Spoon Message Board

Spoon Message Board » discuss / review

1. 
   Gabriel
   (193 Posts)

   For a while, I was the only person I knew who had ever heard of Spoon. I took it upon myself to introduce a number of my friends to the band, and I decided that the best way was to make a "Best of Spoon" compilation to give to them. This has been very successful, and every time I get more of Spoon's music I "refine" my compilation for the next person I might give it to. I was just wondering what you guys thought of my current choices and my sequencing.
   I thought about putting it in chronological order, but that would put Dismember at the beginning, which would actually scare a lot of people away from listening to the rest of the compilation. (Most of my friends prefer poppy Spoon to early Spoon, so I front-loaded it with their recent "hits")

   1. The Underdog
   2. The Way We Get By
   3. I Turn My Camera On
   4. Waiting For The Kid To Come Out
   5. The Fitted Shirt
   6. Don't You Evah
   7. My Mathematical Mind
   8. Paper Tiger
   9. Metal Detektor
   10. Everything Hits At Once
   11. The Agony Of Laffitte
   12. Mountain To Sound
   13. Jealousy
   14. Car Radio (added a couple seconds of silence to the end for a better segue)
   15. Stay Don't Go
   16. I Could Be Underground
   17. The Beast And Dragon, Adored
   18. Metal School
   19. The Ghost Of You Lingers
   20. You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb
   21. Sister Jack
   22. Dismember
   23. Chips And Dip
   24. Chicago At Night

   Songs that originally fade into or continue from another song were edited to stand alone, except for 19, which still segues into 20.

   [Clocks in at 1:18:15]

   Posted 14 years ago #
2. 
   wantsarevolution
   (144 Posts)

   Props for putting "I Could Be Underground" on there, but where's "Anything You Want?" "Jonathon Fisk?" "Me and the Bean?" I would probably take out "Jealousy" and "Metal School" to make room for those, but I'd be hard-pressed to make a third cut...

   Posted 14 years ago #
3. 
   Why a Spoon
   (32 Posts)

   I like your list, but I'd go with wantsarevolution and take out The Ghost of You Lingers, Metal School, and Jealousy for Anything You Want, but the other two I'd swap for I Summon You and Black Like Me. Or maybe even 30 Gallon Tank, eh?

   \"...back when you were nineteen/still in school/ and waiting on a light/on the corner by Sound Exchange\"

   Posted 14 years ago #
4. 
   wantsarevolution
   (144 Posts)

   Oh man. Both of those are great choices too. Especially "Black Like Me."

   Posted 14 years ago #
5. 
   mountain2sound
   (28 Posts)

   You cannot go wrong with a Spoon compilation; however, mine would be a lot heavier on older material (why not include the entire Soft Effects EP?) and sprinkled with a few more b-sides (I couldn't make a comp without Revenge and Telamon Bridge...props for including I Could Be Underground)...I would also replace the Spoon version of Chicago at Night in favor of the Drake Tungsten one (I heard that version first and prefer it). But that is just me...

   People would be scared of early Spoon stuff? It's not like they were The Mentors back then...lol.

   Posted 14 years ago #
6. 
   pherron
   (173 Posts)

   I'd have to have 'Change My Life', definitely my favourite. I agree with mountain2sound though, you can't go wrong really. I guess Merge will release a comp. one day.

   Posted 14 years ago #
7. 
   mountain2sound
   (28 Posts)

   oops...Change My Life would definitely be on my list as well.

   Posted 14 years ago #
8. 
   Gabriel
   (193 Posts)

   Girls Can Tell never clicked with me for some reason; I simply couldn't bring myself to put songs like "Me And The Bean" and "Anything You Want" on there because I personally don't care for them much. There are some Spoon "classics" that somehow never did much for me ("30 Gallon Tank", "Loss Leaders", "The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine"). Conversely, I don't like "Stay Don't Go" much but I put it on anyway because I figured my friends really would.

   None of my friends liked "The Ghost Of You Lingers", but it's one my favorite Spoon songs, so I felt like it had to be there. Now it's like an inside joke between me and my friends.

   I added "Metal School" because I love A Series Of Sneaks and thought only two songs from it would be a criminal under-representation. However, as a rule, I tried not to take too much from any one album (hence only four cuts from Gimme Fiction and Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga).

   There are also songs I kinda wanted to add but figured none of my friends would like, namely "All The Negatives Have Been Destroyed", "Not Turning Off", and "Small Stakes".

   Thanks for your feedback! I'll probably make some revisions based on all this.

   Posted 14 years ago #
9. 
   wantsarevolution
   (144 Posts)

   Hmmm. I didn't like "Me and the Bean" the first time I heard it either, but I think "Anything You Want" will win just about anyone over. I know that was the song that got my roommate hooked on them.

   Posted 14 years ago #
10. 
    nefarious
    (129 Posts)

    I've made my fair share of spoon compliations...but I think I edited alot of Gimme Fiction out of it, because it's my least favorite, and even added some of Get Nice! because I really enjoy those songs.
    It's hard to say what others will like when making CD's so I usually put my favorites on there...they're my favorites for a reason...cuz they're GOOD! dammit.

    Posted 14 years ago #
11. 
    Tyler Darling
    (706 Posts)

    Oh man I think Girls Can Tell is my favorite album. I just got it a bit ago on vinyl and it's amazing. Britt opens up on this album and writes about stuff he's never wrote about, nor never will write about again. I'd at least include Me and the Bean, and Believing is Art, and Take the Fifth!!! Hear the album on vinyl. Trust. Ok I like a lot of your list though. I love Spoon so much I can only make 2 disc sets for people. Can't cut it into 1. I do it chronologically, though. First 3 albums disc 1, last 3 on disc 2. Heres my list. And Dismember is one of my fav songs!

    Spoon Comp.

    Disc 1

    1. Don't Buy the Realistic
    2. All the Negatives have been Destroyed
    3. Nefarious
    4. Dismember
    5. Plastic Mylar
    6. Mountain To Sound
    7. Loss Leaders
    8. Utilitarian
    9. The Guest List/The Execution
    10. 30 Gallon Tank
    11. Metal Detektor
    12. June's Foreign Spell
    13. Quincy Punk Episode
    14. Everything Hits At Once
    15. Believing Is Art
    16. Me and the Bean
    17. The Fitted Shirt
    18. Anything You want
    19. Take The Fifth
    20. Chicago At Night

    Disc 2 (Just fits on to a disc. Because songs are longer than their older songs)

    1. Small Stakes
    2. The Way We Get By
    3. Stay Don't Go
    4. Jonathan Fisk
    5. Paper Tiger
    6. Don't Let it Get You down
    7. You Gotta Feel It
    8. Vittorio E.
    9. The Beast And Dragon, Adored
    10. I Turn My Camera On
    11. Sister Jack
    12. I Summon You
    13. Don't Make Me A Target
    14. You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb
    15. Don't You Evah
    16. Rhythm & Soul
    17. The Underdog
    18. Finer Feelings
    19. Black Like Me
    20. Got Nuffin

    Posted 14 years ago #
12. 
    kerron
    (3 Posts)

    Girls can Tell is my fave too. Weird that I got into it after buying Kill the Moonlight and seeing a live show. So many good songs - LInes in the Suit, Fitted Shirt, Everything Hits at Once. Big fan of Kill the Moonlight too. Ga ga ga ga is good too. Love Japanese Cigarette Case, Finer Feelings, Cherrybomb (BAD earworm!) and Don't you Evah. Struggle with the Ghost of you lingers - so raw its painful to listen to. Had to train myself to appreciate it. My friend loathes it.

    Posted 13 years ago #
13. 
    backtothelife
    (9 Posts)

    Wow, this will be very hard to fit onto one CD but I'll try...

    1. The Beast and Dragon, Adored
    2. The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine
    3. The Way We Get By
    4. The Fitted Shirt
    5. Stay Don't Go
    6. Someone Something
    7. I Turn My Camera On
    8. Believing Is Art
    9. The Book I Write
    10. The Figures of Art
    11. Everything Hits at Once
    12. Monkey Feelings
    13. Anything You Want
    14. The Underdog
    15. I Summon You
    16. Finer Feelings
    17. Jonathon Fisk
    18. They Never Got You
    19. Back to the Life
    20. Take a Walk
    21. Is This The Last Time
    22. Black Like Me

    I don't know how anyone could not fall in love with Spoon after hearing that.

    Posted 13 years ago #
14. 
    Lovin Spoonful
    (3 Posts)

    You don't think your friends would like "Small Stakes"? That's funny ... that's the file I always send to friends I'm trying to get hooked on Spoon.

    I love Girls Can Tell & always have, but really fell in love with "Me and the Bean" after hearing it live. It feels even more soulful. "Fitted Shirt" is awesome too.

    I love all of these lists. It's an impossible challenge. My favs list is constantly rotating, i.e. "Japanese Cigarette Case" was never a favorite (I didn't dislike it but I loved "Ghost" and "Cherry Bomb" and so many others that I didn't pay much attention to it ... but then I started hearing the bass line & realized that it's an AWESOME song.)

    We're really lucky to be fans of such a great band. I sort of feel sorry for other band fans ... they don't have such a catalog to pick from!

    Posted 13 years ago #
15. 
    Tyler Darling
    (706 Posts)

    Agreed! Fans of Spoon can rejoice because they are a top notch Rock 'n' Roll band. I just read an old Rolling Stone review of "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" that said Spoon's album was so great, that it "won't change your life, but you'll be glad that the songs are out there". Or something like that. I hated that! As if any of the music they cover changes your life?! Lady gaga and jonas brothers on the cover - crap!!! Your comment just reminded me of that review, no bashing the publication necessarily, but just how you say "other fans" they like crap bands! And it's just a shame because Spoon, in my opinion, is the best operating Rock 'n' Roll band of our time. Making great record after great record. THAT is life-changing!

    Posted 13 years ago #
16. 
    devilsdishes
    (88 Posts)

    Thanks, backtothelife, for listing Monkey Feelings. It's one of my all-times favorites, and so often left off these lists.

    I'm also a huge huge fan of their cover of Yo La Tengo's "Decora". I think I could listen to it 20 times in a row (and probably have).

    I've tried to make "best of" lists for friends before, but find it impossible to include all of the songs I truly adore AND the songs I think will impress a new listener; they're not always congruent. So I just gave up on trying to present the band in a way that made them seem appealing to a certain personality type and instead created one mammoth, all-encompassing, grandiose "Best of" list for myself to indulge in; b-sides, live tracks, rare and unrecorded, etc. One day when I'm not so lazy, I'll post the track listing here.

    Posted 13 years ago #
17. 
    backtothelife
    (9 Posts)

    I can't think of another band that would make a song as rhythmically tight as 'Monkey Feelings' - it's just impossible to keep still when listening to it. I absolutely love the ending as well, with the two conflicting voices culminating in Britt singing "I've been good too long" and the song suddenly finishing - perfection.

    I should probably have included 'It Took a Rumor to Make Me Wonder...' as well, as I never get tired of it.

    Posted 13 years ago #
18. 
    drop dead ed
    (192 Posts)

    I Could See the Dude
    Metal Detektor
    Paper Tiger
    Decora
    My First Time Volume 3
    Everything Hits at Once
    Anything You Want
    They Never Got You
    Me and the Bean
    Lines in the Suit

    If there was a Spoon Apocalypse I'd try my hardest to save these songs, maybe "Don't let it get you down"

    Posted 13 years ago #
19. 
    Tyler Darling
    (706 Posts)

    Ok I think I narrowed it down to a ond disc comp......it's too hard doing a comprehensive chronological mix, so instead just a good solid track list. i tried to do it like a Lp would be. Having track 10 "Black Like Me" end the first side, and track 19 "Vittorio E" end the second side.

    1. The Beast and Dragon, Adored
    2. Nefarious
    3. Let the Distance Keep Us Together
    4. Fitted Shirt
    5. Small Stakes
    6. Chips & Dip
    7. The Underdog
    8. Dismember
    9. I Turn My Camera On
    10. Black Like Me
    11. Everything Hits At Once
    12. Don’t You Evah
    13. I Summon You
    14. Paper Tiger
    15. Metal Detektor
    16. Don't Make Me a Target
    17. The way We Get By
    18. Me and the Bean
    19. Vittorio E

    This was VERY HARD But this is the best I could do...........

    Tracks that JUST missed the list:

    Utilitarian
    Believing is Art
    Laffitte Don’t Fail Me Now
    Anything You Want
    30 Gallon Tank
    Got Nuffin
    Waiting For the Kid to Come Out

    Posted 13 years ago #
20. 
    fiwedding
    (17 Posts)

    Yikes, that is pretty close. However, one important thing is that the melody is not sampled but rather the beat. Hard to stake claim to a beat.

    Posted 13 years ago #

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