#515 The Best Album of 2001, Round 2 Match #71: Spoon vs. Spiritualized
Hey folks!
Today’s Best Album of 2001 match is:
#9 Spoon, GIRLS CAN TELL
vs.
#56 Spiritualized, LET IT COME DOWN
To vote, follow this link to the Google Form. You will need a Google login to vote. If you can’t or won’t have one, let me know ASAP (either through this newsletter, my email [kentmbeeson@hey.com] or on the Best Album Brackets Bluesky account) and I’ll see what I can do.
We have dueling Designated Cheerleaders today! First up, for GIRLS CAN TELL, it’s @levin.bsky.social. Take it away, Elana!
Girls Can Tell was a comeback album from a band I absolutely did not care about till they came back. After two disappointing 90s albums their label dropped them. They went on hiatus and somewhere in there Britt Daniel studied The Kinks and Elvis Costello and became a firstrate songwriter.
Daniel’s got a great rock and roll voice–instantly recognizable. He emotes like a champ. He’s got some throaty raspyness underlying a sweet tone. He makes interesting choices in his vocal melodies. He can Beatles when he wants to–John Lennon specifically.
Spoon was co-founded by drummer Jim Eno. They sound like a band co-founded by a drummer. The piano? Percussive. Vibraphone going bing bong? Percussive. Daniel’s vocals on songs like “Believing Is Art” are EXTREMELY percussive. Lots of syncopation. Apparently they are fellow fans of Jamaican Ska.
There’s a lot going into these songs: Power Pop yes, but also a Steely Dan chord here, a Duanne Eddy guitar there. Marquis Moon bass moment. And bless them for having vocal harmonies in moments even if it's just Daniel multitracked.
I’m not big into indie but this is a tremendous album. Highlights:
How was “Me and the Bean” not a single?
“The Fitted Shirt” borrows that Kashmir beat, but about the challenge of finding slim fit shirts in the 90s. JK it’s about complicated Dad feelings.
“Anything You Want” in retrospect sounds quite 90s but also a bit Todd Rundgren? Great vocals.
“Take A Walk” is fantastic. A real rocker that presages 2022’s Lucifer on the Sofa.
“Take the Fifth” reminds me of Lily' s perfect distillation of 1966. Stunning.
The album feels over too soon. I still don’t know what exactly it is that Girls Can Tell, but we can always put on Spoon and be rhapsodized by it.
Thank you, Elana!
Next, for LET IT COME DOWN, it’s @spacedan.bsky.social. Take it away, Dan!
I didn't want to write this because honestly how do you talk about an album so suffused in addiction, suicide ideation and self harm when you yourself don't have any real experience of those things, at least not to the extent of our man Jason here.
“I don't want to live but I can't resist,” he says, just plainly putting it out there. There's no shame, no showboating about how sad he is, no boasting about living on the edge. It's like when Murderbot says they're not making a threat, just telling you what's going to happen.
So anyway, this is around the time of my peak Spiritualitized fandom and it's the straightforward almost naive attitude that hooked me. It's like, you can feel sad without feeling sad about it. Or you can be self aware and honest that your behaviour is self destructive but what if it’s the thing that makes life worth living. I love the lack of performance, there’s no character being played, no dressing himself up as something he’s not.
Though this album also has an edge. On Ladies And Gentlemen, Jason is mostly blissed out, revelling in the highs, trying to convey that pure joy to us. An album later and he's railing against the comedown, not only saying no to rehab but laying into the whole concept. He's the Spiderman meme: but I don't want to cure myself, I want to take the drugs!
Obviously it doesn't end well. “I believe I’m damaged, I believe that I’m wrong, I believe my time ain’t long” he sings on the penultimate song. Again, there’s no melodrama, it’s just a statement of where he’s heading, a journey that will end up with near death and Songs in A&E.
And to pick up on where I started. I don’t believe that great art requires great suffering or we should celebrate damaged personalities. I just love the simple honesty of this music and a voice to say that yes it’s ok to feel like this.
Thank you, Dan!
Click here to see the current results for the entire tournament, and click here to see the current results for the prediction bracket contest.
Yesterday, #25 Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, THE TYRANNY OF DISTANCE defeated #40 Aphex Twin, DRUKQS, 110-101-1.
Thanks,
Kent
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