Spoon - Lucifer on the Sofa

Oh, there is also a bonus of Wild, Small Stakes, Inside Out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IF1SQi_agw

The last couple didn’t massively connect with me - I enjoyed them a bit but didn’t adore them like the run from KTM through Transference - but this is absolutely back up there for me.

Been listening to this a lot lately and I think I've finally decided that, despite a few decent tracks and the excellent production we've come to expect from these guys, it's almost definitely my least favorite Spoon album. I'm also baffled by the sequencing. Title track is great, though.

Yeah not their best, but still a solid album which isn’t a surprise coming from them at this point even after so many years into their career.

“Wild” is probably their most immediate single in ages.

i bought this CD and got it today, can't wait to finally hear this album

ironically, i think the last CD i bought was Hot Thoughts and that was at their show

Bee OK, what did you think of the new one?

Miss this but was able to give it a good five listens. Another very solid Spoon album as they just have a knack for that. I can't really think of too many bands that have this good of an album for album number 10. It seems like everything is in the right place and the production is outstanding. I'm a big fan of the second half and do wonder where this album will rank in a years time on my Spoon list. I'm a little disappointed they didn't keep going down the electronic direction of their last album but I might be over ranking Hot Thoughts. This album does rock but seems a bit short, I actually think they should have put one more song on it. For Spoon fans I can see why they think it is a return to form as it does feel like a classic Spoon album and to do that in 2022 is remarkable imo.

I love Hot Thoughts and prefer it.

Have played this ten times, is that enough to decide that aside from Wild it really isn't doing anything for me?

It's the first Spoon album I'll probably never listen to again. On the whole I think it's pretty disappointing, which is the first time I have felt that way about a Spoon album. "Held" is actually pretty awful. Sounds like the Black Keys.

As for the length, it doesn't bother me, as I like short albums, bu they could have padded this out with one of the great live Tom Petty covers they released in video form last year.

same

Yeah "Held" could be their worst song ever (cover or not, terrible lyrics too), and "The Hardest Cut" isn't much better, but after that I really like the album. Not as good as Hot Thoughts though.

It also seems like an almost vulgar misread of the original song (which I only heard recently), with all the conspicuous rock and roll vocal affectations ("I let myself be held / (yeah) / Like a big old baby / whoo!"). And to start the record that way? Baffling decision.

I still think the title track's great, which is why I'll probably keep the record.

This has to be the least talked about new Spoon album ever on ILM. I see they are now going to co-headline a tour with Interpol this summer but there are no Los Angeles dates as of yet.

https://www.stereogum.com/2181381/interpol-spoon-coheadlining-tour-dates/news/

Is anyone going to see Spoon on this current tour that just started? I'm thinking about going again because they are so good live.

i saw them last week in boston

This might be their worst album outside of their debut. There is no lasting power with this and although good it's subpar when you compare it to other Spoon albums. Hot Thoughts and They Want My Soul are so good maybe that should have been expected.

how was the show?

xpost?

I read someone's tweet that they're doing John Lennon's "Isolation" as one of the encores

they were covering that years ago, brought it back for obvious reasons

They just postponed the next few shows because someone got COVID, so if that frees up a ticket, I may go.

I haven’t gone back to this much, honestly.

(It’d be fun to see them live, though.)

Nor have I.

i haven't either haha. excited to see them live soon though

i just bought ticket to see them in Hollywood in June, it will be the second time in this tour but first time since this newer album has been out. They are also playing with Interpol in a coheadliner thingy but this is not that.

Can't believe how expensive tickets are these days, I know everything is but it feels like they are making up for the last few years.

Oh I talked about that already, sorry

tonight's show in nyc surpassed expectations ---

great setlist, indulgent w/ hits but felt to hit all the right marks

guesting dan boeckner during the encore and doing wolf parade's 'modern world' made my week, i love him (i guess he's in town for arcade fire's somehow fifth snl episode tomorrow)

spoon rules

It's my birthday and a friend is taking me to go see Spoon tonight in Hollywood.

Yahoo!

Dang, happy birthday bee ok! Hope it’s a killer show

Saw them in April, they were great, just a good ol' rock&roll show from the git-go.

The opening band was Geese from New York City and this was there fifth show ever. they were good, they are classic rock/Strokes vibe going and I could see they could become something.

As I stated it was my birthday and my friend Rob wanted to buy me a beer. Well he could not find his way back to me. So I was shouting on my phone between bands and of course everyone around me knew what was going on. Then a bunch of people put on their flashlight, on their phones to try and direct him back to me. I then had a dad and his daughter trying to help and he was throwing his daughter up in the air for my buddy to see. It was the greatest thing ever. It didn't work and so I lost my prime real-estate.

Spoon were great as usual. My only complaint is they played like six songs from the new album but that was fine as it's this tour. My friend, who had skepticism of Spoon, absolutely loved them and finally after all these years won him over.

They said they haven't played this in a long time. I know I have never heard it live before. "The Mystery Zone."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI29iv4hDUE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryyHZeK4aNc

Probably my favorite song from this album, anyway the video was released today.

This album is such a triumph. The term that keeps coming to mind, for whatever reason, is "victory lap."

I was trying to construct an elaborate and unnecessary career analogy between Leonard Cohen and Spoon, which would I guess make this = 1992's The Future (25 years on from the debut and releasing some of the best songs of their career, just with slightly longer gaps between albums). Here's hoping I don't have to wait 9 years to hear the next one!

I'm actually loving this a lot myself. I began playing Spoon non-stop for two days after having to pass on their surprise show last night due to work and life commitments (at a small venue with a mere 280 capacity - ARGH) and I was surprised how great this sounded after hearing the previous five albums in a row. Hot Thoughts was commendable but I liked those songs better via live recordings - same arrangements and everything but something about the way that record's mixed made it sound kind of congested and a bit too manicured for my tastes. The sound of Lucifer really jumps out more, and it feels more lively and a bit more spontaneous - the more I listen to it, the more it feels like everyone's in the moment and playing off of each other. It's possible that's not the case at all, especially given how much work was done during the pandemic, but that's what I hear.

Huh, didn't see this coming... Lucifer On the Moon a "reconstruction" of LOTS by Adrian Sherwood.

https://pitchfork.com/news/spoon-announce-remix-album-share-video-for-new-version-of-on-the-radio-watch/

i love the idea of a full-album remix done by a single producer, wish more bands did it

I'm all over this, despite this being my least favorite Spoon album. Can't help but wonder what Sherwood would have done with, say, Gax5. Oh well. The preview single sounds fantastic - much better than the album version, in my opinion - and let's be honest, if there is a single indie band warranting this sort of treatment, it's Spoon.

Even less of a favorite than the pre-Girls Can Tell stuff? That's a bold stance. I really dig this new one.

it's still minor spoon but i've got it on right now and some of these songs are pretty darn good.

Yeah, I think, on balance, I prefer the pre-GCT stuff to their latest. It's the first Spoon album with songs I skip, and I think the Smog cover may be my least favorite thing they've ever done. It hurts, too, because they are pretty much the only active rock band I still check out. I will say there are a few songs on Lucifer I do really like, especially the title track (which I love), and the first single

as of this moment

Gax5
Transference
Kill the Moonlight
Gimme Fiction
Hot Thoughts
LOTS
They Want My Soul
Girls Can Tell
A Series of Sneaks
Telephono

Very close to mine! And I thought I was the only one who rated Transference near the top. Very underrated Spoon album, I think.

That said, I definitely like Girls Can Tell more than you do, though I will concede it really starts to sag near the end. May have to think about my ranking.

Honestly the top 5 there is nearly interchangeable, I love them all. I don't dislike GTT, more that it's just the top of the lower division of their catalog. TWMS I waffle back and forth on a lot, it's one I struggle with full loving but the heights are undeniable. KTM was where I first learned of Spoon so I rate it pretty highly.

Fucking love Transference.

God-tier:

Gax5
Transference
Kill the Moonlight
Girls Can Tell

Killer:

Gimme Fiction
They Want My Soul

Merely excellent:

A Series of Sneaks

Meh:

Hot Thoughts
Lucifer
Telephono