They Want My Soul
by Spoon
Metascore
81

Universal acclaim - based on 42 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 37 out of 42
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 42
  3. Negative: 0 out of 42
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  1. Classic Rock Magazine
    Dec 17, 2014
    70
    They Want My Soul has a spiky, timeless quality, and frontman Britt Daniel's sharply wry lyrics add a nicely acidic edge to the sweetness of their melodies. [Oct 2014, p.91]
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  2. cokemachineglow
    Sep 10, 2014
    80
    The tone is set: They Want My Soul gives pleasures immediate and unlocked, a freshly bitten peach dribbling sweet nectar down your chin.
  3. Absolute Punk (Staff reviews)
    Sep 9, 2014
    95
    On They Want My Soul, Spoon’s most wide-ranging and eclectic album of its career, this isn’t a band who are settling in to their collective stride, but searching for new places entirely.
  5. Q Magazine
    Aug 28, 2014
    80
    It's a brilliant record, without question their best to date. [Sep 2014, p.107]
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  6. Mojo
    Aug 20, 2014
    60
    Produced with Dave Fridmann and Joe Chiccarelli, the album benefits from the former's spacey soundscapes and the latter's commercial sensibility. [Sep 2014, p.96]
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  7. Entertainment Weekly
    Aug 20, 2014
    83
    Soul's got some new tricks, too, mainly a subtle but noticeable shift toward smoother, keyboard-heavy pop. Unfortunately, not every track leaves a mark. No matter: When a band like Spoon is offering any chunk of itself, you take whatever you can get.
  8. AllMusic
    Aug 13, 2014
    80
    They Want My Soul is more of a welcome return than a comeback, and too complex to be considered back-to-basics--especially when they reinvent the basics on each album.
  9. Record Collector
    Aug 12, 2014
    60
    For the most part, though, it’s a hugely enjoyable and very welcome return.
  10. The Quietus
    Aug 12, 2014
    90
    They Want My Soul is focused, tight and impeccably produced. The songwriting is crisp and tight, Daniel's ear for a catchy and upbeat riff have resurfaced.
  11. Alternative Press
    Aug 8, 2014
    60
    Call it growing pains for a storied discography, but the result leaves the album feeling unbalanced around the gems and less rewarding over multiple listens. [Sep 2014, p.110]
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  12. American Songwriter
    Aug 8, 2014
    70
    For the first time, a new Spoon LP feels like business as usual, a creative step sideways.
  13. NOW Magazine
    Aug 7, 2014
    80
    While their eighth album doesn’t take any major left turns, it brims with life, ideas and energy.
  14. Magnet
    Aug 6, 2014
    90
    This is prime indie rock with all the frills excised, but all the feels intact. [No. 112, p.58]
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  15. Slant Magazine
    Aug 6, 2014
    80
    They Want My Soul is both mournful and confessional, its best moments coming when the band members allow themselves to be vulnerable.
  16. Sputnikmusic
    Aug 6, 2014
    86
    They Want My Soul chases that sound far past anything Spoon have done to date in their careers. It’s a chase I hope never ends.
  17. No Ripcord
    Aug 6, 2014
    80
    The album hones a clear message about how society is marred with malicious leeches and false prophets, but it’s just one side of many--most of all, this is Spoon mostly letting loose their perennial white funk, kinda square but almost always rhythmically enticing.
  18. Boston Globe
    Aug 5, 2014
    80
    The brisk 38-minute, 10-song collection brims with sideways guitar pluck and twang, warbly keys, and earwormy tunes that demand immediate repeated listens.
  19. Rolling Stone
    Aug 5, 2014
    80
    Spoon's eighth album is an immediate grabber on par with the group's best work to date.
  20. CMJ
    Aug 5, 2014
    70
    A solid road map of new found diversity and eclecticism is laid out throughout a large chunk of They Want My Soul, and despite the inevitable growing pains, Spoon really does seem poised to continue rising from the ashes of their near disappearance.
  21. Los Angeles Times
    Aug 5, 2014
    88
    There's nothing cheap or flimsy about Soul. Each song seems constructed from the finest notes, honed to their perfect shapes.
  22. New York Daily News (Jim Faber)
    Aug 5, 2014
    80
    It’s rock refigured as a Damien Hirst spot painting--a series of isolated, colorful pops that, together, mesmerize.
  23. Paste Magazine
    Aug 5, 2014
    80
    Throughout They Want My Soul, the songs flow into and out of each other with a subtle movement that’s hypnotic and sounds deceptively simple.
  24. Spin
    Aug 5, 2014
    80
    Soul deftly blends caprice with the ensemble’s usual care. Anything featuring Daniel’s scrunched-up, uncommonly expressive yelp and high-strung guitar can’t help but be Spoon-y.
  25. The A.V. Club
    Aug 5, 2014
    83
    The playing on They Want My Soul still possesses a marked degree of control, but it’s treated with additional textures made possible by Fridmann and Fischel.
  26. Chicago Tribune
    Aug 4, 2014
    88
    The quintet likes to pull melody out of dissonance and repetition. Now they've also found the soul.
  27. musicOMH.com
    Aug 4, 2014
    80
    Altogether a belter of an album, then, as their reputation for consistency prevails once more.
  28. New Musical Express (NME)
    Aug 4, 2014
    70
    They Want My Soul is a cult record in the making from the quintessential cult group. Normal service has been resumed.
  29. Pitchfork
    Aug 4, 2014
    86
    These songs rip and burst and go.
  30. PopMatters
    Aug 4, 2014
    70
    This isn’t a return to form so much as it is a chance for us to collectively celebrate consistency once again. Because the band still does give us its soul, we just may need to adjust our narrative around it.
  31. Pretty Much Amazing
    Aug 4, 2014
    91
    They Want My Soul is the sort of mid-career album promising young bands should aspire to, and long-established acts will come to resent.
  32. The Observer (UK)
    Aug 4, 2014
    60
    It promises much but never quite delivers.
  33. Tiny Mix Tapes
    Aug 4, 2014
    80
    Exciting things are still happening amidst routine and constancy, and sometimes submitting isn’t settling or getting saved; it’s letting yourself get moved against all odds. And that may be rock & roll’s only remaining saving grace, one that Spoon continues upholding and confronting with every album.
  34. Consequence
    Aug 1, 2014
    83
    It’s not as fun as 2007’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga or 2005’s Gimme Fiction, but it’s just as punchy, while also sticking with the ambition that made Transference arguably so intriguing despite its muddled demeanor.
  35. Exclaim
    Aug 1, 2014
    80
    They Want My Soul is a bold and swaggering declaration that Spoon have undoubtedly still got it--in spades.
  36. Under The Radar
    Aug 1, 2014
    70
    Clearly, those searching for something new are better off looking elsewhere. But if it's dependable melodies and soaring choruses you're after, then They Want My Soul is an album you can count on. This is Spoon, after all.
  37. Austin Chronicle
    Jul 31, 2014
    78
    They Want My Soul returns Spoon to rare form.
  38. The Guardian
    Jul 31, 2014
    80
    It takes a standard rock-band lineup and adds a sense of otherness by lightly dusting every instrument with effects, and arrives packed with beautiful, subtle detailing.
  39. DIY Magazine
    Jul 30, 2014
    60
    The songs are strong--varying from ‘I Just Don’t Understand’’s jazz bar mood-changer to closer ‘New York Kiss’’ emotional farewell--but Spoon can be better than that.
  40. Uncut
    Jul 30, 2014
    80
    Everything shines out brighter and louder than ever before as they return from a three-year break. [Sep 2014, p.64]
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  41. Clash Music
    Jul 30, 2014
    70
    The band’s dependable grasp of instantly joyous hooks still shows no sign of deserting them, and Britt Daniel’s raspy voice continues to marshal the tight groove at their core.... Only ‘I Just Don’t Understand’ hits a truly bum note, sounding eerily like Beady Eye.
  42. Drowned In Sound
    Jul 30, 2014
    80
    The album is an enjoyable hodgepodge that trades neat cohesion for scattish variety.
  43. The Line of Best Fit
    Jul 30, 2014
    85
    They just make fantastic, intricate albums that sound like they’re not even trying. Spoon are a band with nothing to prove. They Want My Soul proves everything.

Awards & Rankings

91
#91 Best Album of 2014
55
#55 Most Discussed Album of 2014
69
#69 Most Shared Album of 2014

User Reviews

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User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 145 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 134 out of 145
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 145
  3. Negative: 6 out of 145
  1. buzzlight
    Aug 5, 2014
    10
    They Want My Soul is a modern classic. When the quality of your music is constantly compared to Lennon, Rolling Stones, Bowie and CostelloThey Want My Soul is a modern classic. When the quality of your music is constantly compared to Lennon, Rolling Stones, Bowie and Costello you are doing something right. Tight guitar hooks, sharp lyrics, masterful sound production. Alex Fischell on keyboards adds a new and original dynamic to Spoon on songs like Inside Out and Outlier (like nothing else in the Spoon archive). Songs Rainy Taxi and Knock Knock Knock are like Gimme Fiction on drugs. Rent I Pay and They Want My Soul show they haven't lost their rock roots. Play it loud!… Full Review »
  2. molecular
    Sep 14, 2014
    10
    How do these guys do it album after album? Is there another band this confident and daring? I feel sorry for (or maybe envious, because of theHow do these guys do it album after album? Is there another band this confident and daring? I feel sorry for (or maybe envious, because of the epiphany-like discovery they would have) anyone who likes rock music and hasn't heard Spoon.Easily the best so far this year,… Full Review »
  3. AaronP2187
    Sep 13, 2014
    10
    The only word I can think of to describe this album is FLAWLESS. The first time I listened to it I was just waiting for a track that I didn'tThe only word I can think of to describe this album is FLAWLESS. The first time I listened to it I was just waiting for a track that I didn't care for very much, but it never happened. Every single song is so incredibly catchy and unique that it doesn't surprise me that it's been on repeat for the last four days. At a time where there are so many bands that are experimenting and trying to evolve their sound and falling short (I unfortunately have to site The Strokes as one of those bands, despite the fact that they are one of my favorites), Spoon is consistent and very rewarding.

    I'm sure that the next time I sit down and try to compile a list of my favorite ten albums, "They Want My Soul" will have worked it's way into it.    … Full Review »
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