FEATURE:
A Buyer’s Guide
Part Fifty-Six: Sparks
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IT is quite a challenge…
distilling the work of Sparks down to a few albums! They have released so much brilliance, inevitably, there are a few terrific albums that will have to be left aside. Before bringing in some biography, an upcoming documentary from Edgar Wright is well worth catching. This Pitchfork feature from a few weeks ago reveals a new trailer that has been released ahead of the documentary’s release:
“Following its premiere at Sundance earlier this year, Edgar Wright’s Sparks documentary is getting a wide release in just a few weeks. The Sparks Brothers is out June 18. A new trailer for the project includes commentary from Beck, Jason Schwartzmann, Jack Antonoff, Todd Rundgren, Giorgio Moroder, Flea, the Go-Go’s Jane Wiedlin, and more. Watch The Sparks Brothers’ trailer, and find its poster, below.
The Sparks Brothers is the first music documentary from Wright, whose other credits include Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and Baby Driver. The band’s most recent album—their 24th—was last year’s A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip”.
I will not bring in a full biography, though AllMusic provide fascinating detail regarding the incredible the impact of Ron and Russell Mael:
“One of pop's best-loved and most influential cult bands, Sparks grew out of the minds of brothers Ron and Russell Mael. The combination of Russell's formidable vocal range, Ron's impressive keyboard skills, and their vividly witty songwriting defined their music as it changed over the years -- which it did often. When they emerged in the early '70s, their theatricality fit in with the glam rock scene, with albums like 1972's A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing and 1974's Kimono My House earning them a strong following in the U.K. Just a year later, Sparks were at the forefront of the power pop movement with 1975's Indiscreet; by the end of the decade, they were electronic pop pioneers, working with Giorgio Moroder on 1979's No. 1 in Heaven.
The synth pop and new wave leanings of albums like that one and 1983's In Outer Space -- which featured "Cool Places," a duet with the Go-Go's Jane Wiedlin that became one of the band's biggest hits -- evolved into the house and techno leanings of 1994's Gratuitous Sax and Senseless Violins, which felt timely and true to Sparks' inventive history. The Maels only grew more adventurous in the 2000s, reworking classical music in their own image on 2002's Lil' Beethoven and delivering their first musical with 2009's The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman. When they returned to pop music, they held on to that innovative spirit as they collaborated with Franz Ferdinand on 2015's FFS and commented on the issues of the day on 2020's A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip. For a band that often felt like a well-kept secret, Sparks appeared on the charts fairly frequently, with "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us" (1974), "The Number One Song in Heaven" (1979), and "When Do I Get to Sing 'My Way'" (1994) among their most popular songs. A better measure of Sparks' success, however, is the wide range of artists they inspired: Pet Shop Boys, Nirvana, Björk, and the Smiths are among the many acts who put their own spin on the Maels' boundlessly creative approach to pop music and culture.
Brothers Ron and Russell Mael grew up in Los Angeles. In the late '60s, they attended UCLA, with Russell studying theater and filmmaking and Ron studying cinema and graphic design. Musically, they were self-described Anglophiles, preferring the Who, the Kinks, the Move, and Pink Floyd to the folk-rock scene popular on the West Coast. The Maels started making their own music in January 1967 as Urban Renewal Project, recording four songs at Hollywood's Fidelity Recording Studios with their friends Fred and Ronna Frank (one of those songs, "Computer Girl," later appeared on the 2019 collection Past Tense: The Best of Sparks).
In 1968, the Maels formed the band Halfnelson. Featuring songwriter Ron on keyboards and Russell as lead vocalist, the lineup was rounded out by another pair of brothers, guitarist Earle and bassist Jim Mankey, and drummer Harley Feinstein. Halfnelson soon came to the attention of Todd Rundgren, who helped land the group a contract with Bearsville Records and produced their self-titled 1971 debut. Their quirky, tongue-in-cheek art pop failed to find an audience, however, and their manager convinced the Maels to change the group's name. After becoming Sparks and re-releasing their debut album in 1972, they almost reached the Hot 100 with the single "Wonder Girl." For the following year's sublimely bizarre A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing, Sparks worked with Rundgren's engineer (and former Electric Prunes singer) Thaddeus Lames Lowe. Featuring the single "Girl from Germany" -- another near-hit for the band -- the album cemented the band's cult status.
While touring the U.K. in support of the album, Sparks won an avid following. Ultimately, the Mael brothers relocated to London and signed to Island, leaving the rest of the group behind. Earle Mankey subsequently became a noted producer, while Jim later joined Concrete Blonde. In need of a new backing band, the Maels placed an advertisement in Melody Maker. With guitarist Adrian Fisher, bassist Martin Gordon, and drummer Norman "Dinky" Diamond firmly in place, they recorded May 1974's glam-bubblegum opus Kimono My House with producer Muff Winwood. Thanks to its more accessible version of Sparks' sound, the album reached the Top Five of the U.K. album charts and spawned the British hits "Amateur Hour" and "This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us," a startling song that reached number two on the U.K. Singles chart. Working once again with Winwood alongside guitarist Trevor White and bassist Ian Hampton, Sparks returned that November with the power pop-tinged Propaganda. Peaking at number nine on the U.K. Albums chart, it scored with the Top 20 U.K. hits "Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth" and "Something for the Girl with Everything." Propaganda also hit number 63 on the Billboard 200, marking their highest chart position in the U.S.”.
Many might disagree with my selection…but here are four essential Sparks albums, an underrated gem, their latest studio album, in addition to an accompanying book that is worth reading. If you need a guide to the best of Sparks, then have a look…
AT the suggestions below.
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The Four Essential Albums
Kimono My House
Release Date: 1st May, 1974
Label: Island
Producer: Muff Winwood
Standout Tracks: Amateur Hour/Hasta Mañana, Monsieur/Talent Is an Asset
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/327543
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/7HfC3Cd8qSkGKqbOZi4Nbz?si=sDhTxm4WT4yHE0nr0hu_CA
Review:
“Arguably one of Sparks' best albums, 1974's Kimono My House finds the brothers Mael (Ron wrote most the songs and played keyboards, while Russell was the singing frontman) ingeniously playing their guitar- and keyboard-heavy pop mix on 12 consistently fine tracks. Adding a touch of bubblegum, and even some of Zappa's own song-centric experimentalism to the menu, the Maels spruce up a sleazy Sunset Strip with a bevy of Broadway-worthy performances here: as the band expertly revs up the glam rock-meets-Andrew Lloyd Webber backdrops, Russell sends things into space with his operatic vocals and ever-clever lyrics. And besides two of their breakthrough hits (the English chart-toppers "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us" and "Amateur Hour"), the album features one of their often-overlooked stunners, "Here in Heaven." Essential”- AllMusic
Choice Cut: This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us
Indiscreet
Release Date: October 1975
Label: Island
Producer: Tony Visconti
Standout Tracks: Without Using Hands/Pineapple/Looks, Looks, Looks
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=87057&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/7dgrdhuTNbswEBBRSY5iH9?si=t6_KCBaTSv-miyHBp6cPWQ
Review:
“It followed the behemoth shadow of Kimono and Propaganda and was doomed to be overshadowed by both and fall into relative obscurity. No matter how hard it tried it wouldn’t have been as well received because the two previous albums were just way to good that they had nowhere to go but down. When the bar is set so high, there’s no way to pass it. That’s what happened with Indiscreet. They continued to improve their sound and sense of humour and created something that was even more alienating than Propaganda, which obviously turned people off to it. In retrospect, it holds up and is truly a Sparks masterpiece. Here they try their hand at so many different styles and themes and ideas and manage to make it flow super well. It’s not super showy and over the top and Sparks takes a much more mellow mood compared to to their previous efforts which just creates such an atmosphere throughout the album that most f their other albums would not be able to recreate. The opener Hospitality on Parade sets the mood up perfectly of what’s to be expected and stands as one of their greatest songs, remaining simplistic but eerily layered. We bust into a classic Sparks sounding song with Happy Hunting Grounds, that takes from the page of Propaganda and then follow up with Without Using Hands, that is funnily enough more literal than expected. Three songs in, three different styles and it doesn’t stop there as we go through Get in the Swing, Under the Table with Her and How Are You Getting Home? All different and yet somehow it all works so perfectly together. (Let’s not forget the ever hilarious Tits and one of my personal favourites In The Future which is just a high energy song that predicts some of their future sounds they would work with). Sparks were trying a lot of new things with this album and they managed to put it altogether in a cohesive sounding album that in retrospect deserves way more credit and praise than it has. It might be a bit of an acquired taste, but so is good wine and like wine it has aged fantastically” – Bosco’s Modern Life
Choice Cut: Get in the Swing
Nº 1 in Heaven
Release Date: March 1979
Labels: Elektra (U.S.)/Virgin (U.K.)
Producer: Giorgio Moroder
Standout Tracks: Tryouts for the Human Race/La Dolce Vita/The Number One Song in Heaven
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=87067&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/1WwkwSVwh9clBkan9ElU0e?si=ImhGTuUXRmKnU8ah2T0Stw
Review:
“Prior to No. 1 in Heaven, bands were generally four or more individuals, although there were more stripped down bare-bones power trios doing the rounds as well. It was almost never less than three though, as even duos had backing bands, a la The Carpenters. Unless you were Suicide. Or The Silver Apples. It was Sparks that popularised the duo as band format. Suddenly a band could be just a vocalist and a keyboard player, and the template for the synth-pop duos that would become so popular over the next decade was formed. Be they Soft Cell, Yazoo, The Communards, or even the mighty Pet Shop Boys, they all owe Sparks a tip of the hat for pretty single handedly creating the line up format of their bands. Not only that, but with Moroder’s help Sparks reinvented synth-pop from the over-serious detached self-importance of the likes of Kraftwerk, Tubeway Army, and Jean-Micheal Jarre, to something considerably more personable and playful. No.1 in Heaven is an album which has a joyous feeling running all the way through it, something which is particularly difficult to achieve when using the cold and unyielding sounds of the synthesiser, but something which Sparks never had a problem with, especially with the help of the production smarts of Moroder.
Clocking in at under an economical 35 minutes, No.1 in Heaven is heaving with hit single potential, which given Moroder’s involvement is no surprise. Four of No.1 in Heaven’s six tracks were released as singles, with “No.1 Song in Heaven” seeing Sparks crack the top 20 for the first time in years, and the irresistible “Beat the Clock” going one better and hitting the top 10. Another single, album opener “Tryouts for the Human Race”, deserved to be a bigger hit, but given that the album had been out a few months by then, most music fans with an enthusiasm for the new Sparks sound would probably already have it in their collection. With half a dozen tracks over the course of the whole album, Moroder and Sparks made sure there was more than enough room for the cutting edge electronica soundscape to make an impression. “No.1 Song in Heaven” sounds particularly thrilling in its album format, giving the much loved single version an extended introduction which enhances rather than detracts from the hit version.
With the exception of “La Dolce Vita”, all the songs from No.1 in Heaven that were released as singles had alternative extended mixes or single versions, some of which are featured on the second disc of this recent reissue. These are accompanied by a couple of uniquely amusing promos for the album featuring comedian Peter Cook, who evidently had great fun throwing in pop culture references. Such are the effectiveness of these promos, you have to ask why such an approach wasn’t used more often. Another thing of note is that the original album and the bonus material are given two separate discs in CD format, despite all the material fitting neatly on a single CD. This maintains the original integrity of the album, without the listener having to stop the CD if they just wanted to hear No.1 in Heaven as originally intended. Perhaps if the reissue was not done via The Mael Brothers own Lil’ Beethoven imprint, such care might not have been taken, so it’s a nice touch.
40 years after its release, No.1 in Heaven continues to stand up to scrutiny as one of the key albums by Sparks. Sure, Giorgio Moroder’s involvement took the music on the album to another level, but credit should go to the Mael Brothers for knowing who they needed on production duties to reinvigorate their career. It was a hugely influential album at the time, and remains a life-affirming electropop classic that proved that, even outside of Disco, synthesiser music didn’t always have to equate to self-important and dour young men” – Backseat Mafia
Choice Cut: Beat the Clock
Hippopotamus
Release Date: 8th September, 2017
Labels: BMG/The End
Producers: Ron Mael/Russell Mael
Standout Tracks: What the Hell Is It This Time?/Hippopotamus/So Tell Me Mrs. Lincoln Aside from That How Was the Play?
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=1234306&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/1S6CN2iacm5MXUBqrHCzyS?si=OxBjwNyoSuuq-lm313n5Lg
Review:
“In their 45-year career, have pulled off everything from operatic glam rock to Giorgio Moroder-produced electronic disco (the wonderful ) to the with Franz Ferdinand. The band’s 23rd studio album surprisingly echoes their stomping guitar/drums heyday, when Russell’s gale-force falsetto and keyboard player to the Top of the Pops camera caused small children to peer from behind the sofa. However, while Missionary Position sounds like retooled classic Sparks, the Los Angeles brothers are still forging into new areas. For all their trademark arch, witty and , there is a new emotional heft to songs such as the lovely Probably Nothing, which delicately tackles the difficult subject of age-related memory loss. I Wish You Were Fun is one of the simplest, sweetest-sounding songs of their career. For anyone yet to experience the Maels’s unique charms, their best album in decades is as good as any place to start” – The Guardian
Choice Cut: Edith Piaf (Said It Better Than Me)
The Underrated Gem
Hello Young Lovers
Release Date: 6th February, 2006
Labels: In The Red Recordings (U.S.)/Gut (U.K.)
Producers: Ron Mael/Russell Mael
Standout Tracks: Perfume/(Baby, Baby) Can I Invade Your Country/Waterproof
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=87055&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/7LmBhM0HCIc5AFvmoM0H1P?si=0Up0AKxoSoa5LdQkh8QVBA
Review:
“As with last album Lil' Beethoven, Ron and Russell Mael's new opus presents you with pop music that bears hardly any relation to anything else. A strange amalgam of keyboard-led, semi-operatic sturm und drang with added metal (courtesy of Dean Menta of Faith No More) this builds on ...Beethoven's template of repetition and wit, adding a coherent concept: Modern love and all its pitfalls. Hello Young Lovers addresses its effect on your career (''Dick Around''); your self-esteem (''Here Kitty''); its monotony (''The Very Next Fight''); even its socio-politically euphemistic aspects (''(Baby Baby) Can I Invade Your Country?'').
The killer punch however has to be ''Perfume'' - a list of girls and their chosen scents, all topped off with a twist on the Proustian effect of smell. In other words it's cynical, intelligent and very, very funny. For a band celebrating over 30 years of active service this is still extremely bold, new stuff. Screw the past, indeed…” – BBC
Choice Cut: Dick Around
The Latest Album
A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip
Release Date: 15th May, 2020
Label: BMG
Producers: Ron Mael/Russell Mael
Standout Tracks: I'm Toast/Sainthood Is Not in Your Future/Self-Effacing
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=1764622&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/43DZQacT84CN8EYfKcmeSL?si=sapYsJ2nSPGUShcpn6jPRA
Review:
“All that we’ve done / We’ve lost / We’ve won,” sings Russell Mael on the opening track on the twenty-fourth Sparks album, ‘A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip’. ‘All That’ sets a bold, mature tone to the record , one that suggests this will be a record that you’d expect from a duo that’s been active since 1967. It is a song that betrays a sense of coming to terms with their legacy, of looking back fondly over the last 53 years.
Fortunately, Sparks are not ready to go all schmaltzy and sentimental just yet. By the second track, we’re reassuringly back in the absurdist place that Ron and Russell Mael call home: ‘I’m Toast’ is, on on one level, a song about a relationship ending, not just badly, but almost certainly catastrophically. It’s also a song about toasted bread. Like, actual toast. Who else but Sparks could pull that off?
And so it brilliantly goes. Here we find songs that might be about actors slipping messily from grace or might be asking you to take a good, long look at your own morality (‘Sainthood’s Not In Your Future’); Uniqlo winter coats (‘Left Out In The Cold’) ; a song which creates an intricately-crafted character out of phonetic imitation (‘Ono mata Pia’) ; a dose of extreme paranoia (‘Existential Threat’); and, finally, a plaintive, emotional call to look after one another (‘Please Don’t Fuck Up My World’). These are classic Sparks moments, full of comedy, clever wordplay, deft explorations of all the myriad issues of the world, with arrangements that sound as current and fresh as a dew-soaked spring daisy.
‘Lawnmower’ is the album’s highlight, a song that has pulled this writer out of self-isolation moroseness on countless occasions over the past few months, taking the improbable form of an infectious electronic pop song about a chap with a major over-attachment problem toward his grass-cutting equipment. The song has a simple, almost nursery rhyme innocence, bouncing along quite cheerily with Russell sing ing about manicuring an award-winning lawn that will be the envy of the protagonist’s neighbours. The fact that his obsession is highly likely to cost him his relationship with a girlfriend from Andover who drives a Range Rover – the rhymes on this song are utter, utter genius – doesn’t get in the way o f ‘Lawnmower’ raising a much-needed smile” - CLASH
Choice Cut: One for the Ages
The Sparks Book
In the Words of Sparks...Selected Lyrics
Authors: Ron Mael (Editor)/Russell Mael (Editor)/Morrissey (Introduction)
Publication Date: 5th January, 2014
Publisher: Tam Tam Books
Reviews:
“Sparks--the long-running duo of Ron and Russell Mael--are among the most respected songwriters of their generation, their songs ranking alongside those of Ray Davies (The Kinks having been a formative influence), George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Stephen Sondheim. Formed in Los Angeles in 1971, Sparks have issued over 20 albums and scored chart hits with songs such as "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us," "Cool Places" and "Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth." While their musical style has changed dramatically over the course of 40 years--embracing the British Invasion sound of the 60s, glam rock, disco (they teamed up with Giorgio Moroder for 1979's "No. 1 in Heaven") and even techno--their work has consistently stretched the boundaries of pop music and the song form. Sparks continue to break new ground: they are currently working on a project with filmmaker Guy Maddin and are soon to embark on a world tour. Now, for the first time, the Mael brothers have chosen their favorite Sparks lyrics (to some 75 songs), editing and correcting them for presentation in In the Words of Sparks. As James Greer--novelist and former member of Guided by Voices--comments, "Sparks-level wordplay is a gift, and more than that, an inspiration." This book also includes a substantial introduction by fellow Los Angeles resident and longtime fan, Morrissey" – Amazon.co.uk
Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Words-Sparks-Selected-Lyrics/dp/0985272406