Sparks? "Who are Sparks" you may ask.
If you asked that question I just slapped you. Metaphorically of course, I deplore violence (mainly because I'm terrible at both giving and receiving the slings and arrows of physical harm).
Sparks are the band most likley to occupy the "underated genius" bracket in their fans' music collections, if not the whole shelving unit. I've only recently discovered they had recorded material outside of This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us and by God (or other appropriate blasthempy relating to your particular choice of imaginary friend) I am very, very glad that I did.
There isn't any particular reason to write this, other then the non STD related burning I feel to do so. Sparks last album, Hello Young Lovers, was released in 2006. I reckon it would be nice to discover if anyone else loves Sparks, or attempt to introduce folks to their brilliance (perhaps circumnavigating the 80's apart from All You Ever Think About Is Sex).
Hello Young lovers is rapidly becoming one of my personal favourites, It's a tour de force of quasi operatic rock that according to one observer, who shall remain anonymous, sounds like "The Hoosiers if they had balls.". It opens with the frankly amazing Dick Around, which recalls This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us with a suprising (but entirely welcome) dose of heavy guitar riffage. Undoubtedly the albums high point, usually worrying for a first track as it suggests the rest might not measure up. Thankfully this is not the case.
Perfume is a welcome change of pace and, as well as a nice wee antidote to the regular barrage of scent advertising, summed up nicely by the lines "The olefactory sense is the sense, that most strongly evokes memories of the past, Well screw the past". Lyrically its very repetitive but theres a nice understated piano riff on this which catches me every time.
Outside of the album openers (Baby, Baby) Can I Invade Your Country is another genius song. A love song that is also an anti-war song (assuming postmodernist irony is occuring) is not neccesarily a new idea but declaring your love for someone by asking to invade their country is a nice wee twist on a well worn theme. Metaphor is another grand wee ditty - "chicks dig metaphors" gives me hope that one day there might be cheerleaders for creative writing. Waterproof comes across as a pop version of The Four Seasons, the Vivaldi masterpiece rather than the Motown combo, but thats probably just whatever on the track sounds like a harpsichord. In the abscence of sentient research I'll assume it either is, or its a keyboard nefariously pretending to be one. The occassional bursts of Casio equse tommfoolery would seem to suggest the latter.
There Is No Such Thing As Aliens builds the album towards its operatic conclusion, As I Sit To Play The Organ At The Notre Dame Cathedral. The pronunciation of Notre Dame grates a little bit but its an undeniably strong finish, that thankfully never feels as long as its seven plus minutes suggests it should. "Undeniably strong finish" has just struck me as being horribly akin to damning with feint praise. Its a Bach influenced operatic masterwork - like much of the rest of the album. Do yourself a favour, buy it.
Sparks are about to embark upon a mammoth 21 gig residency at the Brixton Carling Academy in London, playing each of their albums in their entirety.
SPARKS SPECTACULAR - 21 ALBUMS IN 21 NIGHTS
Tickets on sale from November 29th
At Carling Academy Islington, N1 Centre, Islington, LONDON, N1 0PS
www.islington-academy.co.uk doors open at 19.00
MAY
16th Halfnelson/Sparks (1971/2)
17th A Woofer In Tweeter's Clothing (1972)
18th Kimono My House (1974)
20th Propaganda (1974)
21st Indiscreet (1975)
23rd Big Beat (1976)
24th Introducing Sparks (1977)
25th No.1 In Heaven (1979)
27th Terminal Jive (1979)
28th Whomp That Sucker (1981)
30th Angst In My Pants (1982)
31st In Outer Space (1983)
JUNE
1st Pulling Rabbits Out Of A Hat (1984)
3rd Music That You Can Dance To (1986)
4th Interior Design (1988)
6th Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins (1995)
7th Plagiarism (1997)
8th Balls (2000)
10th Lil’ Beethoven (2003)
11th Hello Young Lovers (2006)
JUNE 13th WORLD PREMIERE OF SPARKS’ 21ST ALBUM (2008)
At Shepherds Bush Empire, Shepherds Bush Green, Shepherds Bush, LONDON, W12 8TT
www.shepherds-bush-empire.co.uk
INDIVIDUAL TICKET PRICE: £20.00 PER SHOW
3 NIGHTS OR MORE BOUGHT TOGETHER: £18.00 PER SHOW
GOLDEN TICKET – ALL 21 SHOWS - £350.00 (includes signed poster and exclusive Sparks song on CD). This offer is exclusive to Ticketweb.
www.ticketweb.co.uk cc line 0844 477 2000
TICKETS SUBJECT TO BOOKING FEE
