SPARKS - the greatest UK glam/fey rockers ever!!

Buick6

too punk to drunk
That's right robot-lovers, throw away yr Scissor (we're gay so like us) Sisters, The Darkness (we're yobbos pretending we're gay so like us more!), Suede and Franz Ferdinand records and discover this way, way way way way UNDER-RATED UK neo-glam acts from the 70s and 80s - yep the one with the guy who had that sorta Hitler moustache - SPARKS!

KIMONO IN MY HOUSE and PROPOGANDA are both to FABULOUS , fantastically played and arranged modernist-glam/hard rock records with a touch of the Beach Boys and Oscar wilde hyper-witticisms to boot, and fey enough to keep the gay-parade satisfied and away from those rubbishy group-think Village-Voice throwaway 'clevva' indie 'concept' bands like Animal Collective, Polyphony Spree etc,etc,etc..! Sparks remind initially of early QUEEN, but if Queen stuck to an almost prog- song-structure intricacy, and have enough flat out rockism agro to keep the other side of the fence happy too.

Classic Pommy rock, pure and simple!!
 

notoriousJ.I.M

Well-known member
Buick6 said:
Classic Pommy rock, pure and simple!!

The Mael brothers are American Buick, but they had that glam sound pinned down early on like Roxy Music and Bowie. I really like the album Georgio Moroder produced in 79 No.1 In Heaven when they started going in a more electronic direction. Ron had a deal with Roland for using their synths and they adapted the logo to say Ronald!

sparks1.jpg
 

dannyDMX

Member
fans of those early/mid 70s sparks records should check out the first 2 Deaf School records, a continuation of the neo-cabaret Roxy art-school glam with not a few Sparks-worthwhile moments from under-appreciated songwriter Clive Langer.
 

michael

Bring out the vacuum
Buick, maybe it's worth making one topic that doesn't have some "people only like them cos they're fags" dig in it.

The only Sparks I've heard is a mid-80s album called something like 'Music To Dance To', which was awful. I'd like to hear more though, because a lot of people talk them up.
 

Buick6

too punk to drunk
They're NOT Pommy! Damn I lied, & I HATE THEM NOW!! BLOODY IMPERIALIST CAPITALIST DOMINEERING CULTURE DESTROYING "SEPTIC" MOFOS!!

OK NO IDENTITY DIGS, THE WAY IT SHOULD BE (but it aint so fuck you!)

".....CLASSIC ROCK PURE AND SIMPLE!!..." ;)
 
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dannyDMX

Member
michael said:
Buick, maybe it's worth making one topic that doesn't have some "people only like them cos they're fags" dig in it.

The only Sparks I've heard is a mid-80s album called something like 'Music To Dance To', which was awful. I'd like to hear more though, because a lot of people talk them up.

first they were heavy art-rock man, then they were smart bubble-gum glam, then they were futuristic italian space disco, then they invented New Wave, then they were a silly pop band, then they were kind of a funnier pet shop boys, then they put out a weird art record that's funny and strange. They've had a long, prolific and varied career that should not be judged by one of their weaker albums from a weaker phase (though I love the song...)

start with Kimono My House.
 

Buick6

too punk to drunk
They deserve more credit than they're given. And especially in innerlectyul post-modern body-without-organs-via-Lacanian-robot-fucker chin-scratching circles, they definitely deserve a look in, ESPECIALLY RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW with all this crapful 80's tra-la- joy-joy-happy retro fashion goin' down.

It even surprises why no techno DJs haven't retreaded them yet, let alone play 'when I'm with you' in da clubs.
 
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john eden

male pale and stale
Yeah I think a few people have played Sparks in their more eclectic moments - I have a vague memory of the Chemical Brothers doing it, for example.
 

henry s

Street Fighting Man
Sparks even had their great Hollywood moment, playing themselves (of course), as the featured band at an amusement park during the dedication of the world's fastest rollercoaster (that a mad bomber had his eyes on), in the 70's flick "Rollercoaster"...(one of three films that used Sensurround)...they played two songs, one of which was "Big Boy" (I forget the other), then Ron Mael smashed his piano...(Ron was the silent one, right?)
 

Tyro

The Kandy Tangerine Man
john eden said:
Yeah I think a few people have played Sparks in their more eclectic moments - I have a vague memory of the Chemical Brothers doing it, for example.

DJ Hell has spun either ''Beat The Clock'',''The Number One Song In Heaven'' or possibly both.I regard then as the greatest pop group of all time and it's wonderful to hear people showing them so much love.

A lot of people think that they are from the UK as English/European culture had such an influence on them and that was where they were based and recorded .They released a couple of unsuccessful LP's in the US in 1971/72 on Bearsville Records.Fans should check these out as it proves that they had their sound pretty much nailed before they reached the UK.

''I'm the London that is dead,I'm the boy in your bed
Sure you've seen me before,no doubt you'll see me some more
I'm the girl in your head but the boy in your bed
I'm the trashman's valet,the words that you say
You've seen me before,you'll see me much more
I'm as big as can be,as big as TV''

Sparks ''Beaver O'Lindy'' 1972
 

PeteUM

It's all grist
I don't think you'd have to visit too many indie clubs in the UK before hearing a bit of Sparks.

I'm sure I've heard some friend of a friend story where the friend of the friend gets on the plane and finds himself sat next to Ron Mael. What do you say to Ron Mael?
 

Leo

Well-known member
reminds me that siouxsie and the banshees did a version of "this town ain't big enough for both of us" on their covers album way back when.
 

dannyDMX

Member
Buick6 said:
It even surprises why no techno DJs haven't retreaded them yet, let alone play 'when I'm with you' in da clubs.


Likewise in NYC, Sparks get played all the time. Beat the Clock was the record to play, other tracks from No. 1 Song in Heaven, esp No. 1 Song in Heaven get plenty of play, and I've been known to play When I'm With You and Eaten by the Monster of Love.
 

PeteUM

It's all grist
I was born a little premature
Mom just couldn't take no more
Had no time to learn to cry
Goodbye, Mama, got to fly
Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye

Entered school when I was two
PhD'd that afternoon
Never entered any sports
Didn't look too good in shorts
Got divorced when I was four

CHORUS
I've seen everything there is
I've done everything there is
I've met everyone but Liz
Now I've even met ol' Liz
No time for relationship
Skip the foreplay, let 'er rip
You gotta beat the clock, beat the clock,
Beat the clock, beat the clock

I did lots of travelling
Parts of me unraveling
The Army then rejected me
Said I had two flat feet
Wore them out when I was three

Too bad there ain't ten of you
Then I'd show you what I'd do
I could cheat on five of you
And be faithful to you too
But there's only one of you

CHORUS
 

Ness Rowlah

Norwegian Wood
Deaf School - seconded.
"Kimono My House" is excellent, but that "Number One Song In Heaven" I
just find annoying.

Easy to be mistaken Buick, like so many other leftfield US acts they
found success in the UK first.
The early Split Enz albums also fits nicely with these slightly outlandish bands, as does parts of Sailor's output.
And quite a few other acts.
Do read Terry Sharkie's 1997 piece on what he brands "Zolo Music" -
http://chalkhills.org/articles/Zolo97.html
Surreal tales of frolic and whimsy script the bright beyond mortal assimilation of the boingy guitars, wobbly keyboards, polka dot percussions, hiccupping falsettos, jerky / staccato beats, and lopsided rhythms.

Zolo music, an aural expression of the abstract, asymmetric, multi-coloured imagery with which it accompanies, has existed in scattered forms for many years prior to it being codified in name.
 
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