Customer Reviews

Collectible Spoons

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A super CD, containing all of the early Spoons gems. I was lucky enough to catch them live in 1994, reunited and touring in support of this collection (Sandy Horne = wow!).

The only quibble I have with "Collectible Spoons" is that it excludes material from their very good 1988 album, "Vertigo Tango". I would have liked to see "When Time Turns Around" and the superb "Waterline" included on the collection. I know those later songs didn't match the popularity of the Spoons' earlier work, but they still deserved to be present on this career retrospective.

Notwithstanding that small flaw, "Collectible Spoons" is well worth the money for any serious fan of early-eighties music. It even includes what I believe is the best New Wave song of all time: "Nova Heart".

I never really appreciated the Spoons when they were at their peak of popularity in Toronto. I mean, really, Thrifty's Jeans? And that "Tell No Lies" track always drove me nuts. Of course, everything else they did was brilliant, and this compilation CD is really something special. Go buy it.

Those minor key fluid synth lines, passionate lyrics and drum machine sounding drums are all here! Good solid riffs!

Probably a major influence of Pulp!

I highly recommend the original album Arias and Symphonies, now way out of print and never out on cd except for on this Spoons compilation; if you ever see the album used somewhere, grab it. It's a truly great slab of pop music, and all of it is good, as opposed to their spottier later efforts. Smiling In Winter (included here) is one of the all-time great toboggan tunes (to coin a category), and Trade Winds is also included, a sweet instrumental that always conjures images of deep, drifting snow for me. Nova Heart is indeed good pop, but other tunes from Arias are better.

The Spoons have the early 80s synth sound in spades, along with the New Romantic hairdos and eyeliner. Pretty funny look, but kind of elegant too. If you've never heard of The Spoons but like catchy pop music and/or New Wave synth bands, you've got a treat in store.

Not bad for a buncha Canooks, eh.