Arias & Symphonies

Last updated
Arias & Symphonies
Spoons - arias.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedOctober 1982
Recorded1982
Studio
Genre
Length44:11
Label Ready (CA) / A&M (US, UK, and EU)
Producer John Punter
Spoons chronology
Stick Figure Neighbourhood
(1981)
Arias & Symphonies
(1982)
Talkback
(1983)
Singles from Arias and Symphonies
  1. "Nova Heart"
    Released: 1982
  2. "Arias and Symphonies"
    Released: 1982
  3. "Smiling in Winter"
    Released: 1982
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [2]

Arias & Symphonies is the second studio album by Canadian new wave band Spoons. It was released in October 1982 by Ready Records. It contains the highly successful singles "Nova Heart" and "Arias & Symphonies". It was first released on CD in 2000. In 2012, a 30th Anniversary Edition of the album was released on CD with bonus tracks, which are mostly live recordings from Barrymore's, Ottawa, October 26, 1982, originally recorded and broadcast by CHEZ-FM. The iTunes download version includes an extra "live CD" of their performance at the El Mocambo in Toronto, June 26, 1982, which was originally broadcast by CHUM-FM. [3]

Contents

The photograph on the album cover is from the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria. [3]

Background

After the release of the band's debut studio album, Stick Figure Neighbourhood (1981), Gordon Deppe stated "the album, it wasn't a good representation of what we were capable of...we've got the same kind of attitude towards life but...the songs are taking us around the world. We're getting out of the neighbourhood." [4]

Deppe continued by noting that the songs for Arias & Symphonies would be more dance oriented, as their European influences, such as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) and Peter Hammill, have done. [4]

Arias & Symphonies was named one of the 20 Most Influential Albums of the 1980s by The Chart Magazine, and the song "Nova Heart" garnered a spot in Bob Mercereau's book "The Top 100 Canadian Singles". [5]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Trade Winds"Gordon Deppe2:15
2."Smiling in Winter"
  • Deppe
  • Sandy Horne
4:06
3."One in Ten Words"
  • Deppe
  • Rob Preuss
4:10
4."No Electrons"Deppe5:12
5."No More Growing Up"
  • Deppe
  • Preuss
  • Horne
3:26
6."Arias & Symphonies"Deppe4:48
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
7."Nova Heart"Deppe5:46
8."South American Vacation"
  • Deppe
  • Preuss
  • Horne
4:12
9."A Girl in Two Pieces"
  • Deppe
  • Horne
4:28
10."Walk the Plank"Deppe4:27
11."Blow Away"Deppe5:58
Total length:40:26
30th Anniversary Edition bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
12."Test Sample (Live)"
  • Deppe
  • Horne
2:52
13."Tunnels for Testing Wings (Live)"Deppe3:11
14."Broken (Live)"
  • Deppe
  • Horne
4:03
15."Walk the Plank (Live)"Deppe4:27
16."Symmetry (Live)"
  • Deppe
  • Horne
5:26
17."Blow Away (Live)"Deppe5:53
18."Nova Heart (Singularity Mix - Edit)"Deppe4:04
30th Anniversary Edition iTunes-only live "CD 2"
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Nova Heart"Deppe5:59
2."No Electrons"Deppe4:49
3."One in Ten Words"
  • Deppe
  • Preuss
4:07
4."Red Light"Deppe4:36
5."No More Growing Up"
  • Deppe
  • Preuss
  • Horne
3:33
6."Arias & Symphonies"Deppe4:39
7."Ice Age"
  • Horne
  • Deppe
4:18
8."Walk the Plank"Deppe4:28
9."Western Romance"Deppe4:33
10."Friends in the Media"Deppe3:49
11."Symmetry"
  • Deppe
  • Horne
5:41
12."Annita"Deppe6:22
13."Spanish Eyes"Deppe3:27
14."Nova Heart"Deppe6:38

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the Arias & Symphonies liner notes. [6]

Spoons

Production

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References

  1. 1 2 3 DeGagne, Mike (25 September 2023). "Arias & Symphonies Review by Mike DeGagne". AllMusic . Retrieved 25 September 2023.
  2. DeGagne, Mike. The Spoons: Arias & Symphonies > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
  3. 1 2 "Arias & Symphonies". Spoons Official Site/Darrin Cappe. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  4. 1 2 Noble, Peter (10–16 December 1981). "Spoons for Your Ears". Spoons Official Site/Darrin Cappe. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  5. Sterdan, Darryl (25 March 2019). "Spoons Serve Up New Day New World Album". Tinnitist. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  6. Arias & Symphonies (CD booklet). Spoons. Ready Records. 1982.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)