Sparks: classic or dud?

I got all their records through "Lost in Space" in Amsterdam for like $2 apiece several years ago - the two early ones on Rundgren's label are good little glampop slices as well ("Girl From Germany" is high-larious), Viscontin definitely upped the ante arrangement-wise tho. The Morodoer stuff is on a whole other level. By the time they hit the 80s things were getting a little spotty but there's always at least a few really great, clever singles on the albums.

Echoing the above, Kimono and Number One -- I'd also suggest Angst In My Pants for the eighties incarnation and the last two, Li'l Beethoven and Hello Young Lovers.

Oh BTW, seems as good a place to mention that Introducing Sparks -- actually their *seventh* album (long story) -- is finally getting an official CD release in a month or so.

No love for "Whomp That Sucker"? A slight return to their glam days, "Tips for Teens" and "That's Not Nastasia" are great.

Indiscreet was my first, too, and from there I think I backtracked to Propaganda. Can't go wrong with Kimono, either, and if you like the "holy trinity," those first two are ridiculously brilliant early works. (Agreed, Visconti's production found a way to channel the weirdness of the first two a bit.)

Whomp That Sucker also has "Mustache", right...? that song is great.

Moustache is on "Angst In My Pants," also a pretty good Sparks record overall.

Forget the old stuff, for the time being anyway, next get Lil' Beethoven and then Hello Young Lovers.

I really really like Hello Young Lovers! All other recommendations seconded as well.

I felt like a theif, getting Propoganda and #1 Song in Heaven for a $3 each from a used store recently.

thief even.

I play the first five quite often, but while I like some songs here and there, I'm not too into any of the later stuff. I've played Lil Beethoven way too much, trying to make it "click". I'm not big on keyboard-orchestras.

Anyways, I'm really just posting to put this here
http://graphikdesigns.free.fr/sparks-propaganda-cover/sparks-propaganda-rear.jpg

A friend of mine reckoned he knew which petrol station that was.

We met them (why/how is a long story), and he actually asked them if it was the petrol station he thought it was. They said yes. (I suspect they were being nice)...

I just got 'Propaganda' and it's awesome, almost good as 'Kimono My House'.

got propaganda and like it a lot as well.

also:

o_O

http://www.tinymixtapes.com/Sparks-to-Perform-Their-Entire

Indeed. ;-)

Sparks. Live May/June 2008 in London. EVERY album.

oh god i wana go see angst in my pants so bad

oops sorry ned! didn't see that one

I just got the Introducing Sparks CD reissue (first time apparently), the 7th studio album from '77. I really like this! Sure, it's not nearly as awesome as Kimono My House or No. 1 In Heaven.. but I like it more than Big Beat, which I also like.

Introducing Sparks is Sparks' mid-70s Beach Boys / "Have A Nice Day" cool-out album. Half this album is great! The rest is alright. Not worth killing to get, but it's better than most of the 80s albums, absolutely.

Standouts: "Occupation", "Forever Young", "Those Mysteries"

It's a small sounding album compared to their best 70s albums, which may be why they felt embarrassed by it. Or maybe it was that one line in "Ladies". But if you're a Sparks completist, you should get this, and you won't be sorry you got it.

three thoughts:

* I think opinions of this album would stand as pretty low had they just made this available like almost all their albums. I'm sure I'm listening to this in a pool in cognitive dissonance.

* This album would be vastly improved as a live performance in mid 2008!

* Fuck, won't you people just put me in your will so I can fly over to London to see all these shows this summer already goddamnit?

Classic, obv. The fact that this thread is almost 7 years old is enough to confirm that. And this post will fade out, yes this post will fade out, and this post will fade out.

Loved your Sparks discography thing in the new Arthur, Ned! Read it yesterday. It definitely made me wanna hear some of the stuff i haven't heard and it also made me wish i still had all the Sparks vinyl I used to have! Ah well, a new project for me. Gotta catch 'em all!

Hey, thank ya sir! :-) It's interesting, I've received a lot of compliments along that line -- I really did want it to be an overview for everyone since I think so many people (understandably) know or focus on only one era or another. There are a couple of glitches that could be corrected, as well as some last minute errors that crept in which I missed, but hey, perfection can't always be had.

Just saw the movie Knock Off a few weeks ago. Van Damme+Rob Schneider+Mael brothers soundtrack= uh, something strange and wonderful

Very, very true.

The titles alone are better than most bands careers.

Hey, thank ya sir! :-) It's interesting, I've received a lot of compliments along that line -- I really did want it to be an overview for everyone since I think so many people (understandably) know or focus on only one era or another. There are a couple of glitches that could be corrected, as well as some last minute errors that crept in which I missed, but hey, perfection can't always be had.

Just wanted to chime in on this. I enjoyed reading the guide, but had Arthur done or requested more editing, I think this would have been REALLY enjoyable. I admit I got lost reading the first few entries because they were each kinda long. Great if you're already a Sparks fan, of course, but I think many many folks would have made this a definitive shopping list and framed this had the blurbs been edited tightly, without resorting to Uncut/Mojo style hyper-hype-blurbs. I stress, I blame the editors here.

Here's where I'm going to scare you -- the piece was actually heavily *cut down* for publication. (I put the uncut version on my blog in a series of posts.)

"Slowboat" is such a jam. One of those songs that I can't keep from singing when it's in my head.

Nice. "Beaver O' Lindy" and "Moon Over Kentucky" tend to come to mind a lot from the early days.

i just CANNOT get into this band AT ALL save for the moroder LPs

http://maelbox.net/home.html

Seems about right.

Cuter than cats that look like Adolf Hitler.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sGgDNfnfaQ

I love Sparks, and not just because I'm a Moroder obsessive. The moment when they clicked for me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OegzI5lweOo

And this post will fade out, yes this post will fade out, and this post will fade out....

I PREDICT!

No it won't. Revive! Sparks thoughts here! Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman, anyone? I hadn't even heard of it until today.

Still haven't heard that one! How is it?

I thought you of all people would know! The snippets I've heard are very intriguing.

One of the problems with Big Beat is that it followed such an incredible run of albums. It's very forgettable and probably my least favourite after Pulling Rabbits, Terminal Jive and maybe Whomp That Sucker.

― Kitchen Person, Thursday, March 10, 2011 9:13 PM (19 minutes ago)

Yeah, I think I was predisposed to give Big Beat more credit than it deserves, because I loved Indiscreet SO MUCH I really wanted to love the next one equally. I also thought the stripped-down sound was in keeping with what was happening in music at the time with Ramones, Talking Heads et al. I played it to death at the time, but now very rarely.

I actually think Big Beat is better than Indiscreet, mostly because it was more solid track-by-track and had a real agreeable and punchy style of songwriting

Indiscreet is a desert island disc of mine, a completely one-of-a-kind, over-the-top treasure trove, so preferring Big Beat is pretty interesting, but hey, that's what discussion boards are for! I still like it better than most of their 80s records.

well I'll have to give it another listen, but if I remember only four songs really stuck with me - "Hospitality on Parade", "In the Future", "Get in the Swing", and "Happy Hunting Ground"

i thought this was a sparks song for the longest time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh_PXrN1hNk

you know, way back when. dug out the espionage lp from a box this morning and i gotta keep it for that song. always loved it.

I thought this was, at first, back in the day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uia4dek9gfk

^^^ love this song SO much, and yeah Sparks definitely had to be an influence. I've had this LP for so long, and I can't remember how or why I acquired it.

DigalongaMacs?

(correct title, "Macs By Graves", but they bottled out of it)

I was recording it onto my laptop for playing later, but the turntable died, never to go again, during the track above.

The "mind/Body" single got a lot of play on Radio Luxembourg back in the day, presumably was a bit too "explicit" for Radio1

I think I read about "Digalongamacs" in the old Jem Records import catalog, and then bought it in a sale bin w/o ever having heard it.

Could be fun!

--

Sparks to perform at the Los Angeles Film Festival
Posted On: May 3rd 2011

We are delighted to announce that Sparks will be performing The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

The performance will take place on June 25th at the Ford Amphitheatre.

Originally commissioned by Swedish National Radio in 2009, this groundbreaking musical will be presented for the first time in a live setting in what might best be described as a "film-to-be" form. Acclaimed Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin, who will direct the final feature film, will be onstage giving stage and cinematic directions throughout the performance, as the cast — including famed Finnish actor Peter Franzen as Ingmar Bergman, Ann Magnuson as Greta Garbo, and of course Russell and Ron Mael — performs the musical in its entirety. Projections have been created by production designer Galen Johnson to foreshadow the mood and atmosphere of the final film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A2Q_1oWWPc

Also: saw this on PBS in high school in the eighties, my introduction to Sparks, other than seeing their goofy album covers in record stores.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfwnl58sL-E

Now that I think about it I'm surprised Plagiarism was barely mentioned - for one they got Mike Patton at the height of his fame, and that seems like a pretty significant influence. For two the direction they took on some of those tracks clearly pointed towards what they'd do for like...the entire 21st Century (so far). And yet in the documentary it's like..."eh, we had no ideas"

I also tried listening to them all last year too, and stopped after slogging through Angst In My Pants, which at only 36 minutes seemed as long as Berlin Alexanderplatz.

Madness

As for Plagiarism, they've spoken before about how they were essentially talked into it, preferring not to look back in general. I think if it had just been a straight-up tribute album they'd be happy with it.

Do the Maels or their fans in the film admit that any of the records were sub-standard?

― Halfway there but for you

I remember a few years back they were asked which was the worst Sparks album and they both answered Terminal Jive. I think it was in some questionnaire in Uncut Magazine maybe?

Man, realized I forgot to post here about the LA show last month! Well, having seen that and last night's SF show to kick off the full tour, you absolutely want to go to this if you have even the slightest interest in the band. I've been seeing them regularly for a quarter of a century and every show has been great in its own way but both these recent shows were compact overviews of their whole career, and it's a great summary and perfect introduction to them if you're relatively new to them and a lovely retrospective if you're in deep like me. Ron dance in full effect of course, and Russell still has the pipes and energy to burn, not that I've ever seen him lack those. Good times for sure.

Aah, so jealous you got to see them at Disney Concert Hall! Definitely one of those times I was wishing I still lived in LA. I'll be seeing them next week at Big Ears though. Recent setlists look fantastic - I wish they were doing more from A Steady Drip, but hard to have any complaints about that song selection.

Saw them in New York last night. Great to see them on a much bigger stage. You can tell they've tailored the setlist to please people who saw the movie, but I don't care, it's all good. And they seemed genuinely thrilled by the reception they got. They said that both a new album and another movie musical is on the way. Amazing.

I had to miss them in St. Paul, I was out of town. I love that they're doing "Under The Table With Her," one of my favoritest faves.

They've signed to Island. 50 years after they last signed to Island. And a new album is coming 26 May (days before I see them in London).

Midnight Special, 1974

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IVTSdF-YzI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viAmueyo0cc