Spoon get's iffy, Nigel get's pissed.

I wanted to avoid saying it, but this new Spoon album kinda sucks.  And by kinda, I mean that at best, this record is half empty.  We could focus on the half that's full, but the highlights on this record are not that surprising and often only serve to remind us the band still has a pulse.  Fortunately, my feelings on the album have been articulated elsewhere by a better writer.  Here's a gem from that review:

Alan wants to call this “the agony of Britt” and I see entering the field of discussion how many points we should give the record for being a break-up album, as if the world doesn’t have enough of those. For one, it’s difficult to avoid letting rumors of Britt’s mackscapades taint one’s perception of the theme here (CMG’s got friends you never called back, Britt [or just creeped out]) but move away from slander and Transference becomes even less interesting and/or affecting. Here the break-up aftermath leaves Britt full of uncertainty in the most obvious and uncompelling way possible: track titles/themes that are questions and songs that consist of series of negating or circular statements. “Written in Reverse” is half Cobainisms, for crying out loud.

The rest of the review focuses more clearly on the technical/musical shortcomings, but the above passage hit a special nerve.  I admit, I'm more aware of the gossip surrounding Britt's personal life than normal fandom should allow.  I'm not going to defend this, but I will point out I'm not the only Spoon fan who's heard some disappointing shit about Mr. Daniels and his ways with young female fans.  And let's be fair, he's written pretty openly about his personal life since getting dropped by Elektra.  Hardcore Spoon fans have stuck with this band for over a decade, from critic's darlings to indie stars to  just plain rockstars, kept on board by a faith in their talents.  And so, unfair as it may be, when I hear those stories (and there are plenty) about Britt's sleazy dbag antics, I become increasingly unforgiving of their misteps, especially when those misteps involve chinzy romance and well worn real emotional trash ("Goodnight Laura").  It makes me wonder about all those dudebros and jail-baiting indie-teen girls that make up a Spoon show these days, and whether or not I still want to be carrying a torch for these guys.

If Spoon fans have one go-to defense for their less than perfect frontman, it's that Britt is A) incredibly talented and B) has always been kind of a rock star in his own mind.  Let there be no doubt that Britt is still very talented.  Proof of this fact can be found on "Who Makes Your Money."  As far as lyrics go, they're obtuse bordering on totally hollow but actually used to great effect, which is to say it's vintage Spoon.  It's what I wish more of the album was, obtuse, vague, and above all, little self deprecating.  Instead, we get empty promises, "hang ups and pain," vocal strangulations and posturing.  The cold hard truth is that this album is full of underdeveloped and/or overcooked efforts dressed up as "experimental Spoon" songs that mostly just remind me of how much better Spoon used to be.  And to top it off, we have some of Britt'smost egregious lyrics since the band's debut.  And what are all these songs about?  Britt's love problems.

On that note, I do think the album is brilliantly titled.  It's a perfect forewarning for the unwanted and half stated emotions that litter the album.  Conceptually, it does work and if you're into examining albums as art objects more than enjoying them, this may be your favorite Spoon album by far.  If wikipedia is right, and transference is the psychological phenomena of projecting emotions from past relationships unto someone else (commonly the psychotherapist), then Britt is more self aware than I give him credit.  The ghost of Spoon's past lingers heavily on this record, and no, not often in a good way.  There are too many reasons Spoon shouldn't renege it's past.  They already sound so much like themselves in everything they do as it is and they've already released strong material that's taken stock of their previous successes.  But the biggest reason Britt shouldn't rehash his old songs or his old loves is that he's already released to many goddamned breakup albums as it is, and at this point he's run out of anything worthwhile to say.  In fact, I wonder if Britt's hasn't regressed emotionally since Love Ways and Girls Can Tell. 

Am I being fair?  As a critic, probably not.  But as a fan, I gotta be concerned as to where this guy's at these days.  The man showed so much promise for so many years that I get kinda sick thinking about Britt settling for rockstar cliches or love-is-a-battlefield sentiment.  I still expect great things from this guy, but I think he needs to push himself further both musically and emotionally in order to articulate anything past his own malaise.  Granted, in the past his malaise has served his career well.  But songs like "Small Stakes," "Anything You Want," or "The Way We Get By" were resonant because they expressed the longing and self doubt of your everyman, the Underdog.  These days the dude's making love in backseats of cars with a stream of available groupies and I'm still supposed to care?

There are other some nit-picky complaints as well, like where the hell is Jim Eno on this?  I know, he's behind the mixing board and yeah, his strengths as a producer still shine.  But Jim has fallen asleep on two of his sacred duties: coming up with good drum parts and keeping Britt in check.  Major douchebag Eric Harvey is still in the band (no, I've met him, he's a douche), the production is often lo-fi when it should be crystal clear and vice-versa, and the soundscape is way too cluttered.  I should pat these guys on the back for stretching themselves and not just phoning an album in (actually, some parts do literally sound like they were recorded via cell phone, so maybe the boys are being really self aware here) but I expect more next time.  My advice, ditch your keyboard player, go some place where people don't think you're the shit and if you find the time, grow the fuck up man.

ADDENDUM:

I would feel bad if I never admitted there are some pretty strong points on this album.  I got to thinking whether or not the band actually had a decent EP/Maxi Single marred by the filler surrounding it.  Now, as much as I'm willing to be hard on Spoon (because I really love so much of their work that's not Transference), I hesitate to cavalierly chop up someone else's artistic statement.  But if you want to be perfectly honest, the Great New Spoon EP That Never Was is turning out to be much more rewarding.  So here's the tracklist I settled on:
1  Is Love Forever
2  The Mystery Zone
3  Got Nuffin
4  Who Makes Your Money
Still not a bulletproof release, but with some minor touches I think it would sit well with Soft Effects and Love Ways.  So there, I'm still a Spoon enthusiast.