Gimme Fiction [Bonus CD]

by Spoon

Overview

Though they began their career in the mid-'90s as fine but unremarkable Pixies clones, Spoon have grown into one of the best bands in America, and their mastery over sonics and songcraft grows with each new album. Core members Brit Daniel and Jim Eno have taken a variety of mostly British influences -- the Kinks, Wire, Julian Cope -- and spun them into a distinctive sound that is as American as their hometown of Austin, Texas. Gimme Fiction, Spoon's fifth album, is a closer cousin to the expansive pop of 2001's Girls Can Tell than the stripped-down approach of their last album, Kill the Moonlight. It is also their grooviest yet, exploring a heretofore unseen funky side. Witness the slinky album opener, "The Beast and Dragon, Adored," Spoon's idea of a slow jam, with a reverberating low piano that you can feel all the way down your spine. "Was It You" owes debts to late-'70s new wave with squeltchy synths, pulsing bass, and scratchy guitar lines, and it's hard to hear the lead single, "I Turn My Camera On," without thinking of the Rolling Stones' disco-era hits "Emotional Rescue" and "Miss You" -- both songs are pulled off, with panache and soul. Elsewhere, Spoon are in more familiar rock territory: "The Delicate Place" and "The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine" would've fit perfectly on Girls Can Tell, and "Sister Jack" is Gimme Fiction's purest pop moment, with a killer chorus and lyrics that find Daniel remembering time spent in "a drop-D metal band that we called Requiem." Like R.E.M. in the '80s, Spoon seem to be able to do no wrong -- a refreshing constant in the current climate of one-album wonders.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/10/2005
Label:	Merge Records
UPC:	0036172956524
catalogNumber:	565
Rank:	40274

Tracks

1. The Beast and Dragon, Adored
2. The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine
3. I Turn My Camera On
4. My Mathematical Mind
5. The Delicate Place
6. Sister Jack
7. I Summon You
8. The Infinite Pet
9. Was It You?
10. They Never Got You
11. Merchants of Soul

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Spoon   Primary Artist
John Palmer   Trombone,Trumpet,Saxophone
Eric Bachmann   Background Vocals
Mike McCarthy   Xylophone,Finger Snapping
Brad Shenfeld   Darbouka
Britt Daniel   Organ,Acoustic Guitar,Bass,Piano,Bass Guitar,Electric Guitar,Keyboards,Tambourine,Vocals,Voices,Moog Synthesizer,Kalimba,Shaker,fender rhodes,sleigh bells,Wurlitzer
Ames Asbell   Viola
Sara Nelson   Cello
Jim Eno   Drums,Hi Hat
Joshua Zarbo   Bass Guitar
Scott Solter   Drums

Technical Credits

John Vanderslice   Producer,Feedback
Jeff Byrd   Live Sound
Mike McCarthy   Producer,Engineer
Jim Vollentine   Engineer
Britt Daniel   Composer,Sound Effects,Producer,Engineer
Sean McCabe   Artwork
Jim Eno   Producer,Engineer
Scott Solter   Producer,Engineer

Editorial Reviews

The three-year stretch between Gimme Fiction and Kill the Moonlight was the longest gap between Spoon's albums since the end of their disastrous relationship with Elektra Records helped put two and a half years between A Series of Sneaks and Girls Can Tell. In its own way, Gimme Fiction feels like as much of a refinement on what came before it as Girls Can Tell did at the time: theatrical and seething with late-night menace, the album sounds bigger than Spoon's previous work, with keyboards, guitars, and string parts courtesy of the Tosca Strings. But even within this scope, the band's eye for detail remains. Everything about Gimme Fiction, from its artwork -- which looks like photographer Irving Penn doing a surreal fashion spread on Little Red Riding Hood for Vogue Magazine -- to the sound effects that embellish each song, is meticulous. Fortunately, "meticulous" doesn't mean "precious." The album's first three tracks show that Spoon can make music that's intricate and rousing at the same time: "The Beast and Dragon, Adored" is a slow-building preface, mentioning later song titles and introducing Gimme Fiction's big, brooding sound. "The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine," a string-driven tale of a mysterious gentleman/cad, boasts some of Britt Daniel's cleverest storytelling, while "I Turn My Camera On" turns voyeurism and emotional distance into an irresistible groove that sounds like a tense rewrite of the Stones' "Emotional Rescue" (later on, the intro of "They Never Got You" sounds strangely like Hall & Oates' "Maneater" -- it's nice to hear them include '70s and '80s references that aren't the post-punk and new wave influences borrowed by so many other indie bands, or even the Elvis Costello nods that shaped so much of their earlier work). The opening trio of songs is so strong that it tends to overpower the album at first, but other standouts eventually surface: "My Mathematical Mind" is one long verse, broken by instrumental interludes, that keeps building tension with riveting results. On the other hand, the relatively lighthearted "Sister Jack" and pretty but jittery acoustic ballad "I Summon You" emphasize just how moody and nocturnal the rest of the album is. Indeed, restrained tracks like "The Delicate Place," "The Infinite Pet," and "Merchants of Soul" seem to be more about supporting Gimme Fiction's mood than standing out as great songs. "Meticulous," "distant," and "restrained" aren't the most likely adjectives to describe a good rock album, but they fit Gimme Fiction perfectly. With this album, Spoon continue to build one of the most consistent and distinctive bodies of work in indie rock -- even as they change and take chances from album to album, they end up sounding exactly how they should each time.

All Music Guide - Heather Phares