Sparks: classic or dud?

Classic doesn't begin to describe it. One of the most influential, entertaining and utterly hilarious groups ever does. And based on their shows last year, they can easily still cut it live.

Search: the No. 1 In Heaven album (Sparks go disco !)

Destroy: most everything else, except maybe "Wonder Girl" and "Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth". The worst of Roxy Music crossed with the worst of Queen isn't my idea of a party. Good song titles, though.

Destroy - ‘Looks, Looks, Looks’

But remember that this is NOT the topic!

I would suggest that Sparks are hopelessly over-rated by their fans and under-rated by everyone else.

APPEARANSEZ ON totp BROUGHT AN OTHERNESS INTO grS LIVING ROOM AS A CHILD - PRETENTIOUS ? - WELL THEY PULLED IT OFF GOODSTYLE

I'm kind of trying to formulate my answer - there's things I like and don't like about them but I'm a bit fuzzyheaded on it this AM.

Wait, did they have some kind of connection with Ayn Rand? They seem like that kind of band.

My two cent's worth, friends.

Laura N.

Your Andrew WK comparison on that other thread has really got me going. I wonder when it's coming out here in the

Lil' Beethoven, I've just discovered is one of the overlooked gems of last year. Any band who can make a record that fuses John Adams with showtunes and Randy Newman/Stephin Merritt's acerbic wit, is one to treasure. The titles alone are better than most bands careers.

I've heard a few of the later songs, the "When do I get to sing 'My Way'" hit was a song I considered a guilty pleasure when I was younger, now it's just a pleasure. I have MP3s of some of the late70s Moroder material, and it certainly seems like a good time, though it took me a while to get into it. I particularly enjoy "Tryouts For The Human Race".

I gave the last two albums instore listens recently. "Balls" didn't seem like something for me, not really any melodies or anything that made my nostrils twitch. "Lil' Beethoven" seemed like it -might- be great fun. I didn't dare to buy it at the time though, as I was already spending far too much money.

I'll write "classic" on a post-it note and stick it to them for now, hopefully I can eventually glue it 'em.

Btw, "Tits" = The most depressing mammary-song of all time (yes, let's ignore that 'tits' aren't really what it's about as such, but hey!)

I Want To Hold Your Hand
England
Gone With The Wind
Intrusion/Confusion
Looks Aren't Everything
Tearing The Place Apart

...

When is Introducing Sparks going to get reissued? This is the one I'm missing now.

I think most of those bonus tracks were on earlier reissues. I'm not all that hyped over these as a result, though if they fixed the terrible sound on Kimono My House I'll snag that.

As for Introducing Sparks, don't hold your breath. It has never been officially been released on CD and there is no impetus for it to be beyond the yearning of the hardest of hardcore fans -- and even most of them (HI DERE) think it's a very subpar release.

so far w/my new finds I have really liked Kimono and #1 In Heaven. The one song I did play from Introducing... was indeed bad.

haven't listened to Indiscreet at all yet!

Intrusion/Confusion
Looks Aren't Everything
Tearing The Place Apart

Not sure about the other reissues. I got everything else, and if they're the same bonus tracks than the Island or whatever ones, then I won't convert.

"Tearing" and "Gone" were both outtakes from Indiscreet, I should note, which is one reason why I like them better than The Big Beat tracks in general. ;-)

okay so i finally bought a sparks record -- "indiscreet"

it's pretty amazing, they don't make 'em like this anymore, and they never did.

i can't even really understand how you sit down in a studio and come out with a record that sounds like this...so amazingly poppy, yet strange and overwrought (in a good way)...i can't really even compare this stuff to anything else...maybe like "virginia plain" or something...but yeah this is different, pretty unique.

all of which isn't very insightful i'm sure but anyway, yay sparks!!!!!

Hehehe, a VERY good choice for a first album, I have to say. Splashy in the best possible way.

what should i get next?

i always remember kimono my house cuz of the funny title, is that one good?

Kimono My House is glammier

(ie more guitar and a little heavier)

the middle ground and my personal favorite of the glam-trio is definitely Propaganda (love that sleeve!)

kimono is their best

of the Moroder era No. 1 Song in Heaven is the one to get.

http://graphikdesigns.free.fr/sparks-propaganda-cover/sparks-propaganda-front.jpg
http://graphikdesigns.free.fr/sparks-propaganda-cover/sparks-propaganda-back.jpg

these guys really have a way with awesome album covers!

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

Bump, for the goofiest video on earth.

Always a winner.

i am a total fool. how had i not heard the entirety of no. 1 song in heaven until yesterday? i picked up a nice copy for $5, and although i was familiar with the title track and "beat the clock", it's the song sandwiched between the two on the second side - "my other voice" - that's flooring me. it emerges as a cross-fade with the ending of "beat the clock", gets into la dusseldorf territory of blissful strange celestial cloudwalking in giant baggy white trousers. in comes a chorus that is poppy as hell, but not earth pop. it fades out with moroder's processed backward cymbals and hi-hat stomps, before appropriately leading into the no. 1 song in heaven. i really, really have to check out terminal jive.

Don't get your hopes up re: Terminal Jive, is all I'm sayin'.

Honestly TJ is a comparative fall from the heights but very glad you got No. 1 in full -- the whole album is indeed that spectacular.

Anyway by all accounts Portland was a blast while tonight Seattle might well explode, given the huge concentration of fans there waiting for four decades...

I think Tryouts For The Human Race was the first single I ever bought.

As for Terminal Jive, When I'm With You is wonderful: "it's that break in the song when I should say something special/But the pressure is on and I can't make up nothing special/Not when I'm with you"

enjoying ned's post about no. 1 here: http://nedraggett.wordpress.com/2008/05/25/sparks-and-the-number-one-album-in-heaven/

i basically don't know any of their post 70s stuff at all! (except for lil' beethoven, which, i suspect unusually, was my intro to sparks. it came in as a cd promo when i was working in a store for a few years) it seems like kimono and no. 1 in heaven are the consensus faves for people getting into sparks, and often the listening journey ends there.

Yeah, I've learned to love "When I'm With You" on it's own terms; it's a great Sparks single.

It is, no question. I love that it was a huge hit in France.

Terminal Jive is underrated!

I gotta stand by this take

http://nedraggett.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/getting-terminal-with-sparks/

(xpost) I'd be interested in hearing why you think TJ is underrated. Compared to other albums by my longtime heroes that came out in 1980 (Bowie's Scary Monsters and Roxy Music's Flesh and Blood, for two, it just seems so flat and lifeless to me, songwriting, performance and production alike. And because I didn't buy it until several years after its release, so much great new synth-based music had come out of new wave in the meantime that it just felt turgid. The guitar in particular has a certain bad, processed early 80s rock sound to it that really grates on me. (xpost)

When I'm With You is a great single but I really do not like much else on there.

Meantime

http://t.co/rFT4B3ShaQ

prior to this thread I had no idea Terminal Jive was considered some kind of failure. I don't like it as much as No. 1 Song in Heaven but its a perfectly acceptable sequel to my ears. they def head weaker albums still to come.

It just sounds unfinished; the ideas seem incomplete. Rock 'n' Roll People in a Disco World is a favourite of mine though.

i am a total fool. how had i not heard the entirety of no. 1 song in heaven until yesterday? i picked up a nice copy for $5, and although i was familiar with the title track and "beat the clock", it's the song sandwiched between the two on the second side - "my other voice" - that's flooring me. it emerges as a cross-fade with the ending of "beat the clock", gets into la dusseldorf territory of blissful strange celestial cloudwalking in giant baggy white trousers. in comes a chorus that is poppy as hell, but not earth pop. it fades out with moroder's processed backward cymbals and hi-hat stomps, before appropriately leading into the no. 1 song in heaven. i really, really have to check out terminal jive.

― your holiness, we have an official energy drink (Z S), Monday, 22 April 2013 13:49 (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This post goes for me too! Almost in its entirety!

What I did was to take my cheaply bought LP and the two 12" singles for "Tryouts" and "beat the clock" for the extra tracks (in short, two Peter Cook ads and a long remix of "Beat the clock") and make a mini-cd with sleeve..

Yeah, "My Other Voice", was playing in my brane for the past week! Also, something was bugging me for a while: "What does it remind me of?" .. At first the Super Furry Animals' "Juxtaposed" because of the Vocoder, but no its "Dazzle Ships" OMD, innit?

"Terminal Jive" was where Giorgio palmed them off to his assistant, Harold Faltermeyer, wasn't it?

I've been relistening to No. 1 a lot this year and I think it may be a top 3 album for them, next to Kimono and Hello Young Lovers. So much unbridled joy in these songs and doggdamn do I love that little descending bass synth part in the chorus of "La Dolce Vita"

Anyway, me on the band from last week in the Quietus

http://thequietus.com/articles/12088-sparks-masonic-hall-hollywood-forever-cemetery

At long last!

http://store.universal-music.co.uk/restofworld/exclusives/sparks-new-music-for-amnesiacs-the-ultimate-collection-box-set/invt/5037300783451

Disc 1

01. Wonder Girl
02. Roger
03. High C
04. Girl From Germany
05. Batteries Not Included
06. Whippings and Apologies
07. This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both of Us
08. Amateur Hour
09. Equator
10. Talent Is An Asset
11. Barbecutie
12. Propaganda
13. At Home At Work At Play
14. Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth
15. Something For The Girl With Everything
16. Alabamy Right
17. Hospitality On Parade
18. Happy Hunting Ground
19. Looks, Looks, Looks
20. Get In The Swing
21. Miss the Start, Miss the End
22. Big Boy
23. Nothing To Do
24. Looks Aren't Everything
25. Tearing The Place Apart

Disc 2

01. Goofing Off
02. Over The Summer
03. The Number One Song In Heaven
04. Beat The Clock
04. Tryouts For The Human Race (Unreleased Version)
05. When I'm With You (LP Single Version)
06. Young Girls (LP Single Version)
07. Tips For Teens
08. Funny Face
09. I Married A Martian
10. Angst In My Pants
11. I Predict
12. Mickey Mouse
13. Eaten By The Monster Of Love
14. Cool Places
15. Popularity
16. I Wish I Looked A Little Better
17. Pretending to Be Drunk
18. A Song That Sings Itself

Disc 3

01. Music That You Can Dance To
02. Change
03. Let's Get Funky
04. Singing in The Shower (with Les Rita Mitsouko)
05. So Important
06. A Walk Down Memory Lane
07. Madonna
08. National Crime Awareness Week (Psycho Cut)
09. Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins
10. When Do I Get To Sing "My Way"
11. (When I Kiss You) I Hear Charlie Parker Playing (Radio Edit)
12. Tsui Hark (Feat. Tsui Hark & Bill Kong)
13. Let's Go Surfing
14. Propaganda
15. Pulling Rabbits Out of A Hat
16. This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both Of Us (with Faith No More)
17. Bullet Train
18. It's A Knockoff
19. Calm Before The Storm

Disc 4

01. Concerto In Koch Minor (Wunderbar)
02. The Rhythm Thief
03. How Do I Get To Carnegie Hall?
04. My Baby's Taking Me Home
05. Suburban Homeboy
06. I Married Myself
07. Dick Around
08. Perfume
09. The Very Next Fight
10. Metaphor
11. As I Sit Down To Play The Organ At The Notre Dame Cathedral
12. Good Morning
13. Lighten Up, Morrissey
14. Strange Animal
15. Photoshop
16. I've Never Been High
17. I Am A Bookworm

Bonus CD:

Islington N1
Two Hands One Mouth

12. Tsui Hark (Feat. Tsui Hark & Bill Kong)

an odd inclusion

Really wish they'd included "The Japanese Have Come and They've Bought My Number One" instead

still, lots of stuff I haven't heard yet here

They could just as easily do a full 4 CD set like this of rarities. There is something to be said for having some kind of a proper honest to god career overview, though.

yeah, and unlike many box sets the fourth disc is just as strong as the first.

Amen, sleeping signal. That's a rarity in itself!

Meantime, something interesting to note...

REVENGE TOUR UPDATE: Completely new show with 15 SONGS not previously played!!

Whoa, that's right--- if you saw the Two Hands One Mouth tour, you ain't seen the Revenge of Two Hands One Mouth. Ron and Russell have announced that they have been rehearsing 'approximately 15 new songs taken from their 23 albums that were not played on the previous tour.' The new songs have been given the special Revenge of Two Hands One Mouth touch.

So grab your tickets now and see what's new in Two Hands land. Below are the tour dates thus far.
A few more shows are planned.

NORTH AMERICA 2013

OCTOBER
23 Atlanta, GA (Variety Playhouse)
25 Asheville, NC (Mountain Oasis Festival)
27 Washington, DC (9:30 Club)
28 New York, NY (Webster Hall)
30 Boston, MA (Brighton Music Hall)

NOVEMBER
01 Montreal, QC (Le National)
02 Toronto, ON (Lee's Palace)
03 Hamilton, ON (This Ain't Hollywood)
04 Detroit/Pontiac, MI (Crofoot Ballroom)
06 Chicago, IL (Lincoln Hall)
07 Chicago, IL (Lincoln Hall)
09 Austin, TX (Fun Fun Fun Fest)
11 Los Angeles, CA (Fonda Theatre)

EUROPE 2013

NOVEMBER
24 London, UK (Union Chapel)
25 Glasgow, UK (Arches)
27 Bristol, UK (Bristol Academy)

DECEMBER
01 London, UK (Union Chapel)
02 London, UK (Union Chapel)
04 Paris, France (Alhambra)
06 Barcelona, Spain (Sala Copernico)
07 Madrid, Spain (Sala Razzmatazz)

Would love to catch the LA show but I am previously booked.

h8 myself for not listening to these guys before now

Later is better than never.

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.

damn that movie was stinky

would like to hear complaints about it (I saw it too)

Wow. I haven't had a chance to see it yet, but I've heard nothing but fawning review of it so far. The main complaint I've heard is just that it (necessarily, perhaps, given the scope) skips over some eras/albums a little too quickly.

Can it be rented on the internet somewhere yet?

I think it’s theatrical now for the time being

OK so I’m dictating this into my phone but the movie was so goddamn long, had so many unnecessary talking heads that no one had to hear from, only showed live footage for a fraction of a song, went in an exhausting chronological order that made you want to slit your wrist by the end of the movie, and had a bunch of unnecessary interstitial animations that were also exhausting. It was claymation, comic book style, collage style, what the hell? Anyway I think and you’re right screwed the pooch on this one.

And you’re right = Edgar Wright lol

Agree with all of those criticisms.

And also it keeps using that dumb visual punctuation gimmick where, for example, one of the Sparks guys says they had high expectations for their album but then it tanked commercially and then you see film footage of an old timey experimental flying machine getting a few feet in the air before crashing.

This trend for needless animation in music docs is tiresome.

Complaints complaints. I didn't mind any of this! (Basically this is the first set of negative takes I've seen anywhere, so, sampling bias on my part perhaps.)

I am very much looking forward to Annette.

And also it keeps using that dumb visual punctuation gimmick where, for example, one of the Sparks guys says they had high expectations for their album but then it tanked commercially and then you see film footage of an old timey experimental flying machine getting a few feet in the air before crashing.

OMG, why would any film maker do this in 2021?

Edgar Wright, folks! (Then again, the Maels are utter film nerds...)

In terms of the exhaustiveness, I kinda get it but at the same time it was intentionally central as a point of argument about their existence/persistence; it was meant to be a implied rebuke to 'whatever happened to' attitudes as much as addressing general 'who even are they?' responses: they're still busy, doing work, playing out, etc. This is its own tangle since you've got any number of acts or musicians who steadily release albums that are regularly overshadowed by their pasts -- there was a great subthread on Neil Young on Twitter talking about how pretty much the last twenty years plus is nothing but albums nobody remembers or cares about -- but it also aimed to make the case about how certain albums and phases found them being actual hitmakers again through the decades, and where.

Yeah, on the other Sparks thread we were complaining that it's too short :)

the former drummer breaking into tears was...something

That whole period of the band remains a bit sad and mysterious. Clips of their songs from the Mai project were played on a BBC radio documentary on them from the late 2000s IIRC, and I keep wondering what if anything will resurface. There is a small elision, though; they released the standalone "National Crime Awareness Week" single in 1993, Simon Price interviewed them for Melody Maker that fall, I've still got the issue somewhere, etc.

I saw it last night and liked it! A lot of the archive footage they used in the film you can find on YouTube pretty easily.

i didn't mind the stylistic stuff despite it being kind of corny, and i had fun watching the movie. but it really was too long. every rockumentary struggles with how to strike the balance between explaining stuff to noobs and satisfying the nerds. sparks brothers failed at this but in a way that most movies don't. the focus on almost every single album felt like it was for the "real fans" but you didn't really get much info about each one; and like kurt said you still don't really get much live footage or even significant clips of songs. overall it was way too exhaustive for neophytes or even casual fans, and while it's nice to have something for the obsessive fans for a change, they aren't truly going to be satisfied unless they get like a 12-hour miniseries.

god bless russell but he comes across as oddly personality-less in this.

they aren't truly going to be satisfied unless they get like a 12-hour miniseries.

What a fine idea!

45 minutes of Ron discussing how he chose the slap-bass samples on Interior Design.

OMG, why would any film maker do this in 2021?

As also discussed on the other thread, the film uses the Maels' lifelong interest in film as a throughline: born and growing up in Los Angeles, I think there's fleeting 8mm footage of Hollywood High School?, their interest in visual staging right back to Halfnelson auditioning for Rundgren by putting on a private show with props and sets, attending film school and including snippets of Russell's mock French art film starring another Halfnelson member, the disappointment of their Tati collaboration not getting up in the '70s, wasting six years working seven days a week on the Mai musical (the condensed/rushed nature of the film means that Burton is the only director attached - Hark doesn't even get mentioned for the song they did with him) instead of Sparks, a tiny glimpse of a semi-staged reading of The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman at the LA Film Festival, up to (the last footage shot for the film) on-set glimpses of the Maels, Driver, Cotillard and Carax making Annette. The odd second-and-a-half of old film footage is used as punctuation and to maintain that theme, not as CUT TO with sound or descriptive voiceover.

Yeah, on the other Sparks thread we were complaining that it's too short :)

seems Chaki agrees with this too tbh:

only showed live footage for a fraction of a song

What sic said

I would argue that going in chronological order through every album to the point of exhaustion “and then this album happened, and then this album happened.” and having Patton Oswald or someone I don’t care about say “this is a good album” then moving on to the next one is completely counter to what the Mael’s body of work is about. Remember when Ron talked about how he would walk into the middle of a movie and imagine the beginning and how that spoke to his artist narrative? Yah this movie is the opposite of that.

No, the struggle-struggle-HIT!-flop-struggle-struggle-HIT!!-flop-struggle never-give-up "artist narrative" is crucial to the film. Only focussing on their high points would have misrepresented the individualism of the brothers as a unit and the variety of their career as creators.

then moving on to the next one

Good to see you agreeing that this happens too quickly and the film should be longer :)

I’m not saying only hit the high points just do ANYTHING other than chronological order, 30% farmed out inconsistent animation filler, cheap stock footage, then a ton of pointless talking heads saying the same thing over and over. (Scott Auckerman? Really?) it’s the same bullshit every music doc succumbs to. It’s lazy and boring and exudes none of the joy or creativity that Sparks’ music creates.

There’s literally a scene of Neil Gaiman holding up an album saying “here’s me holding up the album so you can pan to a celeb holding up an album.” Which is so pointless ugh kill me.

There’s literally a scene of Neil Gaiman holding up an album saying “here’s me holding up the album so you can pan to a celeb holding up an album.” Which is so pointless ugh kill me.

Clearly Carax should have directed this and Wright directed Annette uh wait

I'll see this sooner or later, but these descriptions sound terrible.

I'm excited for Annette! It probably wont be terrible!

This movie rocked, sorry

I actually liked the scope that took all of their albums into consideration because, well, that's how nerds look at albums. Like, yeah, it could have been a tight 90 minute story, and probably would need to be if it was some Netflix crap or whatever, but it told the story **and** gave all 25 or whatever albums a watchful eye. However, yes, the last 20 minutes of "In conclusion, Sparks is good" was p unecessary.

And yeah, Scott Aukerman and Neil Gaiman and that rando podcast woman are all super cringe, but idk, Sparks attracts a lot of cringe Onion A/V TMBG people so dealwithit.gif

idk, man, after like 10 years of every marginal band getting a shitty crowdfunded Kickstarter documentary it was nice to see something that worked on that nerd level with some style and professionalism

Gaiman holds up the album in order to turn it, showing both sides, and then talks through the story he inferred as a teenager from the three different images on the front, back and gatefold. Edgar then suggests an alternative narrative that can be constructed from those three staged visuals, and Gaiman notes that as a director, Wright made a more coherent story in a split second from the disconnected images than Gaiman had in 45 years. It's another part of the running throughline of Sparks always being concerned with visual storytelling as a major aspect of their output, and the one about how fans are intentionally left to construct their own ideas of what the brothers are about, given their personal privacy.

(It also takes up about twelve seconds of the movie, for people who are being put off by Chaki's nitpicking, or the very idea of a documentary having themes.)

((Aukerman speaks maybe seven words in two hours 15 mins, if anyone's fearing cringing))

i believe you are mistaken and someone else walks through the propaganda imagery! gaiman just holds up indiscreet iirc.

but maybe im the mistaken one!

Fyi I interviewed EW (and the boys) about the doc (the feature is in the super soaraway issue of Uncut mag on your newsstands now) and the original cut, which he showed to Cameron Crowe, was 4 hours long...

can anyone speak to the the reasoning behind putting it in multiplexes nationally (i think its on 500 screen?!) seems likea risky move

Doesn't look like anything else was new that week but The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/2021W25/?ref_=bo_wey_table_1

Edgar Wright’s ‘The Sparks Brothers’ Lights Up Specialty Box Office Amid Full Theater Reopenings In LA, NY

The Sparks Brothers grossed $265K this Father’s Day weekend on 534 screens ($489 per screen average), huge numbers for any documentary debut these days.

The strongest performing markets for the pop-rock doc were Los Angeles (with 18% of the gross in 48 theaters), New York, San Francisco, Austin and Chicago.

the original cut, which he showed to Cameron Crowe, was 4 hours long

I protest. He should have showed that to me.

And yeah it was actually a bit of a slick move since they had that week to themselves, nearly, just before F9 hits.

kurts did u see this at the Alamo

i saw it at century city mall where ronald is often spotted irl lol

I'm psyched for Annette because I'm coming at it from the Carax-fan's side and Holy Motors was awesomer-than-awesome.
From your reviews - thank you all! - I don't know if I'll be searching this doc (maybe I will right because I don't know much about Sparks), but it sounds like it's got some of the same problems I had with the recent XTC doc - too short, several eras undermentioned etc.

I was wondering how much talking head stuff there would be cause in the trailer they literally say “we didn’t want to make a typical doc w a bunch of random talking heads” even tho the trailer itself had plenty of random talking heads saying some quite ridiculous & hyperbolic shit like “every significant pop trend can be traced back to sparks”

Holy Motors is one of my favourite movies of the last however long and Baby Driver was the dampest of squibs. Had brief FOMO over missing the doc at the pictures (I think?) but nah, it's assuaged for now.

the point of including that hyperbole in the film is that the bloke saying "all pop music is rearranged Vince Clarke or rearranged Sparks" has his caption panickedly shuffling during the seconds that he's saying it, rushing to try and cover that he has written and arranged and played and produced pop music for Lorde and Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey and The Chicks and etc

I echo sic this was great and Ron and Russell get most of the speaking time (I speak as a fan but not someone who has worn out the grooves on all the albums and a huge emotional investment).

Has there ever been one of these music documentaries where a celebrity/expert appears to say they DON'T like the artist? Closest I can think of is Mick Jagger in the Rodney Bingenheimer movie.

Marc almond in the Scott Walker one saying he thought tilt was shit

Loved the doc and the way it was structured made a lot of sense to me. A big part of the Sparks story is staying fully committed over many decades to this idea they had, and I think it made sense to present it album-by-album to really bring that out. It's touching, too, even though they probably didn't want it to be that way. At one point one of their band members talked about how respectful the Maels are to everyone on tour, Ron is shown giving that speech on stage about how they "don't take any of this for granted" etc. I was moved. The music business is full of assholes and that type of behaviour is often fodder for documentaries like this, so it was nice to see the flipside of that for a change. I love Ron's absolute commitment to his image, ghosting around LA looking like a beatnik spy in his mid 70s. Fantastic.

Rundgren summed it up really well near the end by saying something like: "It's heartening that something this weird stayed this weird for so long and wasn't dampened down into something less weird."

It's notable as well that the few business types in the film seem to be good eggs. Gary Stewart's good spirit was attested to by everyone then and especially after his tragic death, and Muff Winwood, admittedly also a producer, seems like he'd be a character to hang with and hear stories from.

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

for sure

Yeah, some in more detail than others. There's definitely ones where they essentially shrug a bit.

Meantime, on another tip, new Annette song out

“WE LOVE EACH OTHER SO MUCH” — the 2nd single release from the Sparks-penned movie musical #ANNETTE is out now!

Vocals by Adam Driver & Marion Cotillard. ✨

Listen now: https://t.co/PkHVRx1BrZ pic.twitter.com/8bVpiKMTLG

— SPARKS (@sparksofficial) June 25, 2021

Has there ever been one of these music documentaries where a celebrity/expert appears to say they DON'T like the artist? Closest I can think of is Mick Jagger in the Rodney Bingenheimer movie.

It's a mockumentary, but this reminds me of Paul Simon ("Did they influence you?" "No.") and Jagger ("...they were more of a Keith thing...") in The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash.

Read a rock bio by Canadian micro-celebrity Grant Lawrence, about his times as lead singer of the Smugglers and it truly seems like he didn't really like his own band and didn't think they were very good musically. It was depressing.

Metal docs are usually pretty good if you're looking for anti-good feeling. There's usually no shortage of commentators looking to pile in on Poison and the like.

I saw 2/3rds of the doc, which was fun, but the fact that I needed a break is kind of in line with why I've never been a big Sparks fan.

U fiend

lol. they're not bad, but a little bit goes a long way, and a lot of bit goes a bit too far.

Enjoyed it…does what a great music doc should do and makes you appreciate an act you’ve never fully connected with…also made me realise how traumatised I was by Ron Mael when I was a young kid,..still find it quite suffocating… yes it’s a bit long but liked how it gave each album due reverence which they deserved…funnily enough I really like the first song from ‘Annette’…has a ‘This town…’ energy about it…recommended

I really really enjoyed this, and I've never really been a Sparks fan; mainly because their catalogue is so vast and deep I just never really dove in aside from liking what amounted to their 'hits' (which was really just 'this town' and 'music that you can dance to'). I was expecting to find this exhausting based on Chaki's comments but I never did, these guys were just entirely too likable. It's impossible to come away from this doc with anything other than a deep appreciation for the two of them.

the former drummer breaking into tears was...something

I have since learned she was on ST:TNG.

now that it's on Netflix I finally got a chance to see it and I think it's great. sure it's a little cutesy and self-consciously whimsical but it's also very well made and I think Sparks themselves are a fascinating subject - as a few people mentioned they come off more like something cooked up for a movie than an actual band. even after watching it you don't really get any sense of what they're like as people. there's no tragedy in their lives, just albums that didn't sell and band members they had to part ways with. Jane Wiedlin mentioning she briefly dated Russell is all you get.

the problem with the documentary is that it's both too long and too short. the album-by-album approach is exhausting and cliché for such a creative and unique band but I am not sure how else you'd do it. there is something genuinely interesting about every album. they never became a zombie band and half their albums are a "new sound" record...in fact that's sort of the whole point of the documentary. but even paring it down to "just" 2 1/2 hours it feels like a lot is missing. in particular its strange that their influence on electronic music is covered extensively but not on glam rock or New Wave in general, since some of those 70s records felt seriously ahead of the curve. secondly there's almost no mention at all about their gear or songwriting style; Ron has such a unique melodic sense but there's no real attempt to get into what exactly it is he does so well. thirdly the doc is such a lovefest that there's almost no criticism of them at all, just some general ughs and "well that didn't work" which I think leaves out a major part of the story which is that they weren't always great; they lost their mojo many times and got it back. in fact I always found it interesting how their creative low point was during the 80's despite the fact that they seemed so tailor made for the MTV era of catchy synthpop. and a lot of it was because they adopted a more conventional and "state of the art" sound using modern keyboards which sound like total garbage. fourthly, Ron is a scrawny fucker ain't he? I had no idea he always looked so skeletal. fifthly...yeah, as mentioned, the drummer crying was really odd. she wasn't even with the band at the time!

even after watching it you don't really get any sense of what they're like as people.

A while back I was seriously thinking about a pitch to write what I hoped would be some kind of authorized biography of the band or at least something with their participation -- this was just planning stage stuff, hadn't spoken to anyone about it -- and then I read a new comment by Russell in some piece somewhere where he said that a book biography would never be in the cards for them, and that they had no interest. I took it as a sign and let the idea go; obviously you can write about them but you'll never get them involved beyond what they're choosing to share. For that reason alone I think the film is valuable; it really is as much as we'll get.

Ron is a scrawny fucker ain't he? I had no idea he always looked so skeletal.

I was surprised at seeing him as a not-so-skinny jock teenager.

fifthly...yeah, as mentioned, the drummer crying was really odd. she wasn't even with the band at the time!

She was supposed to star in the film they were trying to make, wasn't she?

they lost their mojo many times and got it back

The film is pretty clear about this without beating them up about it - it's more interested in how always doing something different next time sometimes pays off for them and sometimes doesn't. (Plus the fact that they haven't made a bad record since the '80s and have been solidly great for the past two decades means that there's not much to bemoan in the last hour!)

the drummer crying was really odd. she wasn't even with the band at the time!

Christi Hardon worked with them consistently through this period as one of the many lost projects that the film doesn't cover; Russell discovered her working the makeup counter of a department store, and they spent years trying to reboot the svengali side of their career (the previous instances also not covered in the film) with her as a front-woman. Haydon's stint as their "drummer" was basically them not having any other collaborators but wanting to present as a band on European TV appearances - note that she pretty much just played a couple of standing syndrums.

This interview with her is interesting.

ok that part I might have missed. the caption just says she was the Sparks drummer from 1994-1996. I guess it would have made sense that she met them through that film, since they don't say otherwise how she got involved with the group. still a weird moment because there's not really a range of emotion in the film. the Maels themselves don't say anything about it! and obviously very little of this stuff they were working on 24/7 for five years ever came out. though I imagine that's what a lot of the bonus tracks on the 3-disc Gratuitous Sax reissue are?

The film is pretty clear about this without beating them up about it - it's more interested in how always doing something different next time sometimes pays off for them and sometimes doesn't. (Plus the fact that they haven't made a bad record since the '80s and have been solidly great for the past two decades means that there's not much to bemoan in the last hour!)

right but it's kind of presented as a commercial thing, like "they were out of step with the times" or "it was too weird for their audience". they made some bad records. and in fact they seemed to come when they *weren't* trying anything new.

xxpost That interview is great.

The link in the interview leads to this interview with page 3 stunna Linda Lusardi, appears from it that Tsui Hark was going to direct 'Mai The Psychic Girl'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab2JoGRgFe4

Even now, their lives are so private there's nothing known about how they are when stood down. You just assume they live apart (being adults) but family is not even a mystery, there's nothing. Russell having dated Jane Wiedlin is as deep as it gets.

I assume Ned is on nodding terms w/them, so if he's had the red light then I guess nobody will.

they adopted a more conventional and "state of the art" sound using modern keyboards which sound like total garbage

like you say, this was trying something new for them! it just turned out that, as with “going rock” when punk was happening, it didn’t complement their own style, or Ron’s writing interests at the time.

(often, giving themselves genre or style boundaries pays off fantastically, as with the Moroder album, Li’l Beethoven’s repetition & faux-classical pretensions, Bergman leading to Annette, the one-off attempt at writing a song with Kapranos almost immediately turning into a whole band - so it’s more that these tries didn’t spark than that they aimed to sell out and fucked it up.)

I was surprised at seeing him as a not-so-skinny jock teenager.

That would be Russell, not Ron.

appears from it that Tsui Hark was going to direct 'Mai The Psychic Girl'

Yup, this was mentioned at the time -- liner notes for the early 1990s Profile 2 CD best-of on Rhino drew that connection, and is also why there's a later song featuring him on GS&SV called, of course, "Tsui Hark."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5cYZnKpEBE

I assume Ned is on nodding terms w/them, so if he's had the red light then I guess nobody will.

We've met at larger events briefly and they remember me from when I ran the online fan discussion list (when such things were novel) from the mid-90s into the 2000s; Russell at least lurked there in deep cover, and I've interviewed him briefly once or twice. I claim nothing more than that; however, their manager Sue, who was featured in the documentary, and I have chatted off and on more regularly. Again, my book idea was just a wild hair; I hadn't even gotten around to an initial note of inquiry to her before I read that Russell quote and quietly ditched it.

sic is generally OTM there in terms of what works/what doesn't for Sparks, and there really is no question the late 80s was a dry gulch for them. It's worth noting that the arc could have even gotten more exhaustive because they very much did release work pre-GS&SV in the 1990s; I specifically remember reading Simon Price's interview with them in late 1993 when this one-off single with Fini Tribe came out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Iz53uzlNls

Including that would have slightly undercut the lengthy lull period that the documentary was establishing...but in turn would have made a long film even longer!

There's two hours of extras via the Blu-ray, FWIW, and that's not even including the separate full-length concert!

Blimey, gonna have to plump for that one. Who knows, a certain UK TV pop quiz show appearance...

(then again, last I heard it was 'missing believed wiped')

The Rhino set is so good and I wish it was still in print instead of the inferior movie soundtrack

The liner notes alone! Amazing details.

This interview with her is interesting.🕸

The more distance I have from this doc... the more I hate it! Edgar Wright sux!

It rocks and I just saw One Night in Soho and that rocked too

*Last Night in Soho

one night in soho makes a dead girl humble

Felt blatantly not in depth about the Maels, outside of the beginning and a bit at the end, which ends up being frustrating. It was like watching a really great VH1 “Behind the Music” stretched out.

that feels deliberate. they don't really lead rock star kind of lives, they don't drink nor do drugs and by most accounts they're pretty nice people. their personal lives might not be all that interesting.

B-b-but Ron dated Edith Piaf - how could their personalizes not be interesting?!

Meantime it was a delight to be tagged in this post and to realize that years back I'd help make another fan:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CV1BpyaFoUq/

I knew v little about them going in (didnt even know they weren’t English)

i found the documentary illuminating in the sense of their perseverance and the full scope of their career. that aspect was quite incredible

but at the same time, the trainspotting-ness of the documentary also turned me off after a while. too precious? too knowing? too specific? idk. somehow i felt like the doc was trying to ~convince~ me to like them rather than illustrating more why they are loved. it felt like if a friend was playing me their albums & sitting next to me the whole time watching for any reaction. like “eh? pretty good huh?” which is very offputting in any setting lol

a few songs caught my attention, but by and large i find their music still sits at a distance, personally - i think mainly because the style is very removed from what i’m used to i guess? the dissonance & repetition & russell’s odd way of singing reminds me of a carnival funhouse

that's the way most music docs are though right? but yeah and it does get a little overbearing at the end. it's 2+ hours of "these guys are great" and then 10 more minutes of "in conclusion, they are great". they do entertain ideas of why people may not like them but it's kind of phrased as listeners being not ready or possibly homophobic. there's another possibility - Sparks can be really fucking annoying. most people I've played 'em for like them while a few others break out in hives. I mean, you're right, it's circus music.

the other thing about that is as a newcomer there's not really a lot of indication of what their good and bad albums are, it's all presented as "wow so clever!" like for me a huge part of their story is Li'l Beethoven and "Dick Around" and how they were arguably doing their best and most innovative work some 35 years on. they do mention that it's particularly good but its couched in the same language that's used to describe basically all their albums

speaking of, I wished they'd spent more time on that concert series where they played every single album in full. is there good footage of it? did some people actually go to every show? it's such a crazy endeavor for a band to embark on.

Somebody wrote a book about seeing every show, but the excerpt I read was more like "thoughts that occurred to me during the weeks I spent seeing the Sparks Spectacular".

THAT part of their story was a doc of its own. What a mammoth, crazy undertaking!

I think there were quite a few that watched every night online, so...

(Ned?)

A few years ago someone put together this 11-hour compilation video of most of the footage that could be found:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHXPajDSZ24

Pretty sure the vast majority of it is from livestreams that people captured at the time. The streams were pretty low quality, but I think this is the best we've got.

Somebody wrote a book about seeing every show, but the excerpt I read was more like "thoughts that occurred to me during the weeks I spent seeing the Sparks Spectacular".

Yeah, the whole book was like that. Can't recommend it.

how many animation interstitials were in this thing? and weren't there like 5 different styles? lol i remember claymation and like squiggle vision and a few more. anyway the number #1 sign of a lazy doc is animated interstitials.

the Cyriak video for "The Existential Threat" is kinda interesting in that regard since Sparks have used that same kind of style for their videos (and indeed, it's all over this) but obviously nowhere near as well nor as freaky as Cyriak does. that video has 5.5 million views and seems to have introduced yet another new group of young folks to the band. alas, it probably came out too late to be mentioned in the documentary

I think there were quite a few that watched every night online, so...

(Ned?)

Only missed one webcast!

whoa

Just finished. More so than anything else, this felt the movie version of a 120 page liner notes book from an exhaustive career-spanning box set.

I liked the animations.

I also just watched this and, unlike most career-spanning docs, I appreciate the time and detail Edgar put into the later years of material. I guess the whole point is that they've never stopped and remain vital, but most docs cut off when boomers or gen x'ers stopped caring and then just rush through from that point to the present in five minutes.

Also, Ron Mael is now my favorite person in the world.

I love that his daily driver is a Volkswagen Thing.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51IIpK70QiL._AC_.jpg

I'll see this sooner or later, but these descriptions sound terrible.

― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, June 24, 2021 8:02 PM (seven months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Seen it, am actually mostly satisfied.
Stylistically, there was such a variety of visual approaches and material, and the pace was kept fast enough, that things like the animation or the vintage B&W "commentary" inserts didn't bother me, it was just another 2 or 3 seconds until something else showed up. Also, it wasn't really an "exploration" of each of the albums, they're just signposts so you don't say, "wait, what decade are we in again"? Also, keeping the pace so fast allows for the very unusual sequence of the 1988 to 1995 era, where the pace is deliberately slowed down instead of sped up.
I think it was true to the "Sparks ethos" inasmuch as everything - Ron and Russell talking, performance footage, celebrity testimonials - was presented as if in quotes, like "here's the bit where we self-consciously echo the things you've seen in dozens of these documentaries".

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

― Halfway there but for you, Friday, June 25, 2021 4:28 PM (seven months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I think the only one that really gets critiqued this way is Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat? Even Interior Design (which I quite like) has someone saying something nice about it.

I’m not a big enough fan to read this thread to see if this is already covered, but the thing that struck me the most about the documentary is that the Sparks guys made it pretty clear that they were only willing to make a documentary if it went against traditional rock documentary standards and then went on to deliver a relatively conventional rock documentary.

I wonder if the fact that they were making Annette at around the same time made them less inclined to press that point - knowing that they were making their mark in a Proper Film, it might have been less important to have their rock doc be as odd as they themselves can be.

I think most Sparks fans will admit that not all their albums are good but yeah Pulling Rabbits seems to be the only one that's universally derided. Last year I decided to listen to all of Sparks' albums and it struck me that their songwriting was actually a lot more consistent than I'd remembered. The relative quality of the albums has more to do with the arrangements & production. That's why Kimono & Propaganda are universally regarded as classics, they had such a powerful glam/prog/power pop sound that just fills the room. Likewise No. 1 in Heaven still feels like it's from the future, it's so crisp and propulsive. And of course their modern albums all sound great & have intricate and full arrangements. On the other hand on their bad albums it's not just the songs, it's that they sound like garbage. Mostly those post-band 80s ones which either sound incredibly thin or have that stupidly loud reverb/choral effect on everything. Even Big Beat suffers from this, sounding like it was recorded in a shoebox.

But the songs themselves are generally salvageable. Check out the Plagiarism, particularly "Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat", which re-envisions the song as if it was written during the Li'l Beethoven sessions (though that album was still 5 years away!) - it's totally massive and honestly one of my favorites on the whole disc

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

Ooh, Sparks clock:

AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW: the exclusive 45th anniversary merch collection of the double album release of ‘No. 1 In Heaven’ & Sparks-produced ‘Is there more to life than dancing?’ by Noël. The double LP & CDs are available to order as well. ✨https://t.co/n0dS9eikhT pic.twitter.com/KOOdffZ9DC

— S P A R K S (@sparksofficial) April 22, 2024

$55 for two 5-inch-tall photo cut-outs of Ron and Russell to stand on your desk.

Sparks tax is a problem.

In case some of you Sparks aficionados haven’t seen it, the long lost video for Noel’s “Dancing is Dangerous.” Directed by Mickey Dolenz!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nmn_AQ6fE0-