Sparks - C ou D

Great, witty, camp as tits wry pop from a band who have made some of the finest records ever made. There's a cheap 'best of' available including all their greatest hits and misses - essential purchase before you go to the gig.

Sparks - C ou D

yup.

classic, btw

Sparks - C ou D

Kimono My House, Propoganda and Indiscreet all have great songs on them mostly by Ron Mael and all have some lemons too (eg pineapple, a song by Russell)

There's a brilliant Sparks Best Of available from Fopp for about £3 or £5 - well worth checking out. Unremixed, too.

Actually full rerecordings rather than remixes, to be pedantic.

(Ron Mael)

See, the writing's on the wall
You bought the girl a wall
Complete with matching ball-point pen
You can breathe another day
Secure in knowing she won't break you (yet)

Something for the girl with everything
Have another sweet my dear
Don't try to talk my dear
Your tiny little mouth is full
Here's a flavour you ain't tried
You shouldn't try to talk, your mouth is full

Something for the girl with everything
Three wise men are here
Three wise men are here
Bearing gifts to aid amnesia
She knows everything
She knows everything
She knew you way back when you weren't yourself

Here's a really pretty car
I hope it takes you far
I hope it takes you fast and far
Wow, the engine's really loud
Nobody's gonna hear a thing you say

Something for the girl with everything
Three wise men are here
Three wise men are here
Where should they leave these imported gimmicks
Leave them anywhere
Anywhere
Make sure that there's a clear path to the door

Something for the girl with everything
Something for the girl with everything
Something for the girl with everything
Something for the girl with everything
Three wise men are here
Three wise men are here
Three wise men are here
Three wise men are here

Here's a partridge in a tree,
A gardener for the tree
Complete with ornithologist
Careful, careful with that crate
You wouldn't want to dent Sinatra, no

Something for the girl who has got everything,
Yes everything
Hey, come out and say hello
Before our friends all go
But say no more than just hello
Ah, the little girl is shy
You see of late she's been quite speechless, very speechless
She's got everything

what's the latest album like ?

and why all those changes of style and demograph ? what of their large later (and earlier) less celabrated back catalog ? ie not glib search/destroy (yes or no or try this) answers, more _why_ ? how ? huh ?

(and how about photos from their earlier careers as clidd underwear models)

they're one of those outfits with their own quite different career mythology -- less groupies and drugs, probably very interesting in other ways

I wish someone would remix "Monster of Love" and crank the drums.

Bought this for three quid in HMV - they've got loads, snap 'em up, kids!

Can't intellectualise the already weightily, flouncily intellectual - just buy the above or Kimono My House, c'mon, it's only just more than a pint. Worth it for "Beat The Clock" and the other Moroder collabs alone.

I love "Pineapple" btw.

and JS are opening for Sparks in Central Park this summer!

Re the question: I like some of their songs, but not that many. When they're on, they're a breed apart, but I certainly can't listen to a side all the way through.

"Nicotina"

Not every cigarette is a dead, dead thing
Some have a mind and try to be other things
Pushed in the pack, they crave some Virginia air
Softly, they pray to someone, but life ain't fair

They're born to lose
They're born to fill
The lungs of Jack
The lungs of Jill
And like I said
Life just isn't fair

Nicotina, Nicotina, Nicotina is her name

Once in a while a cigarette has a name
N-I-C-O-T-I-N-A, that's her name
She had a tiny voice, and she sang all day
She was a cigarette, but she loved to play

Nicotina, Nicotina, Nicotina is her name

A man with a cough
Stepped to the machine
Dropped coins in the slot
The end of a dream

He ripped the pack and coughed, and then coughed again
Popped out a cigarette, and we're near the end
She screamed and screamed but so much was filtered out
Now Nicotina's only a tiny cloud

Nicotina's gone, but life goes on though
Nicotina's gone, but life goes on though
Nicotina's gone, but life goes on and on and on and on and on
Nicotina, Nicotina, Nicotina was her name

An acquaintance, Michelle who helps run Marc Almond's website, has a slew of enjoyable photos from the recent London show up here:

http://www.beyondthedarkroom.co.uk/

Click on 'Stage' and then follow the links.

I say the early 80s version of Whassup and he scretches his chin, tells me in his late thirties, and he's worried that he isn't married yet. "Am I weird or something?" he asks.

I was happy to let Sean in SF know about their show tonight via chat -- he got all excited because he didn't know about that beforehand, and is at the venue now! Hope he has a good time.

A fine disc, that, as you can see here.

and if not, b) am th only one who thinks there is no such person as Noel and the song is just Russell singing in a low voice then sped up? Even the picture of "noel" on the label is questionable...I swear it could be Russell!

Also, 'We Are The Clash'. That's quite good too. I swear this band can never step a foot wrong.

Small glitch, though!

“Actually, the last time we played the Greek, the opening act was the Red Hot Chili Peppers,” Ron Mael notes. “So, they owe us a favor to come back and support us on this one.”

That was the early 80s and all -- but they did play the Greek about twenty years back opening for the Go-Gos, IIRC. (Had to miss that show, sadly.)

Anyway there's also some new X Crucior talk in the interview so I've started a thread on ILE:

X Crucior: John Woo directs a new Sparks musical

Another new one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z9Bc4heH2I

And one last new one before Friday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krfBB4GWIl8

The new songs I’ve heard have been…okay. But it’s still great to have them around and my wife and I have tickets for the Washington leg of the tour.

its probably good that they're stripping back their sound a bit. I thought Latte was great but it is pretty cluttered.
this on the other hand sounds like something that could've been on Indiscreet. looking forward to the full album.

This is my favorite of the pre-release singles, but the competition isn't exactly stiff. Latte had a really great run of non-singles in the middle of the album, though, and I have a feeling this one's gonna follow a similar pattern.

yea I actually thought the non-single tracks on that one were better than the singles. I have started to really love "Veronica Lake" though, in part knowing the story behind it...who else would write a song about that?

(if you don't know...Veronica Lake was a big movie star in the 1940s who became particularly famous for her unique hairstyle, which inspired stuff like Jessica Rabbit...a lot of women imitated her, but their hair kept getting stuck in sewing machines, which was a problem since a lot of them were making uniforms for WW2, leading the government to personally ask Lake to cut her hair, which arguably ruined her career...a perfect subject for a Sparks song if I've ever heard one)

This one's my favourite of the new songs. Although I somehow managed to get two copies of the video playing at the same time, spaced a few seconds apart, and it took me a while before I realised what was happening.

new album makes a lot of odd choices. especially production wise. but I like its stripped back approach. even the lyrics are a lot less dense than usual. its like the weirdness of their last album combined with In Outer Space. with uh...some power electronics here and there.

This album is difficult to say the least. This drum programming is not great.

drowned in a sea of tears is an earworm

If you have an hour and a half:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WooiooYp7Ow

well it took 20 years but I asked Justin Strauss if Noel was just Russell pitched up and he said no, she's real.

Never crossed my mind! I think Noel has a couple other entries in Discogs.com

Anyway the new album is a grower.

their first #1! okay, only #2 overall to Sabrina Carpenter due to streaming, but it's #1 on all the UK physical album sales charts. first time they've ever done it. probably the only band ever to do that on their 28th album

the new one is actually the opposite of a grower

A shower?

It gets worse every time you listen to it?

yes it's maybe their first absolutely terrible album

Surely that is Balls (or Hello Young Lovers)

hold up Hello Young Lovers is one of their best

A question for a Sparks ballot poll, if it ever happens. There are eight I haven't heard but I'd suggest Music That You Can Dance To.

Russell's voice sounding a little fragile with age for the first time on the samples of Mad!.

Hello Young Lovers sounds like bad CGI, an absolute nightmare

imo Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat is the only one that's absolutely terrible, maybe Interior Design but a few songs save it. Balls isn't great but it's got good energy I think, it's just not dated well at all. it was really fun seeing them play the title track to a crowd who I think mostly hadn't heard it before.

this new album is...fine. so far. I think a lot of the songs are catchy and it's quite weird for a band that's been around for this long. dunno how I feel about the production/recording, not to be that guy but the album comes off different on vinyl than on Spotify

holy shit it is nowhere near the worst of their discography, and anywahy after an intensive listening of their oevre in consecutive order there is nothing that is totally worthless, but maybe Terminal Jive.

And I just reminded mhyself that Terminal Jive has "When I'm With You", which slaps. BTW Music That You Can Dance to is nowhere near as bad as people say.

Terminal Jive is largely brilliant, that instrumental version of When I'm With You seems to beat it with a stick but it's decent although obviously retread of the previous album. Hello Young Lovers sounds like The Lawnmower Man spewing a 90s CGI pelvis bone up for an hour

Unpopular opnion: My Baby's Taking Me Home is an excruciating waste of time but useful for pee breaks. Handy, as they genuinely believe it's an important song

I love Sparks btw

Balls was a great album imo, the best thing they'd done since Angst In My Pants

I actually like Gratuitous Sax a lot, what turned it around was realizing that they weren't exactly trying to ape Very by Pet Shop Boys as much as they were predicting stuff like Aqua :)

"Introducing Sparks" had terrible reviews, but when Spotify first started I made a point of hearing it there.

Nothing wrong with it.

that one is just boring after years of rockin' - it just don't rock.

Best version of Introducing I ever heard was the live set from their 21 by 21 series. Even with just a basic one-camera webstream setup, that was how it should have always sounded.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E7HuqNkbgY

Oh those are on YouTube now?!

that long convo with Rob Brydon is good - John Woo is directing their next musical holy shit

Heck yes. Thread over here:

X Crucior: John Woo directs a new Sparks musical

No huge surprises in his choices but his enthusiasm is super charming. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sJ0pu5MOCU

hell yeah on the last 3

Forever grateful to Ron and Russell for turning me on to John Adams many years ago via some magazine article

xps I can't imagine calling the new album their worst, especially when Interior Design and Terminal Jive exist, but I'd probably rank it somewhere in the bottom third of their catalog. It does remind me a little of those two albums, but also some better ones, like Introducing and Balls (which are closer to Mad!, quality-wise), mainly in that there's more of a directness in the lyrics than they usually allow themselves.

One thing these albums have in common is that each of them preceded a radical change in style and an artistic peak. Probably not much chance that'll happen at this point in their career, with this album being so well received, but...it'd be cool if it did.

feel like the hit rate is a lot higher on this one than Interior Design or Terminal Jive

Balls is maybe a good comparison. I've actually always thought that album was underrated though, a bit behind the times perhaps but most of the songs are good

Yup, I think Balls is a fine album, and it's super impressive that they've spent most of the last 20+ years making albums that are better than it, only now getting back down to around that level.

Balls is pretty good, yeah

The Balls-era shows in LA were good fun, I gotta say.

One thing these albums have in common is that each of them preceded a radical change in style and an artistic peak. Probably not much chance that'll happen at this point in their career, with this album being so well received, but...it'd be cool if it did.

Hey, the next album could well be X Crucior. Don't rule it out!

Oh, true!

Last night was another fine treat from them -- I was especially pleasantly surprised at the number of songs throughout their career they played that I've never seen them do before. That's always a plus!

Yeah the depth of their catalog is a wonderful thing. Saw them in Washington earlier this month.