Music
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2009
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000
Upcoming &
Recent Releases
70
AFI
65
Air
71
Alice In Chains
77
Amerie
85
The Antlers
75
Arctic Monkeys
68
As Tall As Lions
82
Atlas Sound
75
The Avett Brothers
67
Backstreet Boys
56
Bad Lieutenant
68
Devendra Banhart
72
Lou Barlow
88
Baroness
69
Basement Jaxx
81
David Bazan
72
Brendan Benson
72
The Big Pink
96
Big Star
46
Billy Talent
75
The Black Crowes
51
Black Mold
68
Blitzen Trapper
75
BLK JKS
77
A.A. Bondy
73
The Bottle Rockets
63
Box Elders
65
Boys Like Girls
76
Brand New
73
Tyondai Braxton
87
Brother Ali
70
Ian Brown
75
Michael Buble
78
Built To Spill
61
Colbie Caillat
79
Califone
68
Mariah Carey
84
Brandi Carlile
73
Julian Casablancas
83
Rosanne Cash
69
Castanets
65
The Cave Singers
84
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
79
Vic Chesnutt
75
Choir Of Young Believers
81
Circulatory System
68
The Clean
84
The Clientele
71
Cobra Starship
85
Converge
71
Eric Copeland
80
Cymbals Eat Guitars
71
Datarock
59
Dead By Sunrise
76
Dead Man's Bones
88
Destroyer
63
The Dodos
77
Drive-By Truckers
66
Bob Dylan
44
The Entrance Band
67
Esser
69
Fanfarlo
63
Felix Da Housecat
68
Fink
78
The Flaming Lips
66
Flight Of The Conchords
79
Florence And The Machine
67
John Fogerty
83
Fuck Buttons
71
Nelly Furtado
47
Gary Go
68
Ghostface Killah
79
Girls
69
Gossip
62
David Gray
66
David Guetta
79
Richard Hawley
74
Mayer Hawthorne
66
Headlights
79
HEALTH
77
Joe Henry
66
Hockey
69
Whitney Houston
68
Imogen Heap
59
Jack Ingram
79
Islands
73
Jessie James
74
Jamie T
65
Jay-Z
51
Jet
69
Daniel Johnston
76
Karen O And The Kids
72
Toby Keith
69
Kid Cudi
65
Kings Of Convenience
62
Sean Kingston
64
KISS
76
Kris Kristofferson
68
KRS-One & Buckshot
76
La Roux
84
Miranda Lambert
72
Ledisi
75
Sondre Lerche
56
Juliette Lewis
82
Lightning Bolt
73
Little Dragon
44
Pixie Lott
73
Lyle Lovett
66
Lovvers
75
Baaba Maal
77
Madness
84
Madonna
85
Manic Street Preachers
62
Maps
55
Massive Attack
57
Matisyahu
67
Reba McEntire
66
Tim McGraw
65
Brian McKnight
79
Mew
77
Malcolm Middleton
77
Mika
68
Amy Millan
76
Mission Of Burma
76
Molina And Johnson
80
Monsters Of Folk
62
Morrissey
85
Mount Eerie
78
The Mountain Goats
62
Múm
72
Muse
66
Willie Nelson
78
Nirvana
97
Nirvana
72
Nisennenmondai
80
No Age
71
Noah And The Whale
75
Noisettes
79
Nudge
47
Dolores O'Riordan
74
Os Mutantes
73
Osso
81
Owen
76
Paramore
76
Pastels And Tenniscoats
51
Sean Paul
80
Pearl Jam
66
Jemina Pearl
72
Jack Penate
65
Phish
82
Pissed Jeans
61
Pitbull
79
A Place To Bury Strangers
66
Robert Pollard
79
Polvo
72
Porcupine Tree
80
Q-Tip
80
R.E.M.
89
Raekwon
69
Rain Machine
70
Ramona Falls
75
Dizzee Rascal
75
The Raveonettes
76
Jay Reatard
82
Reigning Sound
81
Rodrigo Y Gabriela
79
Russian Circles
69
Buffy Sainte-Marie
73
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
61
Sally Shapiro
78
Shudder To Think
70
Simian Mobile Disco
58
Simple Minds
72
Six Organs Of Admittance
69
Slaughterhouse
80
Slayer
61
The Slits
62
Mindy Smith
78
Soulsavers
77
Speech Debelle
58
Spiral Stairs
58
Squarepusher
55
Steel Panther
73
Sufjan Stevens
52
Rod Stewart
65
Joss Stone
75
George Strait
83
Barbra Streisand
76
A Sunny Day In Glasgow
74
Susanna And The Magical Orchestra
78
The Swell Season
76
David Sylvian
83
Taken By Trees
78
Tegan And Sara
68
The Temper Trap
72
Themselves
82
They Might Be Giants
67
Third Eye Blind
66
J Tillman
69
Times New Viking
57
Tokio Hotel
67
Trey Songz
71
The Twilight Sad
58
Carrie Underwood
56
The Used
68
Various Artists
70
Various Artists
74
Various Artists
77
The Very Best
71
Kurt Vile
67
Vivian Girls
71
Volcano Choir
76
Rufus Wainwright
59
Weezer
80
White Denim
76
Why?
83
Wild Beasts
80
Wildbirds & Peacedrums
59
Andrew W.K.
71
Patrick Wolf
67
Wolfmother
84
The xx
79
Yo La Tengo
83
Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band
51
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
59
Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Girls Can Tell
Universal acclaim
Based on 15 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 18 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Merge/Touch And Go
Release Date: 20 February 2001
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Indie, Rock, Pop
Summary
The Austin band's follow-up to 'Series of Sneaks' was a critical favorite in 2001, appearing on seemingly every year-end Top 10 list (and with good reason).
Also By This Artist: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Gimme Fiction Kill The Moonlight
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...
All Music Guide
Spoon's most mature, accomplished work to date and a fine balance of fire and polish.
Read Full Review >CDNow
Spoon's 1998 album, A Series of Sneaks, was a near-perfect blend of elementary rock, sharp lyrics, and hooky melodies. On the band's just-released follow-up album, Girls Can Tell, the group manages to build upon the greatness of its previous effort.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
At 36 minutes, Girls Can Tell packs more hooks than most bands fit into their entire discography... This is truly one of the most intense pop records since This Year's Model.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
Austin's favorite trio dishes out eleven helpings of diverse alt-pop on what may wind up being the finest record of its ilk all year. Charged by song sculptor/frontman Britt Daniel, this start-to-finish triumph never underachieves even if it has an effortless aura at times.
Read Full Review >Nude As The News
Their music is as strong as ever and they certainly deserve your attention.
Read Full Review >Magnet
Continues to mine the same sparkling vein of crushed-velvet pop/punk Spoon has perfected as its stock in trade. [#49, p.91]
Uncut
A near-masterpiece.... It's hip and urgent, formal and exhilarated, everything guitar pop aspires to today. [Dec 2001, p.118]
Alternative Press
Spoon deliver everything with a calm, classy Motown-pop feel, but the disc still crackles with punk intensity... [#154, p.97]
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Girls Can Tell abandons some of the more familiar modern-rock tendencies of Spoon's previous albums, favoring the ambitious structures of art-rock and offering an impressive meeting place between traditional new wave and the abrasive, angular qualities of Wire and Magazine.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Girls Can Tell is more mature and accomplished, but at the expense of the spark of spontaneity.
Read Full Review >HOB.com
A collection of near perfect (and brief, yes!) lo-fi pop tracks that openly mine the sonic groundwork laid by The Cars, Squeeze and even Led Zeppelin.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
Girls' melding of new wave and indie pop literally sounds timeless... [3/9/2001, p.82]
L.A. Weekly
Perverse as it may seem, this album is more tightly arranged and crisply recorded than anything the group managed on a major label; in fact, it’s a small masterpiece of home production, with Eno’s economical drumming framing stabs of rhythm guitar and precisely placed daubs of vibes and viola.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Drew C gave it a10:
Their most heartfelt and emotional release to date. Lyrically, my favorite of britt daniels'. This is the album that got me into spoon, such a great night album. :)
Bob R gave it a10:
o_o;; a strokes comparison... how odd. Anyway, this album is full of surprises.
Will C gave it a10:
the first song, Everything Hits at Once, alone makes this album. The rest of the disc is consistent and enjoyable, with a great cap off in Chicago at Night. I often put this cd on and people don't realize its, a) spoon (is that the band that did 'The way we get by?', b) an album that hasn't spawned a top 40 hit. i dunno who missed this album when it came out, but it certainly isn't me and hopefully won't be you.
John R gave it a10:
It's taken a few more listens to get into this album than it did with 'Kill the Moonlight' and 'Gimme Fiction' but patience reaps rewards aplenty. Every song is excellent and never outstays its welcome.
g spot gave it a10:
Not one weak track.
Bobby J gave it a1:
i cant tell u how bad this album is
Gazcomsat gave it a10:
Forget "the Strokes" comparisons, this album is totally unique and just about perfect in every respect.
