Sparks: classic or dud?

Except Never isn't hosted by Jools Holland.

http://www.nme.com/news/franz-ferdinand/75354#9

Franz Ferdinand and Sparks working on joint album

Great news, this. Like I've muttered elsewhere, it's very unsurprising; they've had a huge mutual admiration society going for years now, and it's just another great 'who knew?' twist in Maeldom, beyond the occasional collaborations they've done with others. A tour would be interesting after the Two Hands/One Mouth setup.

Anyway, here's the Stuart Maconie radio special on the band from earlier today:

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/r4choice/r4choice_20140311-1134a.mp3

OH HELLO YOU.

Because I had to stop posting Sparks links on twitter, I'll post this here instead. Motiv8 remix of "Now That I Own The BBC"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-yKXQMYHp8

Whole lotta Sparks threads, but I cannot see that anyone's mentioned "The Final Derriere" yet, so here it is.

'The Final Derriere’ is excerpted from the Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson film The Forbidden Room, screened at the IMAX London, on October 9th 2015 as part of the BFI London Film Festival and in select cinemas from December 2015.

Ron Mael and Russell Mael of Sparks were commissioned to write a song for a segment of the film that concerns a gentleman (Udo Kier) who is “plagued by bottoms” and seeks out a doctor (André Wilms) to surgically eliminate the desire, a desire fanned by “Master Passion” (Geraldine Chaplin). Special appearance by Charlotte Rampling.

And here's their Christmas single. Really.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdQ4pLaPuYw

new single "you've every right to be a dick" is wonderful. Sparks write the best satirical tunes. "baby can i invade your country?" from a few years back was great too.

I know it's miming to payback but they're just so great to watch.

https://www.sonuma.be/archive/sparks-thanks-but-no-thanks

I love that song.

V nice

Hah I loved that song for years before finally realizing what it was really about

Uh, what's it about?

... Really?

Predatory paedophiles, surely?

It’s about avoiding child molesters on the way home from school isn’t it?

... real or imagined.

Mmmmmmm

Nah

I can see what you mean, but...

I always had it as being in the army, posted to his hometown etc.

Army always tell you to go straight home to your parents at 3pm

Where does it say that?

I'm surprised this thread doesn't have my "I got this album from Ron and Russ" story, but I'm sure its somewhere on ilx so hey.

Army officers are promoted based on height, that's why they are 2 feet taller (I should know of course)

Where does it say that?

The first line is:

Don't dilly-dally, come right home

and the first verse further contextualises:

It’s 3 o’clock and here they come
...
But I've been ordered not to stall
...
My orders come from high above me
About a foot or two above me

The first line having already established that these orders come from people at the singer’s home, those people (a foot or two above him) are specified in the second verse:

I hate to hurt their feelings so
But I'm supposed to tell them no
My parents say the world is cruel
I think that they prefer it cruel

I always had it as being in the army, posted to his hometown etc.

Sorry, Mark, that is just bizarre! I've never been in any doubt what it's about.

OK, you guys win

I suppose that's what happens when you decide what it means at age 14.

So, does anyone want to disavow from me what "BC" is about?

Recently uploaded in its entirety, unedited and in great quality, this is peak.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BJMzW77u9I

Ta very schön

Ausgezeichnet!

Wonder how well Ron's mid-70s look went down with the German audiences of the time...

He probably didn't look that much like Hitler to them.

Wonder how well Ron's mid-70s look went down with the German audiences of the time...

tbf Hitler never had a perm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H62a5TkohK0

Those kids are really determined to dance.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EVzQVZNX0AA3IU4.jpg

You have what in your pants!

From memory, German journalists have always described Ron's moustache as Chaplinesque, rather than being modelled on Hitler. As the German magazine Spex put it in 2008:

»Hitler's playing piano on Top Of The Pops!« This is what many Brits felt when they saw Sparks on the popular BBC music show in 1974. Ron Mael played his keyboard with a stoical Buster Keaton gaze above his Chaplin moustache.

I seem to remember that the moustache once got them banned by a French TV station though.

why don't you PLEEEEEEEEEASE
go with me underground

relistening to all my Sparks stuff. I'm kind of amused how they wound up aping Devo as Devo themselves were sliding into irrelevancy. you can definitely draw a line between Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat and Shout & Interior Design and Total Devo

surprised to find there are actually a few tunes on those albums I do like. "The Toughest Girl in Town" from Interior Design is actually quite good. and "Madonna" does make me laugh, I kinda love Sparks in "trying to be boring" mode

Other than the singles, I've never heard anything in between Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat and Balls. I've owned a copy of Interior Design for probably at least 10 years by now, but that little picture of Ron without a mustache on the back cover scares me too much to play it.

not missing much though Gratuitous Sax is pretty solid if you wanna hear them do the Pet Shop Boys in a non-literal sense

surprised to find there are actually a few tunes on those albums I do like. "The Toughest Girl in Town" from Interior Design is actually quite good. and "Madonna" does make me laugh, I kinda love Sparks in "trying to be boring" mode

With Interior Design I feel like they were just a little too successful at "trying to be boring." At least their personality still shines through on Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat (and if nothing else it's got "A Song That Sing Itself"), but except for "Madonna," that's largely not the case on Interior Design.

(I love that "I Thought I Told You to Wait in the Car" from Gratuitous Sax is essentially a sequel to "Madonna"...six years later.)

ah yeah "A Song That Sings Itself"! what was frustrating about those 80s albums is that I'd randomly get tunes from them stuck in my head but not remember what they were. that was definitely one of them

poster child though is "I Wish I Looked a Little Better". hearing it again it's got some of the funniest lyrics they've ever written..."went to high school and majored in lookin' real bad/got a real ugly mom and a real ugly dad"

anyway every year or two I listen to all their albums in order and I'm always astounded by how fucking great Li'l Beethoven is compared to every record they made since No. 1 in Heaven to that point

It's a real treasure. Very glad I caught the LA show for that in particular.

only photo I've ever seen Ron actually smiling in

https://www.facebook.com/sparksofficial/photos/a.161269161864/10158241452116865

https://sonicmoremusic.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/tumblr_m03ajh2zms1qjthhuo1_1280.jpg

Haha amazing.

He did "Get in the swing" on TOTP back in the day, smiling. In blackface. Footage lost.

https://scontent-bru2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/118827022_10158241452121865_7114825431684141571_o.jpg?_nc_cat=111&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=rYsRCjxUaVUAX-l8gZD&_nc_ht=scontent-bru2-1.xx&oh=89e64f56fe156489a4ac40d11f5b8d07&oe=5F826A73

Sparks talk through ten different ways into their ouevre: https://thequietus.com/articles/28269-sparks-interview-3

First of all, we never thought of that album as a disco album. We thought it was just something in its own area, a lot more beat-driven, but we never thought in terms of disco or not disco.

Disco or not disco? That could catch on.