Album flashback

Spoons - Talkback [1983]

In which our heroes shoot for the stars, but their record company lets them down…

1983 saw Spoons ready to build on the success of their previous record - ‘Arias & Symphonies’.

What followed was an absolute roller coaster ride that included a legendary producer, a tie-in with a Canadian clothing chain [?], some amazing tunes that didn’t find their way onto the album, and the demise of their label.

That record was ‘Talkback’.

Produced by - Nile Rodgers

Gordon Deppe [guitar, vocals], Sandy Horne [bass, vocals], Rob Preuss [keyboards], Derrick Ross [drums]

The lore according to Wikipedia is that Rodgers was thinking about producing Culture Club, but saw Spoons open for them and changed tack.

His production credits are mind-blowing, of course. In this era alone he worked with Bowie, Duran Duran, Madonna, and INXS [‘The Swing’, one of my fave 80s albums].

What resulted was an excellent record that the label could not afford to promote, leading to a Canada-only release that left touring and sales on the table.

Three singles were released, with only one charting. Check ‘The Rhythm’ and the title track if you’re into it.

The music on this album is at times reminiscent of ‘Arias & Symphonies’ - darker and Euro-influenced, and then much more contemporary, as evidenced here on ‘Old Emotions’.

Old Emotions - peaked #28 in 1983

Around this time, the band also pursued other commercial ambitions, most notably a promotional deal with Canadian shopping mall stalwarts Thriftys - the predecessor to what we now know as Bluenotes.

Despite many efforts, I was unable to run into Sandy Horne at the mall. Sigh.

Spoons had some material in their back pocket following the original sessions, so headed to NYC to record with Rodgers at the famed Power Station.

What resulted was a Beatles-like double A-side single. If you buy the remastered edition of ‘Talkback’ it will feature both tunes tacked on at the end.

Tell No Lies - peaked #34 in 1984

The madcap video hopefully doesn’t distract you from Spoons experimenting with being Chic.

Four on the floor, a funky bass line and those horns!

Romantic Traffic - peaked #55 in 1985

You know how some bands have a tune that is iconic to their fans, but maybe didn’t burn up the charts?

The chorus singalong contains the famous ‘doot doots’ that songwriters use as placeholders. In this case, Nile told them to leave them in, and he was right.

This is that song for Spoons. Why wasn’t this ever used for a car commercial?

Behind The Vinyl - Boom 97.3

One last note, the American audience refers to these tracks as being from the OST to ‘Listen To The City’ - a project that Deppe and Horne worked on in 1985 that was not credited to the band as a unit.

If you like no-budget Canadian sci-fi, this might be the film for you. If nothing else, the soundtrack is solid.

PS - I wrote about Spoons in a previous post that you can enjoy here: