{"id":41009,"date":"2008-07-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/gagagagaga\/"},"modified":"2008-07-14T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-07-14T00:00:00","slug":"gagagagaga","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/gagagagaga\/","title":{"rendered":"GaGaGaGaGa"},"content":{"rendered":"

I disagree with every review of this album I\u2019ve read, which is why I wanted to review it. <\/o:p>While seemingly everyone has heralded GaGaGaGaGa<\/i> as Spoon\u2019s best album yet, I find it to be a disappointment — a failed attempt at re-creating the magic of its predecessor, Gimme Fiction<\/i>. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

While the gaggle of teeny-boppers who have heard the single \u201cYou Got Yr Cherry Bomb\u201d playing in stores at the mall are probably under the impression that GaGa<\/i> is the first album from a new band with a cool name, Spoon is far from new to the music scene. The band was formed in 1993 by frontman Britt Daniel and drummer Jim Eno. Since then, Spoon has undergone a few lineup changes as well as record company switches and released six major-label albums.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

First off, let me say this: I consider myself to be a fan of the band. I wanted to love this album, I\u2019ve tried to, but I just can\u2019t. Don\u2019t get me wrong; GaGa<\/i> is, by no means, a terrible album. You could play it during a party and no one would complain. It provides easy-listening noise to have on in the background — there is nothing jarring or unpleasant about it. But that\u2019s just it. There\u2019s nothing about it that grabs me, nothing that stands out. It is — dare I say — boring. While it certainly sounds more mature than some of Spoon\u2019s earlier albums (and rightfully so, since the band has gotten older), I can not think of a single song on the album that I can say I love, contrary to the beauty of such Gimme Fiction<\/i> greats as \u201cThe Beast and Dragon Adored,\u201d \u201cMy Mathematical Mind,\u201d \u201cMerchants of Soul,\u201d and even the simple, poppy, acoustic tune \u201cI Summon You.\u201d GaGa<\/i> instead just sounds like Spoon got lazy.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The album opens with a very simple tune titled \u201cDon\u2019t Make Me A Target,\u201d which is rather repetitive, and lines like \u201cHe never claimed to say what he says \/ He smells like the inside of closets upstairs \/ The kind where nobody goes,\u201d prompt me to wonder if Daniel was struggling to come up with something to say here. Then, with about a minute-and-a-half left of the song, the band seems to attempt to capture some sort of jam vibe, but it just slips out of their grasp and the result is terribly uninteresting.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The second track is a drum-less, monotonous piano rant entitled \u201cThe Ghost Of You Lingers,\u201d which is interesting at best but not something that I need to listen to twice. This is followed by the ridiculous, upbeat tune \u201cYou Got Yr Cherry Bomb,\u201d which features, of all things, a horn section and Daniel repeatedly singing about blowing out a cherry bomb. No wonder it was played in the mall.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

This is basically the trend of the songs featured on GaGaGaGaGa<\/i>: boring, safe, a watered-down version of Spoon. Even the album\u2019s much talked-about first single \u201cThe Underdog,\u201d which also features a horn section and reached #14 on the Billboard charts, is something of a disappointment, and at times its melody line mirrors that of \u201cCherry Bomb.\u201d <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Daniel\u2019s raspy, sexy voice, coupled with his very own style of soulful talk-singing has always been, for me, one of the best reasons to listen to Spoon. This time around, it\u2019s the only thing that kept me listening the whole way through. There are, of course, high points. The album\u2019s most recent single, \u201cDon\u2019t You Evah\u201d is as close to greatness as GaGa<\/i> gets. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

I think GaGaGaGaGa<\/i> is worth a listen, maybe two. If you have been introduced to the band by this album and are not impressed, I suggest delving into their back catalogue. Spoon is a great band, and everyone else seems to love this album. If you do, too, good for you. Perhaps it\u2019s just me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":29431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7865],"rating":[5619],"class_list":["post-41009","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-spoon","rating-rating-c"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41009"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}