Since it’s now legally required by the FCC that every network television series include a Spoon song, I thought it might be fun to look back at the record that got them shit-canned from Elektra in 1998.
A Series of Sneaks is a breathless run of slobberknocker, guitar pop, opening with “Utilitarian” (think the bones of Muddy Waters fronting the Clash) and coming up for air six songs later in the stripped down, do-it-yourselfer, “Metal Detektor.” While the first half of the album is plenty peppy, it’s the diversity – especially production-wise – of the second half that makes Sneaks more than just a major label debut.
In “June’s Foreign Spell” the guitar is held back in the mix, presumably to be let loose later. But the expected never really happens. The drums and vocals command to the end. A nice touch. “Staring At The Board” sounds like a boombox demo and clocks in at a crisp 54 seconds. Excellent.
The only real hint of Spoon’s funky punk future (Kill The Moonlight, Gimme Fiction, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga) comes twelve songs in with “No You’re Not.” And the album finishes strong with the medium tempo benediction “Advance Cassette.”
The whole thing – all 14 cuts – clocks in at a punkish 33 minutes, making it perfect for driving around looking at stuff, sitting, or scraping something off of a surface.
Sneaks sold poorly, and Elektra wasted no time is dumping the band. Now, a decade later, with marquee acts dumping their labels and cd sales on life support, Spoon, after charting top ten with 2007’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, is looking more and more like “the one that got away.”
Their new album Transference comes out in January.
JH
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