Facebook: Spoon Day 2: A Series of Sneaks (1998)
In 1997 Spoon released a somewhat more polished effort on Matador -- the SOFT EFFECTS EP. The buzz around Spoon was growing, to the point where major labels began sniffing around. Spoon had the option to sell their next album to Matador again, but A&R man Ron Laffitte* made a persuasive case for them to sign with Elektra. Which they did. Thus A SERIES OF SNEAKS become Spoon’s major-label debut -- and their only major-label release.
By the way, bassist Andy Maguire left the band acrimoniously and litigiously after TELEPHONO, demanding (and apparently receiving) a third of all the album’s revenue. Josh Croslin, who produced both today’s releases, took on some of bass duties on SOFT EFFECTS, but as of A SERIES OF SNEAKS the Spoon lineup included Josh Zarbo on bass. He would stick around until the sessions for 2005’s GIMME FICTION.
(The playlists above contain the full run of today’s program, with a silent 30-second track separating SOFT EFFECTS from A SERIES OF SNEAKS. Call it a sonic palate-cleanser, or a brief intermission card to let you know where one release ends and the next begins.)
* Why do I make a point of mentioning Laffitte by name? Tune in tomorrow, your curator said portentously.
EXTRA: B-SIDES & MISC TRACKS (1997-1999)
Among today’s cool bonus tracks, we have a brusque number from a 1997 Austin music sampler (“Operation in Progress”), a “30 Gallon Tank” B-side that only Spoon would have relegated to side B (“Revenge!”), and a Britt Daniel solo effort from a fan-produced tribute to Julian Cope (“Cut My Friend Down”).
NEWS ALERT!
http://weeklywire.com/ww/01-25-99/austin_music_feature1.html
Weekly Wire, 25 January 1999
“Drake Tungsten and his boy Skellington”
This article is written in such a self-consciously f/u/c/k/e/d/-/u/p/ alternative way that it can be hard to follow at times. Still, there are some interesting nuggets in here about this period in Spoon’s history.
NEWS ALERT!
http://www.phawker.com/2014/08/06/excerpt-an-oral-history-of-spoon/
Magnet, 6 August 2014
“An oral history of Spoon”
I quibble with the opening paragraph of this article (Spoon is more a two-man band than a one-man band) and the copyediting is atrocious (it’s Laffitte, not LaFeat), but the excerpt available online takes us right from the beginnings of the band to just past the release of A SERIES OF SNEAKS. Interesting stuff.
SPOONTV
“Utilitarian/Don’t Buy the Realistic” (live 1997)
I haven’t run across much live footage from Spoon’s early years, but here you can see them play a couple of tunes live at the SXSW Music Festival in 1997.
SPOONTV2
Britt Daniel: “Advance Cassette” backstage at the Borderline (2007)
Here’s some much later footage of Britt playing a solo acoustic “Advance Cassette.” Somehow I find this version more emotional and haunting than the SNEAKS recording.
DAILY COVER TRACK ROUND-UP
Britt Daniel: “Cut My Friend Down” [Julian Cope, as “Know (Cut My Friend Down)”]
Drake Tungsten: “Object” (live 1999) (The Cure)
Two cover tracks to report today, including the aforementioned Julian Cope number. The very existence of this track, however, begs the question of how a handful of fans producing a generally shoddy and amateur tribute album managed to land a contribution from Britt Daniel. I don’t know the precise answer, but I think it lies somewhere at the intersection of Britt’s love of Julian Cope and his sympathy for fannish pursuits. (For much of its existence, Spoon has been uncommonly generous in “leaking” demos and live recordings to fans, and has even given its blessing -- and assistance -- to a couple of widely circulated bootleg compilations of Spoon rarities.) I like to think the project hit Britt right in his sweet spot, and that he was eager to participate.
Our running cover tally stands at eight.