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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Gimme Fiction
Universal acclaim
Based on 30 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 83 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Merge
Release Date: 10 May 2005
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Summary
Mike McCarthy returns as producer for the Britt Daniel-led band's varied follow-up to their acclaimed 2002 outing 'Kill The Moonlight.' Spoon fans will not be disappointed.
Also By This Artist: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Girls Can Tell Kill The Moonlight
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site Spoon @ Merge
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Junkmedia
All eleven songs on Gimme Fiction are immaculately crafted, concise pop gems.
Read Full Review >Stylus Magazine
Each song glows with infinitesimal joys, tiny pointillist production flourishes noticeable only under close scrutiny. But in rounding out their sound, they brought the viewer close enough to see the brushstrokes and the smudges.
Read Full Review >cokemachineglow
What sticks out most about Spoon, five albums in, is how singular they sound, like a jut of brilliant rock standing unfazed by crashing tides of trends and hopeful hype.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
Strings swoon, falsetto voices sigh, and counterpoint piano lines glide. Yet nothing sounds fussy. [20 May 2005, p.75]
PopMatters
Review #1: The sound of Gimme Fiction is as ideal a conceptualization of the band as could be imagined. [score=100]; Review #2: "Gimme Fiction" has a sense of mischief and curiosity that renders it more consistently varied and just plain more listenable than "Moonlight". [score=80]
ShakingThrough.net
Fiction finds Daniel and Eno exploring the tension between a tight rhythm section and chaotic production techniques (from messy guitar parts to bizarre samples). And that provides an edge to the music that not only makes for an attention-grabbing collection, but also rewards repeated listens.
Read Full Review >Uncut
A highly original band in its prime. [Jun 2005, p.107]
Filter
It's exactly the record that everyone hoped Spoon would make. [#15, p.98]
Planet
The best since their debut. [#10, p.70]
Q Magazine
It's a bewitching formula. [Jun 2005, p.120]
Dot Music
Free from the trappings of hype this is simply a great album. Rock 'n' roll: just like they used to make.
Read Full Review >Drawer B
Gimme Fiction may not be your favorite Spoon record right now, but give it a few years.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle
Like Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot into A Ghost Is Born, Spoon's fifth full-length finds further symbiosis between Britt Daniel's emotional obfuscation and the band's spare, uptown backbeat, then looses drummer Jim Eno to metronome the rest.
Read Full Review >Village Voice (Consumer Guide)
Though I can imagine putting this on at year's end and remembering every song with a kind of surprised admiration, I can't imagine doing it any sooner--or any later either.
Read Full Review >Lost At Sea
Nearly every song comes off as unassuming in its rightful place. Each track has a designed role, and for that reason you won’t need to use the skip button.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
It torpedoes the often-justifiable notion that Spoon's music feels like it was made with safety in mind, and that its far-and-wide excursions are just that--temporary steps away from a safe, solid path.
Read Full Review >Delusions of Adequacy
Surely the power of Spoon’s miraculous songwriting skills are enough to keep the listener captivated, but the fact remains that the only surprise the album contains is the apparent lack of innovation.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
Spoon continues to build one of the most consistent, and distinctive, bodies of work in indie rock -- the band makes changes and takes chances from album to album, but ends up sounding exactly how Spoon should sound each time.
Read Full Review >Drowned In Sound
You know a good sound when you want to take out a second mortgage to buy headphones good enough to appreciate it.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Even the most direct songs here have a precision craftsmanship rarely heard in something that is still, at heart, a rock album.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
The overall effect can be vaguely schizo -- many of these tracks seem more like cool fragments than true songs.
Read Full Review >Under The Radar
There is no "The Way We Get By" on this record, as this is far more an album of interlocking pieces than an album of singles that neither makes a naked grab for the turnstiles nor an uprecedented reach for reinvention. [#9]
Mojo
Never less than fresh-sounding and curious. [Jun 2005, p.110]
Blender
This return to murky obscurantism, thankfully, comes with a return to guitar noise. [Jun 2005, p.115]
Spin
Fiction is less nervous than its predecessors but emotionally knottier. [May 2005, p.103]
Alternative Press
Some of [Daniel's] stripped-down material sounds gaunt. [May 2005, p.166]
Magnet
A quartet of droney sameness [in the second half] essentially grinds Moonlight's funkiest ingredients into a sluggish, repetitive pulp. [#68, p.111]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 83 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Grace L gave it a10:
It completely enamourmed me on my first listen. It just struck me as so raw and indefinably perfect.
Lyle B gave it a4:
very unlistenable
The Critic gave it a9:
Good cd... Haven't yet gotten their 1st of 2nd but they are probably good considering that I liked this one and they got better reviews then this one. I agree with Steve's review... the last few songs are forgetable unless you listen to them over and over again... almost like a Radiohead cd (except with much more... unweird... vocals. Radiohead is also one of my favorite bands!). So overall a very good cd that you should definately pick up. a quick song analysis: #1 The Beast and Dragon, Adored: a pop song on the weirder side. Still a decent song. #2 The Two Sides/Monseiur Valentine: A very good song. One of the cd's best. I love the piano with the guitar #3 I Turn my Camera On: Surprisingly, it's not one of my favorites... Not my style. It's almost a candy coated song. Still a decent song however. #4 My Mathematical Mind: Very unique piano. A good song plus they do it well live (see Austin City Limits on PBS). #5 The Delicate Place: Almost a Beatles sounding song until the guitar at the end that sounds like a Radiohead solo. A good track. #6 Sister Jack: the cd's most rockiest track, it's one of the cd's best tunes. I love the lyrics... especially the Drop D metal band! #7 I Summon You: Heard it on myspace and it originally was one of my favorites. I love the guitar... don't know if it is effects on an acousitc or a classical guitar but it sounds good with the drum beat. #8 The Infinate Pet: I like this song a lot though it is kind of weird. It has a lot of piano sort of like a Radiohead Kid A song. #9 Was it You?: Probably the worst on the cd... Where the album starts losing it's greatness. #10 They Never Got You: Another weak track... still it's sound surpasses Was It You?. #11 Merchants of Soul: Thankfully, in my opinion, Gimmie Fiction ends on a good note with this one. It is a good song that sounds kind of like a Raising the Fawn song. Well there it is. Overall it is a good cd 9 stars
steve gave it a7:
well 7.5 actually ... magical start, the album is carried by the strength of the first half, but seems to detune in the 2nd . but in saying that there are some absolutely mind-blowing, anthemic songs in there, easily worth the pingas spent and a joy to listen to . who needs drugs with this stuff
Ross gave it a10:
Spoon is the best band in the world, since At the Drive-In called it quits.
Patick R gave it a10:
The best album of 2005. Keep 'em coming Spoon.
jake h gave it a10:
extremely simple, yet complex, yet perfect in its matter. One of the best albums out right now. Gimme Fiction is less but more an amazing album to say the least
