Girls Can Tell

by

Spoon

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....It is not a "revelation," unless the revelation is that something can be great and totally unassuming, too.

But a 5 star record should be a record in which every song is great, and which will sound just as good 10 years from now. It needn't change the world at all--it just needs to be great in and of itself. With "Girls Can Tell," Spoon achieves just that: a timeless, fresh-sounding album of stripped-down rock songs which pay homage to the past without being too reverential, while maintaining a sound which is neither retro nor hyperfashionable.

In a sense the record reminds me of early R.E.M. records (though they sound nothing alike!) in that the spareness of the instrumentation seems to connote much more than is actually there, though the guitar/bass/drums arrangements leave room for the odd keyboard, harpsichord, etc. to pop in for added color.

In the past, Spoon seemed to err on the side of indie coolness. On "Girls Can Tell" there is an emotional openness to the melody and lyrics refreshing in its lack of irony. Here they are much more interested in being a rock band--one you might've heard on the radio somewhere between (I'm guessing) 1974 and 1980. The Thin Lizzy influence is there in the dry, spare attack of the band and the almost conversation run-on cadences of some vocals ....

...the album does rock with attitude, and rock in a way that does not require bone-crushing distortion, ham-fisted drums, a handful of steroids, and one trillion overdubs. It has the dangerous grace and surprise impact of a Shaolin boxer to the current state-of-rock's WWF.

To be kind, about half of the material here is cool. The rest is pretty boring. This is actually my least favorite Spoon album. The first 4 songs are really catchy and have an "edgy" feel. I don't know what about the lyrics are "literate" though. See--the song about the fitted shirt and how they don't know how to make shirts (which I agree with) so he'll stick with his dad's old clothes. "Kill the Moonlight" does what what their going for on this album much better I think. The earlier albums are rougher, quicker, more "rock" oriented. Check out "telephono"