Today’s Vinyl: Spoon
Caught Spoon last night at the ACL studios for a KUT taping, and this is a really a band at the top of their form. The show was fun, loose and dynamic; Daniel broke a string on Written in Reverse so we got to hear that one twice (I liked the broken string version better). I’m starting to think these boys might go somewhere.
The first time I saw Spoon was in an office building on Congress Avenue; a friend said something along the lines of “we’ve gotta go see this friend of mine’s band, he’s got a hot chick bass player.” They were stuffed into the back of the ground floor of this building for some weird party or show, Britt Daniel with his oversize Jackie O sunglasses and, yes, Andy McGuire, the hot chick bass player (who would later sue the band for royalties after she left).
Despite a series of great records over the intervening years, my most enduring memory of Spoon is the song they would close most shows with back then, a cover of The Godfathers’ This Damn Nation, which is the second track on the above seven inch, their first vinyl release. Credits on this record include a thanks to “anyone who plays a part in fucking up Austin’s thriving hippy music scene,” and the whole recording proves to be a pretty rough, visceral affair. But, the beginnings of the tight, angular sound of their first few full-length records can be heard here amongst the noise, and this record still holds up damn well.
