Spoon - Hot Thoughts

^^ this album is very kill the moonlight

xp

was really hoping first caress is a companion piece to last caress, but its not =(

I don't care for the closing instrumental -- yet.

Shotgun sound more like "I was made for loving you" than Go4 to me.

haha -- true, 'cept Daniel would never stoop so low as to think he was made to love anyone. His schtick is to question the idea of desire.

On first listen the first half of this album is OK but the second half is great.

The chord progression in 'I Ain't the One' sounds naggingly familiar, I'm thinking '70s pop like ABBA or the Carpenters or someone.

Very keen on this after brief exposure, much more so than the last one.

this is pretty good - it's less immediate which makes me think of Transference but it's got a lot more range than that one. Transference ended up being one of my favorites but it took quite a while

"tear it down" is my favorite one that i hadn't heard already. reminds me strongly of something but i can't place it

I think this is great, can't really remember the last one.

https://instagram.com/p/BRvwuSGDbeb/

i had a day today but was able to listen to the second half once. this album is going to be fun to discover. two instrumentals is so strange though.

who plays the saxamaphones on 'us'?

i don't think i even bothered to listen to the last spoon album, but i had a go at this while at work on friday and it was kinda fun! "first caress" was a banger

Really liking this one on first listen, could see it becoming one of my favorites.

TWMS was the first one I never quite grew to love (Transference didn't click with me initially, but, similar to ciderpress' experience, when it did, it really did). This one's really immediate compared to the past few, without forsaking the ear candy that I know will reveal itself over repeat headphone listens.

I have so little time for rock music these days, but Spoon is one of the few bands I always make time for, mostly because their albums consistently reward this kinda loyalty. It's also why I buy their albums without needing to hear them first; there is sure to always be at least a few tracks I'll enjoy enough to want to own.

On first listen the first half of this album is OK but the second half is great

I think after one listen I feel exactly the opposite!

Then again, one listen isn't really enough to say for sure...

and I think if the album has a dud, it's "Shotgun," which takes me back to that one summer you couldn't escape "Float On" no matter where you went

I forget what a wasteland this place in on the weekends. I wanna talk about this record!!!

"us" is great, spoon going full manhunter soundtrack

yeah if anything it's too short

I'm ot as high on it as I was yesterday -- the side closers drag and a couple other ideas don't work -- but Spoon albums take me a week to gestate.

Disagree about "Pink Up" dragging, one of the highlights of the record for me

yeah 'can i sit next to you' and 'tear it down' tower over the rest of this record for me but its still solid

On first preview, I S'd (ie. DLed) "Us" / D'd the rest of the album (as personal taste context, Transference was my favourite of theirs as a whole record, while "Inside Out" was only track on They Want My Soul that I cared for at all)

Just had a first listen. Best new album I've heard this year. Seems designed around the vinyl sides, with tracks 1-5 being a great mini-album, then #6 starts it up again with a slightly different sound.

Serious question: has this band ever made an album that was too long? Maybe A Series of Sneaks, but even the filler on that one has its charms... and I'm sure people will think I'm crazy for this, but the back half of Gimme Fiction (after "I Summon You") can be hard to sit through. Apart from that, though, some of the most consistent quality control of any band with their longevity.

^^^ totally agree with this (except maybe the part about Gimme Fiction, but even there you may be right)

also, most albums are too long

i went to Best Buy last night to look at some soundbars, mine has lost its bass speaker. will probably buy my new one on-line and not get at Best Buy. while i was there i saw this CD on sale for $8.99. i made an impulse buy and bought it. i think this is the first CD i bought in three years.

Have you just been downloading / streaming?

series of sneaks is their shortest album (it's also my favorite). haven't listened to them in a long time, but i remember the back halves of both girls can tell and kill the moonlight as slogs.

also telephono is their only album i have on lp and side a is great and side b is totally skippable.

kill the moonlight back half is a grower iirc. the last track is kind of perfect

gimme fiction is the one where i skip the back half, the first 4 tracks are fantastic and then it just kinda coasts other than 'i summon you'

GF is my favorite, in no small part thanks to "They Never Get You," which could go on forever.

so are we saying that general rule of thumb is that Spoon albums are generally front-loaded? Is there an album of theirs where side B wins? Obviously Gavin upthread says he likes side B of Hot Thoughts better, but imo the two weakest tracks on Hot Thoughts (and the only weak tracks on the album afaic) are the last two

Just looking over the discography and whoa I think we're into something here. I can't really even remember what a lot of these side 2 songs sound like. Definitely true of Transference. Even my favorite (Gax5), in retrospect, sorta sputters out toward the very end

not sure if i like the latter half better, but I find Transference and TWMS to be pretty even, front and back.

i think Gax5 and transference are even & hot thoughts i prefer the back half

Two of their best songs are the last two on Gax5. A Series of Sneaks and Transference are solid all the way through.

transference has "out go the lights" -> "got nuffin" toward the end which are A+

Yeah, this theory is nonsense.

but the back half of Gimme Fiction (after "I Summon You") can be hard to sit through

i remember the back halves of both girls can tell and kill the moonlight as slogs

also telephono is their only album i have on lp and side a is great and side b is totally skippable.

kill the moonlight back half is a grower iirc

gimme fiction is the one where i skip the back half, the first 4 tracks are fantastic and then it just kinda coasts other than 'i summon you'

some opinions suggest otherwise

the b-side of ga ga is killer imo

Yeah man, The Underdog and Finer Feelings alone cement it as excellent, it it finishes with Black Like Me.

Likewise Kill The Moonlight has Don't Let It Get You Down, Back to The Life AND Vittorio E. all of which are faultless.

Second half of Gimme Fiction is all about the minimal, repetitive grooves.

What they often seem to do is load the front half with really quick, catchy pop songs, and then stretch out a bit on the second half, slow down, explore a bit more in terms of tone and mood.

This is a *really* good record, isn't it? Love the less immediate stuff like WhisperI'lllistentohearit and Pink Up. I think this is my favourite Spoon since Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.

Only thing it lacks for me is a 'traditional' Spoon album closer. Most of their records end on a track that makes me want to immediately play the whole thing over again, whereas Us isn't quite doing it for me yet.

Spoon records are so good for driving to ...

'back to the life' has some of my favorite production touches of anything they've done

I think this is my favourite Spoon since Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

me too

sleeper hit on here for me is "Pink Up"

looking at the vinyl tracklisting for Transference, "Written In Reverse" or "Trouble Comes Running" seems like an obvious choice to kick off the B-side, that I'm having a hard time believing they went with "I Saw the Light" from anything other than sheer laziness (keeping the track order the same for the CD & LP)

the tracklisting of that album in general is just nutty: "Before Destruction" throws me off-kilter like opening the door and walking into a scene where the action is already underway. "Goodnight Laura" practically screams "closing number" but it's nowhere near the end... and I still don't know what to make of them burying the album's best song, "Got Nuffin", at the number-ten slot. (maybe the whole thing, I'm realizing now as I describe it, maps onto the structure of a live show w/ encore ?)

(sorry this was an xpost to the conversation upthread about whether Transference has a weak second side, to which I say: not on your life, pal!)