I recently (this year) started paying attention to the band Spoon. While they’ve been around for over 15 yrs, they never really landed on my radar though I was familiar with the band name as well as that of the lead singer, Britt Daniel. They’re latest release, They Want My Soul (2014), has been played on WDST, WEXT, and WRSI, in particular “Do You” and “Inside Out”. Here’s an older one:
What struck me immediately was the similarity in Britt Daniel’s voice to that of John Lennon of the Beatles. The same smooth voice that has a slight break or roll to it when pushed higher.
Now, I know it’s sacrilegious to compare any mere mortal to that of a Beatle, but the similarity is striking. Glad I noticed it because now I have another band’s back catalog to dig deeper into. Always great to discover new music.
Speaking of John Lennon, I caught the Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed (2014) recently on Netflix. So many music-centric movies to catch up on. This is a foreign language film directed by David Trueba
Antonio, an English teacher in Spain, goes off in search of John Lennon while the Beatle films ‘How I Won The War” (1967) in Almeria. Antonio is joined by runaway hitchhikers: a pregnant teen (Belen) who does not want the nuns to give away her yet-unborn baby; and a boy (Juanjo) who is struck by his father when refusing a hair cut. A coming of age film at it’s heart, the trio learn to love each other in their own way. Each in turn filling voids in the other’s personal lives while at the same time using the Beatles as an inspiration for strength.
\
The film stands on it’s own but is also chock full of Beatles connections and references, Pablo (Paul) is the name of the family barber, Juanjo’s sister, Julia (Lennon’s mother’s name), and Juanjo’s name meaning literally John. I’m sure many more which I didn’t catch.
In all a good foreign film with an interesting concept and intriguing cast. Pat Metheny’s score compliments the film nicely.
- Subject: 4.0
- Camera: 3.5
- Style: 3.5
- Soundtrack: 4.0
- Overall: 4.0
- Total: 3.80