself, missed the spontaneity of prior (and following) releases, but it truly was a gem of a record. It was (and still is) singer/songwriter Britt Daniel's most personal songwriting, specifically "Fitted Shirt", which deals with the death of his father. Pop leanings only hinted at before ("I Could See The Dude" from Soft Effects EP, for instance,) come shining through. The Jam, Elvis Costello are melted (along with folk-pop stylings of Britt Daniels' alter-ego Drake Tungsten) into the already Pixies/Nirvana influenced sound. The Loveways EP was recorded after Girls Can Tell, but still before they had signed with Merge. It was released first as a reintroduction to Spoon and their new more cohesive sound, since A Series of Sneaks was no longer available at the time.

But to really understand how they got here, you (we all) need A Series of Sneaks. No review of this album can stand independent of that important album...
(UPDATE: I've been assured Sneaks will drop soon...)

tags: rhapsody, playlist, music, spoon