imported>HGP7: /* Personnel */Added other personnel

2025-12-23T17:19:45Z

Personnel: Added other personnel

← Previous revision		Revision as of 17:19, 23 December 2025
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	\| prev_year = 2000		\| prev_year = 2000
	\| next_title = [[Kill the Moonlight]]		\| next_title = [[Kill the Moonlight]]
	~~\| next_year = 2002~~
	~~\|misc = {{Extra chronology~~
	~~\| artist = [[Spoon (band)\|Spoon]] studio album~~
	~~\| type = studio~~
	~~\| prev_title = [[A Series of Sneaks]]~~
	~~\| prev_year = 1998~~
	~~\| title = Girls Can Tell~~
	~~\| year = 2001~~
	~~\| next_title = [[Kill the Moonlight]]~~
	\| next_year = 2002		\| next_year = 2002
	}}
	}}		}}

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	\| rev6Score = {{Rating\|4\|5}}<ref>{{cite journal \|title=Spoon: Girls Can Tell \|journal=[[Uncut (magazine)\|Uncut]] \|issue=55 \|date=December 2001 \|page=118}}</ref>		\| rev6Score = {{Rating\|4\|5}}<ref>{{cite journal \|title=Spoon: Girls Can Tell \|journal=[[Uncut (magazine)\|Uncut]] \|issue=55 \|date=December 2001 \|page=118}}</ref>
	\| rev7 = ''[[Under the Radar (magazine)\|Under the Radar]]''		\| rev7 = ''[[Under the Radar (magazine)\|Under the Radar]]''
	\| rev7score = ~~{{rating\|~~9\|10}}<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.undertheradarmag.com/reviews/girls_can_tell_spoon\|title=Girls Can Tell\|last=Berlyant\|first=Matthew\|accessdate=October 3, 2022\|date=October 26, 2020}}</ref>		\| rev7score = 9/10<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.undertheradarmag.com/reviews/girls_can_tell_spoon\|title=Girls Can Tell\|last=Berlyant\|first=Matthew\|accessdate=October 3, 2022\|date=October 26, 2020}}</ref>
	\| rev8 = ''[[The Village Voice]]''		\| rev8 = ''[[The Village Voice]]''
	\| rev8Score = B+<ref name = village>{{cite news \|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv302-02.php \|title=Consumer Guide: 2001 Gets Better \|work=[[The Village Voice]] \|date=March 12, 2002 \|accessdate=October 5, 2015 \|last=Christgau \|first=Robert \|author-link=Robert Christgau \|archive-date=January 18, 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118182414/http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv302-02.php \|url-status=live }}</ref>		\| rev8Score = B+<ref name = village>{{cite news \|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv302-02.php \|title=Consumer Guide: 2001 Gets Better \|work=[[The Village Voice]] \|date=March 12, 2002 \|accessdate=October 5, 2015 \|last=Christgau \|first=Robert \|author-link=Robert Christgau \|archive-date=January 18, 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118182414/http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv302-02.php \|url-status=live }}</ref>
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	;Spoon		;Spoon
	*[[Britt Daniel]] – guitar, voice, keyboards		*[[Britt Daniel]] – guitar, voice, keyboards
			*[[Jim Eno]] – drums
	*Joshua Zarbo – bass		*Joshua Zarbo – bass
	*[[Jim Eno]] – drums

	;Additional musicians		;Additional musicians
	*[[Conrad Keely]] – Mellotron on ~~tracks 1~~ and 8		*[[Conrad Keely]] – [[Mellotron]] on "Everything Hits At Once" and "1020 AM"
	*Laura Phelan – vibraphone on ~~tracks 1~~ and 10		*Laura Phelan – [[vibraphone\|vibes]] on "Everything Hits At Once" and "This Book Is a Movie"
	*Lee Spencer – harpsichord on ~~track 5~~		*Lee Spencer – [[harpsichord]] on "Fitted Shirt"
	*Ames Asbell – viola on ~~track 10~~		*Ames Asbell – viola on "This Book Is a Movie"

			'''Production'''
			*[[Mike McCarthy (producer)\|Mike McCarthy]] – production, engineering
			*Britt Daniel – production
			*Jim Eno – production, engineering
			*John Golden – mastering
			*John Croslin – engineering on "Me and the Bean" and "Chicago at Night"
			*Craig Ross – mixing on "Chicago at Night"
			*Amy Bowman – "spinning record" photo

	==Charts==		==Charts==

imported>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: add {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}

2025-06-05T01:37:28Z

add {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}

New page

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Girls Can Tell
| type = studio
| artist = [[Spoon (band)|Spoon]]
| cover = Spoon.png
| alt = A vinyl record spinning
| released = February 20, 2001
| recorded = 2000
| studio = Jim Eno's home studio in [[Austin, Texas]]
| genre = {{hlist|[[Indie pop]]<ref name=ew/><ref name=village/>|[[art rock]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.avclub.com/review/spoon-emgirls-can-tellem-18282|title=Spoon: Girls Can Tell|work=[[The A.V. Club]]|accessdate=January 9, 2016|last=Klein|first=Joshua|date=20 February 2001 |archive-date=January 26, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126105734/http://www.avclub.com/review/spoon-emgirls-can-tellem-18282|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
| length = 36:03
| label = {{hlist|[[Merge Records|Merge]]|12XU}}
| producer = {{hlist|[[Britt Daniel]]|[[Jim Eno]]|[[Mike McCarthy (producer)|Mike McCarthy]]}}
| prev_title = [[Love Ways]]
| prev_year = 2000
| next_title = [[Kill the Moonlight]]
| next_year = 2002
|misc = {{Extra chronology
| artist = [[Spoon (band)|Spoon]] studio album
| type = studio
| prev_title = [[A Series of Sneaks]]
| prev_year = 1998
| title = Girls Can Tell
| year = 2001
| next_title = [[Kill the Moonlight]]
| next_year = 2002
}}
}}

'''''Girls Can Tell''''' is the third studio album by American [[indie rock]] band [[Spoon (band)|Spoon]]. Intended as a stylistic departure from the band's previous work, ''Girls Can Tell'' features classic rock and new wave influences absent on their major label albums.

The album was released on Merge Records on February 20, 2001. Spoon frontman [[Britt Daniel]] described the album as "a turning point stylistically, and it was a turning point in terms of us being able to put out a record and not feeling like as soon as it came out the wheels fell off the cart."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Spoon's New Frequency|url=https://floodmagazine.com/98392/spoon-lucifer-on-the-sofa-cover/|access-date=2022-02-04|website=FLOOD|language=en-US|archive-date=2022-02-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220203195933/https://floodmagazine.com/98392/spoon-lucifer-on-the-sofa-cover/|url-status=live}}</ref>

''Girls Can Tell'', up to December 2009, has sold slightly fewer than 100,000 copies, according to [[Nielsen SoundScan]].

==Background==
After the band was dropped from their major record deal with [[Elektra Records|Elektra]] in August 1998, Spoon finished the first version of ''Girls Can Tell'' in May 1999 with ten songs. Spoon frontman [[Britt Daniel]] moved to New York for a change of pace from Austin and to work [[temp jobs]]<ref name=Conaboy>{{Cite web |last1=Conaboy |first1=Kelly |title=Britt Daniel Remembers the Best and Worst of Spoon |work=Vulture |date=2019-07-11 |url=https://www.vulture.com/2019/07/britt-daniel-remembers-the-best-and-worst-of-spoon.html |language=en-us |access-date=2022-09-06 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> while drummer [[Jim Eno]], stayed in Austin, designing semiconductor chips.<ref name="stereogum">{{cite web |last1=Breihan |first1=Tom |title='Girls Can Tell' Turns 20 |url=https://www.stereogum.com/2116535/girls-can-tell-turns-20/reviews/the-anniversary/ |website=Stereogum |access-date=17 May 2021 |language=en |date=19 February 2021 |archive-date=17 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517001729/https://www.stereogum.com/2116535/girls-can-tell-turns-20/reviews/the-anniversary/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Despite Daniel thinking the album was the band's best, the band's lawyer and manager reported no interest in the record week after week, a personal low point for Daniel. He later described the record as the band's hardest to record, given the emotional toll of his indigence, lack of external interest in the record, and the length of time it took to create. Daniel thought this emotional vulnerability came across in the record. The only interest came from [[Mike McCarthy (producer)|Mike McCarthy]], who would come to produce the record's second incarnation, and [[Matador Records]]'s Gerard Cosloy. The second version reworked "Anything You Want" and "Take a Walk", removed the band's spurned [[The Agony of Laffitte|songs about their Elektra A&R rep]], and added "Everything Hits at Once", "Believing Is Art", and "10:20 AM".{{r|Conaboy}}

After writing more songs, Daniel and producer Mike McCarthy returned to Austin and began working on a new album in Eno's garage studio. The band eventually signed with [[Merge Records|Merge]] to release the new album, entitled ''Girls Can Tell''.

According to Daniel, ''Girls Can Tell'' was intended to be a departure from the band's established style: "The big idea behind ''Girls Can Tell'' was to take stock of the band's MO from inception until that point, to carefully consider all the things we'd been trying to do and the way we'd been doing them, and then set out to specifically avoid all of that."<ref name="bkn vegan">{{cite web |last1=Pearis |first1=Bill |title=Britt Daniel talks influences behind 'Girls Can Tell', shares "Lines in the Suit" demo |url=https://www.brooklynvegan.com/spoon-share-lines-in-the-suit-demo-for-girls-can-tell-20th-anniversary/ |website=BrooklynVegan |date=25 February 2021 |access-date=17 May 2021 |language=en |archive-date=17 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517001735/https://www.brooklynvegan.com/spoon-share-lines-in-the-suit-demo-for-girls-can-tell-20th-anniversary/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He cited [[the Kinks]], [[the Supremes]], and [[Elvis Costello]] as inspirations for the album; specifically, Costello's ''[[Get Happy!! (Elvis Costello album)|Get Happy!!]]'' album, which he had borrowed from his then-girlfriend [[Eleanor Friedberger]].

Daniel saw the album as a last-ditch attempt to find success. He explained:
{{blockquote|''Girls Can Tell'' was the [[Hail Mary pass]] that absolutely no one thought was gonna find a receiver. It was the record where the colors changed, trains collided, and suddenly we sounded a lot more like us than we'd ever sounded before. At the time it felt like a last chance and it also felt like the last gasp of youth, which seems a little funny now considering how shaped it was by oldies radio.<ref name="bkn vegan" />}}

The track "Me and the Bean" is a cover of a mid-1990s [[Austin, Texas]] band called The Sidehackers.<ref name="pitchfork"/> The songwriter of The Sidehackers, John Clayton, played bass on Spoon's subsequent album, ''[[Kill the Moonlight (album)|Kill the Moonlight]]''.

==Reception==
{{Music ratings

| MC = 85/100<ref name=mc>{{cite web |url=http://www.metacritic.com/music/girls-can-tell/spoon |title=Reviews for Girls Can Tell by Spoon |publisher=[[Metacritic]] |accessdate=November 5, 2012 |archive-date=October 22, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022053355/http://www.metacritic.com/music/girls-can-tell/spoon |url-status=live }}</ref>

| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/girls-can-tell-mw0000624315 |title=Girls Can Tell – Spoon |publisher=[[AllMusic]] |accessdate=October 5, 2015 |last=Phares |first=Heather |archive-date=October 4, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151004203838/http://www.allmusic.com/album/girls-can-tell-mw0000624315 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[Alternative Press (magazine)|Alternative Press]]''
| rev2Score = 4/5<ref>{{cite journal |title=Spoon: Girls Can Tell |journal=[[Alternative Press (magazine)|Alternative Press]] |issue=154 |date=May 2001 |page=97}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]''
| rev3Score = B<ref name=ew>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.ew.com/article/2001/03/09/music-review-girls-can-tell |title=Girls Can Tell |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |date=March 9, 2001 |accessdate=October 5, 2015 |last=Raftery |first=Brian M. |archive-date=September 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220906034812/https://ew.com/article/2001/03/09/music-review-girls-can-tell/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
| rev4 = ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]''
| rev4score = 8.0/10<ref name="pitch">{{cite web |url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/7429-girls-can-tell/ |title=Spoon: Girls Can Tell |work=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] |date=February 20, 2001 |accessdate=October 5, 2015 |last=Mirov |first=Nick |archive-date=October 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151007063548/http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/7429-girls-can-tell/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
| rev5 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev5Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Spoon |last=Catucci |first=Nick |title=[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide|The New Rolling Stone Album Guide]] |year=2004 |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |edition=4th |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/770 770] }}</ref>
| rev6 = ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]''
| rev6Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite journal |title=Spoon: Girls Can Tell |journal=[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]] |issue=55 |date=December 2001 |page=118}}</ref>
| rev7 = ''[[Under the Radar (magazine)|Under the Radar]]''
| rev7score = {{rating|9|10}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.undertheradarmag.com/reviews/girls_can_tell_spoon|title=Girls Can Tell|last=Berlyant|first=Matthew|accessdate=October 3, 2022|date=October 26, 2020}}</ref>
| rev8 = ''[[The Village Voice]]''
| rev8Score = B+<ref name = village>{{cite news |url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv302-02.php |title=Consumer Guide: 2001 Gets Better |work=[[The Village Voice]] |date=March 12, 2002 |accessdate=October 5, 2015 |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau |archive-date=January 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118182414/http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv302-02.php |url-status=live }}</ref>
}}
''Girls Can Tell'' saw significant critical acclaim and was heralded for its change in style from the band's previous work. ''Pitchfork's'' Nick Mirov said of the album "It's a great thing, hearing a band grow up without losing sight of what made them so vital in the first place; and seeing as how ''Girls Can Tell'' might not have ever seen the light of day, it makes it even better. It's worth cherishing."<ref name="pitch" />

''[[The A.V. Club]]'' commented, "Few outside the band would deny the irony of releasing such a strong album after such an unceremonious major-label dumping."<ref name="av">{{cite web |last1=Klein |first1=Joshua |title=Spoon: Girls Can Tell |url=https://www.avclub.com/spoon-girls-can-tell-1798192596 |website=Music |date=20 February 2001 |access-date=17 May 2021 |language=en-us |archive-date=17 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517001726/https://music.avclub.com/spoon-girls-can-tell-1798192596 |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[Stereogum]]''{{'}}s Tom Breihan, on the album's twentieth anniversary, noted, "The album hasn't lost any of that simple but hard-to-describe coolness."<ref name="stereogum" />

''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' placed ''Girls Can Tell'' at number 96 on its list of top 200 albums of the 2000s (decade).<ref name="pitchfork">{{cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7708-the-top-200-albums-of-the-2000s-100-51/|title=The Top 200 Albums of the 2000s: 100–51|work=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]|date=September 30, 2009|accessdate=October 1, 2009|author=''Pitchfork'' staff|archive-date=October 4, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091004235048/http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7708-the-top-200-albums-of-the-2000s-100-51/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Track listing==
{{track listing
|all_writing = [[Britt Daniel]] except where noted
|total_length = 36:03
|title1 = [[Everything Hits at Once]]
|length1 = 4:04
|title2 = Believing Is Art
|length2 = 4:19
|title3 = Me and the Bean
|note3 = John Clayton
|length3 = 3:33
|title4 = Lines in the Suit
|length4 = 3:47
|title5 = The Fitted Shirt
|length5 = 3:12
|title6 = Anything You Want
|length6 = 2:16
|title7 = Take a Walk
|length7 = 2:26
|title8 = 1020 AM
|length8 = 2:10
|title9 = Take the Fifth
|length9 = 3:56
|title10 = This Book Is a Movie
|length10 = 3:33
|title11 = Chicago at Night
|length11 = 2:47
}}

==Personnel==
;Spoon
*[[Britt Daniel]] – guitar, voice, keyboards
*Joshua Zarbo – bass
*[[Jim Eno]] – drums

;Additional musicians
*[[Conrad Keely]] – Mellotron on tracks 1 and 8
*Laura Phelan – vibraphone on tracks 1 and 10
*Lee Spencer – harpsichord on track 5
*Ames Asbell – viola on track 10

==Charts==
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Chart
! Position
|-
| 2002
| ''[[Billboard magazine|Billboard]]'' Top Independent Albums
| style="text-align:center;"| 46
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Spoon}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:2001 albums]]
[[Category:Spoon (band) albums]]
[[Category:Merge Records albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Mike McCarthy (producer)]]

Girls Can Tell - Revision history

imported>HGP7: /* Personnel */Added other personnel

imported>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: add {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}