From their name on down, the San Francisco-based Spent Poets flirted with pretension at every move. Lead singer Adam Gates' lyrics dropped references both literary and pop-cultural (Virginia Woolf and other suicidal female writers, the Beatles, and Syd Barrett were particular obsessions), and the group's lavish version of neo-psychedelia includes spoken interludes, found sounds, tape-effect extravaganzas, and exotic, sometimes bizarre instrumentation. Yet the wit and melodic invention of the group's sole album keeps the group from tipping over into preciousness...usually.

Read more about The Spent Poets on Last.fm.


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