Facebook: Spoon Day 9: They Want My Soul (2014)
It might be glib to say that Britt Daniel’s time with Divine Fits reinvigorated his Spoon, but it undeniably altered the band’s trajectory. After all, when Britt returned his focus to Spoon, he brought keyboardist Alex Fischel along with him. This made the core of Spoon a five-piece for the first (and only) time, with both Fischel and Eric Harvey playing both keys and guitars. Spoon will make room for utility men!
It’s also undeniable that Spoon came roaring back with a crackling, focused LP, filled with some gorgeous new sounds. The band shared production duties this time with two legendary producer/engineers, Joe Chiccarelli* and Dave Fridmann**. Released on a new label called Loma Vista, this one pretty much duplicated the chart performance of TRANSFERENCE, spending 10 weeks on the Billboard 200 and peaking at #4.
* Frank Zappa, Poco, Joan Baez, Al Stewart, Glenn Frey, Elton John, Oingo Boingo, Stan Ridgway, U2, Morrissey, Beck, The Killers, The Strokes, The Shins, The Raconteurs, My Morning Jacket, Minus the Bear, Rachel Yamagata, millions more. He also has to take some responsibility for Y Kant Tori Read.
** Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, Weezer, Sparklehorse, Sleater-Kinney, MGMT, Tame Impala, Café Tacuba, Mogwai, Low, Phantom Planet, Gemma Hayes, Baroness, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, trillions more.
EXTRA: SINGLES, B-SIDES, LIVE TRACKS & SOUNDTRACKS (2015)
A boatload of bonus listening today, including a couple of collaborations between Britt Daniel and an Austin band called Sweet Spirit that has sometimes backed him at “solo” gigs. There’s also two tracks featuring Britt from George Fest, a 2014 tribute concert to George Harrison that was released on video in 2016.
EXTRA EXTRA: INSIDE OUT REMIXES (2014-2015)
In 2015 Spoon also put out an EP entirely of remixes of “Inside Out.” Here it is.
NEWS ALERT!
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/03/magazine/spoon-the-molecular-gastronomists-of-rock.html
The New York Times Magazine, 3 August 2014
“Spoon, the molecular gastronomists of rock”
Once upon a time I was represented by a junior literary agent named Dan Kois. I was working diligently with him on a difficult book that seemed destined to break my heart. I had just completed one revision for him and was poring over his notes, gearing up for a second pass, when Dan abruptly quit the agency to do things like edit Slate.com’s Culture section and tag along with Spoon watching them create music. (I’m not bitter, especially not about the way the agency stopped returning my calls after he left.) Seriously, there is some fascinating stuff about Spoon’s process in this article, which you should definitely read. But the important thing to take away from this is that my book did eventually see print. Twelve years later. (Approximately the length of time between KILL THE MOONLIGHT and THEY WANT MY SOUL.)
NEWS ALERT!
San Diego Union-Tribute, 27 May, 2015
“Spoon band member sees no fork in road”
Keys man Eric Harvey gets a little interview feature just before leaving Spoon. Sounds like an interesting guy.
NEWS ALERT!
http://pitchfork.com/features/interview/9480-accidents-happen-britt-daniel-on-20-years-of-spoon/
Pitchfork, 14 August 2014 (Happy birthday to me!)
“Accidents happen: Britt Daniel on the songs of Spoon”
“A lot of our conversation pertained to the idea of accident -- the filigree and details at the margins of Spoon songs that makes the band’s recordings unique. Many of the accidents I brought up turned out to not be accidents at all.”
SPOONTV1
“Rent I Pay” (unofficial video)
SPOONTV2
“Do You” (official video)
SPOONTV3
“Inside Out” (official video)
SPOONTV4567
“Rent I Pay” premiere live on NPR Music
“Inside Out” on Letterman
“I Summon You” + “Rent I Pay” from 88.1 FM Indie 88 in Toronto
Live in studio at KEXP Seattle (39 minutes!)
SPOONTV8
“Inside Out” (official, er, different video)
DAILY COVER TRACK ROUND-UP
“I Just Don’t Understand” (Ann-Margret)
“Waiting to Know You” (The Fiery Furnaces)
“TV Set” (The Cramps)
Britt Daniel: “Run Through the Jungle” (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
Britt Daniel: “I Me Mine” (live 2014) (The Beatles)
Brandon Flowers, Britt Daniel, Dhani Harrison, Jonathan Bates, Wayne Coyne
& “Weird Al” Yankovic: “Handle with Care” (live 2014) (The Traveling Wilburys)
Sweet Spirit & Britt Daniel: “Paper Tiger” (Spoon)
Britt Daniel: “Never Let Me Down” (David Bowie)
https://soundcloud.com/spoontheband/never-let-me-down
Plenty of material for us to round up today -- eight tracks in all, bringing our running total to 31.
Again, treat yourself to something nice if you recognized the cover track on the album itself -- track 8, “I Just Don’t Understand,” originally performed by Ann-Margret. The Beatles used to play that one live, too.
Next, from a special Merge records subscription series, comes Spoon coming Britt’s former girlfriend Eleanor Friedberger’s band, The Fiery Furnaces. From the soundtrack of the POLTERGEIST remake comes a pretty faithful cover of The Cramps. From season 2 of the excellent television series FARGO (which just returned last night for Season 3 with Ewan McGregor in a dual role) comes a Britt Daniel cover of CCR. I’ve already mentioned the cuts from George Fest, the second of which finds Britt in a gang of faux Wilburys that includes everyone from Brandon Flowers to “Weird Al” Yankovic.
If you listened to the tracks from Sweet Spirit and Britt Daniel, you might have twigged to the fact that “Paper Tiger” was a remake of a track from KILL THE MOONLIGHT. Yes, now Britt is even covering himself!
And finally, one last track that I only recently discovered on SoundCloud -- a Britt Daniel tribute to David Bowie, from possibly Bowie’s least loved album, but quite effective in this setting.
COLLABORATION ALERT!
Split Single: Fragmented World
http://www.spin.com/2014/03/split-single-fragmented-world-stream-jason-narducy-britt-daniel/
In 2014, Britt Daniel joined yet another non-Spoon band. That’s when Jason Narducy formed the band Split Single with Britt on bass. Narducy has been kicking around the indie rock world since the ‘80s, and has toured extensively with both Bob Mould and Superchunk. You can stream Split Single’s debut album at the link above.
Incidentally, Britt Daniel did not continue with Split Single for their second album. Bass duties on METAL FRAMES are performed by my old neighbor, John Stirratt of Wilco.
Interview with Jason Narducy