Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga? Jesus Christ Spoon, what kind of an album title is Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga? With a name like that you'd better hope that the music inside is pretty bloody spectacular, because people are going to really really have to want it to go into a shop and ask for something called Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.
But come on, this is Spoon we're talking about, and you'd need to be a fool to accuse Spoon of being anything less than spectacular. And Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is just what you'd expect it to be – 36 minutes and ten tracks of driving, groove-based rock that gets all the more impressive with each listen. With a really stupid title.
The critical fawning that Spoon's last album Gimme Fiction received set the bar so high that recording a follow-up must have been a pretty daunting task, but Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is such a solidly thrilling joyride that we're beginning to wonder if there's anything these bastards can't do.
If you've heard any Spoon records before you'll know what to expect from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga – deliberately repetitive, rhythm section-based songs topped off by Britt Daniels' torn croon – but this time around Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga hums with a sort of borderline commercial appeal that should – but won't – see the album blaring out of every open window this summer.
It's all there for the taking. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga manages to catch the prevailing mood of the moment – it's hard not to read oblique anti-war messages into songs like Don't Make Me A Target and You Got Yr Cherry Bomb – plus Jon Brion produces the fizzing, honking, sleigh bell-laden track The Underdog to glorious effect. And he's worked with Kanye West, so he knows a thing or two about shifting records.
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is such a perfectly fat-free record that picking stand-outs is almost impossible, especially since Spoon thrive on making records that open up a little more with each listen, but You Got Yr Cherry Bomb's joyous Motown stomp is a current favourite. Next time it might be Finer Feeling with its Beatley drive, or the none-more-Spoon strut of Eddie's Ragga. Or, well, any of them.
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is an exceptionally good listen that's more of a nice plateau from Gimme Fiction than a complete artistic overhaul. But, hey, if you're going to plateau from anywhere…
is funny tho says
ga ga ga ga ga … when said quickly it resembles popeye’s chuckle, what d’ya rekon?