7th July - Spoon's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Artist – Album: Spoon – Ga ga ga ga ga

Released: 7^th July 2007

Sounds Like: Radio ga ga ga ga ga

Not only is the UK currently blissfully wilting away in a mini-heatwave (it’s summer guys, this is what summer’s supposed to be like!), but Andy Murray finally lifting the Wimbledon crown, and with it Britain’s ancient dry spell in the competition, had the country (or at least the tennis favouring quotient of it) in raptures. The euphoric pop of a couple of the tracks here – the unbelievably catchy, hook-laden ‘You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb’ and the brass propelled ‘The Underdog’ – are absolutely perfect representations of the current national state of mind.
 

Those two tracks in particular stand out from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Spoon’s sixth album, because they’re musically more layered and bouncy than anything the critically acclaimed Texan group had ever previously released. But they’re not the only songs of note here. ‘Don’t Make Me a Target’ (which took on a whole new meaning for me when I saw this fan video from the legendary Adam Buxton: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBtXw6CPwg4) and ‘Don’t You Evah’ are great spiky, ironic tunes in the typical Spoon fashion; full of paranoia and bite yet still accessible enough to make it on to your driving music playlist. ‘The Ghost of You Lingers’ is appropriately haunting and haunted, ‘Eddie’s Raga’ is an enjoyably messy jam, whilst album closer ‘Black Like Me’ is beautifully melodic, skitting along a repetitive piano riff and Britt Daniel’s candid loneliness.
 

Great days like this deserve great albums and thankfully Spoon have obliged.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1. Don't Make Me a Target - 3:55
2. The Ghost of You Lingers - 3:34
3. You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb - 3:08
4. Don't You Evah - 3:36
5. Rhythm & Soul -3:30
6. Eddie's Ragga – 3:39
7. The Underdog - 3:42
8. My Little Japanese Cigarette Case –3:03
9. Finer Feelings – 4:54
10. Black Like Me – 3:25

Listen to ‘Black Like Me’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJXYpDdKn-c

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