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Fantastic Spikes Through Balloon

{{more citations needed|date=May 2024}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}

{{Infobox album

| name = Fantastic Spikes Through Balloon

| type = studio

| artist = Skeleton Key

| cover = Fantastic Spikes Through Balloon.jpg

| alt =

| released = March 25, 1997{{cite magazine |last1=White |first1=Timothy |title=Skeleton Key Unlocks 'Fantastic' |magazine=Billboard |date=Mar 1, 1997 |volume=109 |issue=9 |page=3}}

| recorded =

| studio =

| genre =

| length = 34:30

| label = Capitol

| producer = Skeleton Key, Dave Sardy, Eli Janney

| prev_title = Skeleton Key EP

| prev_year = 1996

| next_title = Obtainium

| next_year = 2002

}}

Fantastic Spikes Through Balloon is the debut studio album by the American rock band Skeleton Key, released in 1997 on Capitol Records.{{cite magazine |last1=MacDonald |first1=Heidi |title=Reviews |magazine=CMJ New Music Monthly |date=May 1997 |issue=45 |page=44}} It was co-produced by the band with Dave Sardy, except "All the Things I've Lost" and "Big Teeth" produced by the band and Eli Janney, and "The Needle Never Ends" produced by the band only. The original album contains 11 songs, with 4 more songs released only on the Japanese edition. In 1998, a two-disc edition of the album was released in the United States, with the second disc containing alternative versions and remixes by DJ Spooky, Mark Linkous, JG Thirlwell and Dan the Automator.

The packaging was designed by Stefan Sagmeister and features photographs by Tom Schierlitz. It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package.{{cite web |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-busy-nasty-racket-of-skeleton-keys-fantastic-spikes-through-balloon-20-years-later/ |title=The Busy, Nasty Racket of Skeleton Key’s ‘Fantastic Spikes Through Balloon’ 20 Years Later |last=Shipley |first=Al |date=April 6, 2017 |website=Vice |access-date=September 7, 2023}}

Critical reception

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|2.5|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/fantastic-spikes-through-balloon-mw0000097534 |title=Fantastic Spikes Through Balloon |last=Griggs |first=Tim |website=AllMusic |access-date=September 7, 2023}}

| rev2 = Robert Christgau

| rev2score = {{rating-Christgau|hm2}}{{cite web |url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Skeleton+Key |title=Skeleton Key |authorlink=Robert Christgau |last=Christgau |first=Robert |website=Robert Christgau |access-date=September 7, 2023}}

}}

The New York Times wrote: "With its raucous precision, Skeleton Key touches on punk and funk, constructing lean, clattery vamps. It also harks back to Captain Beefheart's down-home surrealism and tips its hat to the circus-band waltzes of Kurt Weill via Tom Waits."{{cite news |last1=Pareles |first1=Jon |title=From Cacophony to Psychobabble and Young Love |work=The New York Times |date=6 Apr 1997 |page=2.37}} The Dayton Daily News deemed the album "a quirky hodgepodge of megaphone vocals, tin-can percussion, jagged rhythms and bizarro sound effects."{{cite news |last1=Rollins |first1=Ron |title=Recordings in Brief |work=Dayton Daily News |date=28 Mar 1997 |department=Go! |page=20}}

Track listing

  1. "Watch the Fat Man Swing" – 3:27
  2. "Wide Open" – 2:36
  3. "Nod Off" – 3:19
  4. "All the Things I've Lost" – 2:55
  5. "The Only Useful Word" – 3:57
  6. "The World's Most Famous Undertaker" – 3:05
  7. "Vomit Ascot" – 1:53
  8. "Dear Reader" – 3:16
  9. "Scratch" – 2:37
  10. "Big Teeth" – 3:36
  11. "The Needle Never Ends" – 3:56

Japanese edition bonus tracks

  2. "Solitaire" – 3:18
  3. "You Might Drown" – 2:12
  4. "Hoboerotica" – 1:22
  5. "The Spreading Stain" – 3:36

Disc 2 (special edition)

  2. "You Might Drown (Transistor Remix)" – 4:27
  3. "All The Things I've Lost (Fast Version)" – 4:06
  4. "Wide Open (DJ Spooky's Full Spectrum Mix)" – 5:32
  5. "Nod Off" – 3:57
  6. "Dear Reader" – 5:11
  7. "Skeletons" – 5:01
  8. "The Needle Never Ends" – 4:06
  9. "Big Teeth" – 3:56
  10. "Dear Reader (Unwonted Mix)" – 3:25
  11. "Spreading Stain" – 5:13
  12. "You Might Drown (Drum & Bass Remix)" – 5:45
  13. "All The Things I've Lost (Slow Version)" – 3:52
  14. "Nod Off (Version 1)" – 2:50

Personnel

  • Erik Sanko
  • Stephen Calhoon
  • Chris Maxwell
  • Rick Lee

References

Category:Skeleton Key (band) albums

Category:1997 debut albums

Category:Capitol Records albums

Category:Albums produced by Dave Sardy