Spoon

Holy Shit. I was so fucking ignorant. I had not heard of Spoon until I read about them in that often piece of shit magazine called Rolling Stone.

Spoon are apparently a 3 piece outfit from Austin, TX. Their new album "Gimmie Fiction" is a very solid album. It is probably not a great album. It will not cause you to run down the streets half-naked, screaming to your neighbors that you've found the lord and you're finally going to stop dropping acid.

But more than a handful of these songs will make up turn up your stereo and sing along. It's that kind of singing along where you don't really know the words yet but you've got the melody so you kind of starting singing, messing it up along the way, but having a damn good time.

Spoon!

-The PANDA

We're Ready To Believe You

Album Review

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals-Cold Roses: This album is OK. I really enjoyed "let it ride" (the first single) with its easy flow and relaxed vocals. This is my favorite kind of alt-country and the vibe reminds me of the Wilco song "Summer teeth." There must be a few other goods song on here, but too many of them just wander around with half-assed lyrics. Often the lyrics feel too wordy and I kind of just want some lame rhyming couplets. Half-assed lyrics do better with rock music as opposed to the acoustic setting. Of course, some of these songs have more problems than just the lyrics. The music sometimes resembles something written and played on the spot with no discernable direction. I really like Ryan Adams. I want to like his stuff. But this should have been a single album instead of a double album. However, maybe there is a song on here for all Ryan Adam's fans, so then, the double album is appropriate.

Beck:Guero

This is a good album, but I don't find myself listening to it that often. Not really sure why. Beck does a few new things on this record instead of just recycling Odelay. There's just something about the album that doesn't grab me the way that Odelay did. Maybe it just doesn't sound cool. Yet I am so god damn far away from cool that it's probably all my fault.


It's weird how I can be extremely disappointmed in a band or a musician. Take Ryan Adams. I really liked Gold and Heartbreaker, he seemed on the verge of making a real gem of an album. However, I feel like he has been kinda underwhelming. But god damn, I love his cover of "Wonderwall."

Oasis: I think this band really delivered the goods on their first two albums. Some amazing (although derivate) rocks songs, with melodic hooks and often inspiring vocals and guitar playing. However, it seems that sometimes artists really have only two great albums in them. I still like Oasis but they haven't surprised me since 1995. They also deliver some awful lyrics. The lyrics on the first two albums weren't Dylanesque but they weren't often embarassing. Maybe artists get a bit lazy after success. You probably really work on the lyrics for the first batch of songs, but once those are successful you realize that you were able to get away with the horrible rhyme or lame verse and still sell a million copies. This must provide less incentive to spend hours or days getting the words just right in newer songs. But no one listens to Oasis for the lyrics anyway. You listen to hear Liam Gallegher's voice and maybe some well-constructed melodic pop songs.

Michael Jackson: Thriller and Off the Wall were so awesome. Bad just kinda sits there. Dangerous has a few interesting tracks on it with Jackson actually trying to expand his sonic landscape and especially his lyrical content. "Jam" is one of his best songs and is an amazingly insightful comment on life from a suppossed "non-reality based lifeform." However, ever since the first child molestation allegations Jackson has gone bye-bye. Not very much output. It's not that some of his newer songs aren't good, but they just don't seem to have the same vigor as earlier tracks. Maybe his career and life would have turned out better if Thriller hadn't been so successful.

--The PANDA