Sparks' new album: Exotic Creatures of the Deep

Album title of the year.

Lighten Up, Morrissey

I don't know if this can possibly live up to my expectations.

Anything is possible.

Afer all, it's Sparks!

Haha, that's the best song title I've heard in ages.

songtitles are so great they kind of don't even need to bother to write the songs

awesome

My favorite title might actually be number six.

i loled at that one

Is it going to be released on In the Red? What'd you guys think of the last album?

sounds like comedy album song titles.

Do I see a Gowan cover?

An explicatory note that's going around:

Sparks have refuted speculation that a new song
attacks Morrissey.

Lighten Up, Morrissey is actually about a man who is
unlucky in love, because his girlfriend doesn't think
he'll ever match up to Moz.

Sparks' manager Sue Harris told PS: "It's a tribute to
Morrissey. The Maels are big admirers of Morrissey -
he's been a Sparks fan for years, and the feeling is
mutual. "

New jam:

http://download.yousendit.com/F29666D22B0852AB

:( I have missed it, can someone reupload this please ?

Hmmm, try this:

http://rapidshare.com/files/104341127/Sparks_-_Good_Morning.mp3.html

Rumor has it Janice Long will be playing "Lighten Up, Morrissey" on her show tonight.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/long/

Lyrics to said song (which was in fact played):

She won't go out with me
No, she won't go out with me
'Cos my intellect's paper thin

She won't go out with me
No, she won't go out
Since my intellect's not like him

So lighten up, Morrissey

She won't hang out with me
No, she won't hang out
'Til my biting wit bites like his

She won't hang out with me
No, she won't hang out
'Til my quick retorts quick as his

So lighten up, Morrissey
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, Morrissey
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, Morrissey

She won't have sex with me
No, she won't have sex
Unless it's done with a pseudonym

She won't do sport with me
No, she won't do sport
'Cos it's way, way too masculine, look at him

So lighten up, Morrissey
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, Morrissey
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, Morrissey

I got comparisons coming out my ears
And she never can hit the pause
If only Morrissey weren't so Morrissey-esque
She might overlook my flaws

Lighten up, Morrissey
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, Morrissey
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, Morrissey
Lighten up, lighten up
Morrissey

She won't dine out with me
No, she won't dine out
Since my t-bone steak is at fault

She won't dine out with me
No, she won't dine out
With a murderer passing salt

Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, Morrissey
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, lighten up
Lighten up, Morrissey

wow.

Thanks a lot, Vaguely

Just reading the lyrics made me laught out loud, now I wanna hear the song!

BIG NEWS! From me.

Please check out the new issue of Arthur, which has as the cover as you can see...

http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/a29cover.jpg

And! That 20 album discography mentioned on the cover? I'm the author.

Please go here to download the PDFs and/or order copies.

Wonderful reading, thanks Ned.

Yer welcome!

Sorry for the other thread, I really tried to find a thread for this album, but I haven't found anything. Anyway, did anyone managed to hear it? The two songs I've heard are fantastic.

Am waiting with anticipation for it. Right now I'm just gorging myself on the broadcasts of the concert series.

I have it. it is wonderful.

although I say that as a total sparks neophyte.

So now that it's widely leaked, what do you guys think? I'm going through for the first time now but I like the studio version of "Good Morning" much better than the live version I heard earlier.

I think it's great, there are some tiring tracks however in the second part of the album, but overall it's a masterpiece again.

Live debut of the whole album happening right now. Whole concert series has been something and a half.

I was there! Not that I'm a huge fan or anything but I've generally liked what I've heard and it's something of an event and tickets were available only two days ago so I thought why not. I'll let someone else enthuse about the show, all I will say is the end of the album part of the set was quite moving, with all 21 albums appearing one by one on the rear projection screen, Ron symbolically setting fire to them, and Russell and the band accompanying with an eight-bar repeating vocal harmony. Oh and in the second set they included "Dick Around", which was fantastic.

The first time that I heard Exotic Creatures Of The Deep I was truly mesmerised. Sparks have pulled it off again; this is probably their most accomplished album to date. An outstanding effort!

LA date announced for Valentine's Day:

Sparks

ON SALE FRIDAY, NOV 14!

Fresh from their monumental London live performance of all 21 of their albums in 21 nights, Sparks return to Los Angeles to perform two landmark albums in their entirety--- their most recent 'Exotic Creatures Of The Deep' and the 70's sensation 'Kimono My House', to be followed by a selection of assorted Sparks favorites.

fuck ucla students

I know this is sorta off-topic, but I randomly managed to stumble across the 12" version of "Beat The Clock" and it was utterly perfectly fantastic for the gym yesterday.

Yay tomorrow! I know people flying in from Seattle for this show...also, they're doing a two night stand in London later in March, one show like this one and another with Exotic and Number One in Heaven (which I'd actually love to see more than Kimono but hey).

Bookworm interview from yesterday. Apparently they're Michael Silverblatt's favorite band, and he obviously "gets" their music way more than the average interviewer.

Very cool, listening now.

this album is really great!

ned, i never really investigated sparks outside of the classic 70s stuff like kimono and indiscreet and etc (stuff when they still had cool album covers i guess)

but seems like they are still on form...what other later stuff is worth it?

The other two 00's albums, Li'l Beethoven and Hello Young Lovers were both really good. In particular the first and last track on Hello are two of the best things they ever did. As for the 80's/90's stuff, I don't think it's too bad a generalization to say that you don't really need any of it, though there are a lot of great assorted tracks. I like Whomp that Sucker quite a bit but I think that's when they really settled into their role as obnoxious pop guys. Later albums like Pulling Rabbits out of a Hat and Interior Design are just no fun at all. But definitely get their other recent albums!

cool thx frogbs

i guess i was just checking this out of morbid curiosity but exotic creatures so far is all killer sparks stuff, modernized but it feels a part of the older albums that i like

Angst in My Pants is from 1982 but is one of their best; don't miss out on it.

I was about to say, I gotta disagree with frogbs here. There certainly ARE subpar Sparks albums but dismissing the whole reach of two decades = no, and no again. But if you want my full breakdown:

http://www.arthurmag.com/2011/03/12/at-home-at-work-at-play-a-listener%E2%80%99s-guide-to-sparks%E2%80%99-first-20-albums-by-ned-raggett-arthur-no-29may-2008/

Also agreed that Angst is one of the hands-down best from the time -- and their career, really. A lot of what's on there could have easily worked in an earlier/later context like "Sherlock Holmes" and "Nicotina."

I also have a Sparks page, here : http://listology.com/jamool/story/sparks

probably needs a rewrite but I still stand by that - Angst and Whomp are certainly good albums but I wouldn't approach them unless you're a fan already. both of them are kinda patchy and the later stuff is watered down, like Diet Sparks. which means that if you like Sparks Classic you'll probably find something to dig on them but I can't really recommend any of it.

listening to Hello Young Lovers, this is great too (their 2nd most recent album i think?) anyway they seem to be making pretty amazingly great albums for a band that's been around for so long

Just finished reading your article, Ned - good stuff even though I disagree with some of it (in particular, I like Big Beat quite a bit, it's like Sparks doing a Cars album). I want to give another listen to Exotic Creatures b/c I just played Hello Young Lovers again and was surprised how great it sounds - I confess I never really listened to it much as an album because there were 4 tracks that I'd just play over and over, but the whole thing really is great. Outside of Kimono I think it's their best album!