Radcliffe Wrote:
So I finally landed a copy of this thing (found it sitting in the used bin, fer cryin' out loud) and I'm completely blown away by it. I've been listening to it non-stop for the last 2 days. It's simultaneously immediate and a grower, and I can already say this ranks #1 on my list of Spoon albums.
A couple off-the-cuff thoughts:
It's cool to hear Eric Bachman on background vox on "I Turn My Camera On." And John Vanderslice seems to have played a large role on "Was It You?", getting credited with "extra production". That song, lyrically at least, seems to be the only throwaway on the album (but, dang, what a cool throwaway).
What strikes me the most - apart from the astoundingly subtle entwining of melody and groove - are Britt's lyrics. He slyly puts a lot of himself out there for people to decipher, and he's shown an almost mythic growth since A Series Of Sneaks.
I mean, look at how defeated and cynical Britt was on Girls Can Tell. On "Lines In The Suit" he asked "how come I feel so washed up/ at such a tender age?" It's like getting booted from the majors left him feeling like it was all over. He was pretty much ready for a desk job. But GCT sold better than any other Spoon album before that - and he came out swinging on the next one. KTM opened with "Small Stakes", a song that was nothing if not a statement of ambition. He wasn't satisfied with music as a hobby - Britt wanted nothing less than the brass ring.
And now, on "My Mathematical Mind" he sings:
"My mathematical mind can see the breaks
so I'm gonna stop riding the brakes
no no no no more riding the brakes
Instead I'm gonna see your stakes
Yeah I'm gonna see the stakes"
So the uppity young Britt that was ready to take on the world on ASOS is back, older and wiser, never again to be suckered in by the Merchants of Soul. It's the hero's journey of myth, I tells ya. Dude is ready to slay the dragon.
"The Beast And Dragon, Adored" he sings
"I got a feelin' - it didn't come free
I got a feelin' and then it got to me
When you don't feel it, it shows - they tear out your soul
And when you believe they call it rock and roll
And when you believe they call it rock and roll"
I've always pointed at Paul Westerberg as the last of the true believers. Ever since the 'Mats fizzled most rock 'n' roll has hid behind a threadbare curtain of irony or a studied lack of ambition. But now I gotta reappraise that, and, mang, it feels pretty fucking good to know we got Britt on our side.
Album of the year for me. Easily. And if anything else comes along that knocks this off its perch, then we got ourselves some kinda revolution.
Jesus, Uncle Monger, I'm not sure we listened to the same album. I fell upon this post yesterday and, after reading what I posted about not letting this slip to the back of the bus, realized I hadn't given it its proper due. So I cranked it up and sat outside and dranka beer and thumbed through a few magazines. I thought the album was over, and that my itunes was just continuing to play some of the demos FT had sent me (along with EVERY OTHER THING SPOON HAS RECORDED) Went in to push it back to the beginning, and realized I was still listening to the album. I was dissapointed. I guess the anvil missed me and hit you.
_________________
Throughout his life, from childhood until death, he was beset by severe swings of mood. His depressions frequently encouraged, and were exacerbated by, his various vices. His character mixed a superficial Enlightenment sensibility for reason and taste with a genuine and somewhat Romantic love of the sublime and a propensity for occasionally puerile whimsy.
harry Wrote:
I understand that you, of all people, know this crisis and, in your own way, are working to address it. You, the madras-pantsed julip-sipping Southern cracker and me, the oldman hippie California fruit cake are brothers in the struggle to save our country.
FT Wrote:
LooGAR (the straw that stirs the drink)
