Album Review: Spoon - 'Lucifer On The Sofa'

At one time, the state of Texas possessed an apparently inexhaustible supply of bands, who could furnish the soundtrack for a self-proclaimed star blasting cross State, bound for the coast in a clean shirt and new shoes. Nowadays, however, an album like Lucifer On The Sofa is as rare as hens’ teeth.

Fresh from touring their Hot Thoughts record, Spoon decided to cut the follow-up in their hometown of Austin. Recorded in real time, in a consciously live style, it sounds like a classic rock record of the eight-track era from the early 1970s. It is Spoon’s purest rock ‘n’ roll record, channeling Lynyrd Skynyrd, George Thorogood & The Destroyers, News Of The World-period Queen, and the more left-field likes of 13th Floor Elevators and Butthole Surfers. 

The album kicks off with a mighty version of Smog’s ‘Held’, an indicator of what makes Spoon tick. Indeed, they have as much in common with Bill Callaghan’s Knock Knock as ZZ Top’s Afterburner. Songs like the excellent ‘The Devil & Mr. Jones’ and ‘Wild’ (both frontman Britt Daniel co-writes) have been around forever – but that’s no bad thing, for they are the stuff that arena anthems are made of. It all makes for a very distinctive record – but then Spoon have always been masters of their own destiny. Massive in the States, Spoon are far from a household name on this side of the water. This record might just change that.

9/10

Listen: 'The Hardest Change'

Out now via Matador/Gilded.