Some time back in either late 1982 or early 1983,I was introduced to the this strange little group called Sparks. I think it may have been after seeing their video for "I Predict" off of their 'Angst In My Pants' album or else I caught them as the music guest on 'Saturday Night Live'. Either way they made quite a unique first impression both musically and visually. The lead singer Russell Mael sang in a fruity sort of quasi-operatic falsetto and sported a spangled jacket, a floppy curly-haired fringe haircut and pin-up good looks. The keyboard player,Ron Mael, on the other hand, had what can best be described as a Hitler mustache (or maybe Charlie Chaplin), clothes that looked like a middle-aged man of the time on a fishing trip (polyester pants and dopey hat), and a look of perpetual consternation on his unsmiling face. "Who are these guys?", I wondered. 'Angst In My Pants' became my next purchase (on cassette!) and I was ushered into the odd-ball, art-pop world of the Mael Brothers.
Little did I know at the time, but the brothers Ron and Russell had been at this for quite a long time before I stumbled upon them. They were Los Angeles natives who spent their teenage years in the sixties as models for mail-order catalogs(mail, male, Mael?) They formed their first band, Halfnelson, as students at UCLA in 1970. They recorded their first album in 1971, a self-titled affair produced by Todd Rundgren for the Bearsville label. Soon after they changed their name to Sparks, and the first album under the new moniker appeared in 1972, titled "A Woofer In Tweeter's Clothing".
The band's style was a unique concoction of keyboard-based songs (mostly written by Ron Mael) with a tough rock backing and Russell swooping vocals laid on top. They were odd, often bizarre tunes with a very skewed world view and much off-beat humour. Art Pop is the label most often thrown at them, though the band itself has gone through three distinct musical phases, all the while remaining unmistakably them.
Phase one took them through the glam rock years and it was during this period that they became big stars in England, a country they subsequently moved to for a few years. They went to number two with their song "This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us" in 1974, a track off their classic album 'Kimono My House'. They had similar success for the next year or so, where the Brothers style, mixed with the almost Spiders From Mars-ish rock band backing made them fit in well with the times.
After a couple of flop albums, the brothers changed labels, band members and direction, as they enlisted famed disco producer Giorgio Moroder to helm their 1979 come-back album, 'No.1 Song In Heaven'. This album not only spawned a pair of UK hits, but also was highly influential for the emerging techno pop movement of the early to mid-eighties. The pair used this template for roughly the next 20 years, fusing Ron's synth-based backing to such lyrical oddities as "Tryouts For The Human Race", "SexTown USA","All You Ever Think About Is Sex", "When Do I Get To Sing My Way", "I Thought I Told You To Wait In The Car", "How To Get Your Ass Kicked" and the song they are probably the most famous for here in the U.S., 1983's duet with Jane Weidlin of the Go-Go's, "Cool Places",which reached the lofty heights of number 49.
By the turn of the 21st century, Sparks sensed it was time to move in a totally new direction. Considering how patchy many of their albums were from the mid-80's on, it was probably not a moment too soon. Since 2002's "Lil Beethoven" album, the Mael brothers have now adopted a style of elaborately layered keyboards (though more actual piano than ever before), string sections and vocals ,and almost no drums. Ron Mael is now creating quasi-classical compositions of great complexity and detail. Though different in approach, these are still Sparks tunes and new song titles such as "Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girls", "I Married Myself", "Dick Around' and "The Director Never Yelled 'Cut' " let you know that their tongue remains firmly in cheek.
Sparks are definitely an acquired taste. In fact, they are most likely to inspire a very negative reaction in most. I am not sure there is a middle ground in ones opinion of them and I can totally understand when their music makes many people lunge for the stereo in an effort to turn it down or off. They are the epitome of a cult band and I'm sure their international following, especially in England, France and Japan, wouldn't have it any other way.
Which brings us to this special Valentine's Day performance at Royce Hall , which is a snazzy performing arts building on the UCLA campus that is modeled on a famous basilica in Milan. The all-seated venue seems more appropriate for a visiting orchestra or dance troupe than a weirdo pop band, but here we are. Though they still live in the Los Angeles area, Sparks rarely play the states and the fact they are doing a special show in which they are performing their new album 'Exotic Creatures of the Deep' and their classic 'Kimono My House' in their entirety has made this a special event. The show was sold out (1800 seat capacity) and the crowd seemed like a West Coast Sparks convention, such was their enthusiasm. I overheard people saying they had come from as far as Arizona, New York , and even Japan for the show.
It turns out to be a fantastic show. Sparks did the new album in its entirety, took an intermission break and came back out and did 'Kimono My House', then reemerged again for an 8 song encore that included "Propaganda", "At Home, At Work, At Play", "No. 1 Song in Heaven","BC", "Mickey Mouse", "Dick Around" , "When Do I Get To Sing My Way" and "Suburban Homeboy".
The staging for 'Exotics Creatures' was amazing. There were giant gilded picture or mirror frames suspended in the air towards the back of the stage. The backing band, which included Steve McDonald of Redd Kross, played behind and in-between the frames,so as to appear to be giant portraits come to life. There was a massive video screen in the middle of them, also with a giant picture frame around it. Films and graphics were displayed on it, timed to go with whatever song was being played. The Mael brothers played on front, center stage: Russell flouncing around and Ron mostly sitting at his keyboard and making his usual weird faces that look like a combination of irritability and consternation.
On a few songs Ron was interacting with the footage on screen. For instance, on "Let the Monkey Drive", Ron called an animated monkey out to play an animated piano. The most clever bit was when Ron appeared to be playing a piano on the video screen (which was made to look like a desk top computer screen with application icons running down the one side) during "Photoshop (Me Out of Your Life)", in an update of the classic Daffy Duck cartoon, the piano kept changing size, color, position, number of pianos, as Ron frantically pretended to keep trying to play the song. Brilliant piece of theater. Another bit came at the end of the "Kimono" performance when each album cover would be displayed on the screen and Ron would light a real lighter at the bottom of the screen and it appeared the album was engulfed in flames. They did this for each and every one of the albums, which gave the audience a chance to applaud their favorites; I was particularly boisterous for my first Sparks album, "Angst In My Pants". When the new albums was "burnt up", Ron tossed the lighter over his shoulder and and walked off the stage as the band concluded 'Equator' and the album.
Ron and Russell appeared as they have in the photos for the last couple of albums. Russell has some dyed floppy fringe cut and Ron has perfected his crotchety old-man-next-door look, complete with those round horn rimmed glasses that George Burns once favored.
No sign of huge Sparks fan, Morrissey, but they did perform the song "Lighten Up,Morrissey" (which if you listen to the lyrics is not really a dig at him, but a plea to him to not be so appealing to the singer's love interest) and introduced it my saying it was about "a good buddy of ours". They even sold t-shirts with that song title emblazoned on the front. I am certain that Moz was there someplace that night: he has been in town recently to launch his new album.
Again, it was a great show. I went in uncertain about the two albums in their entirety format and wished it was more a standard show, but I was pleasantly surprised how I enjoyed it all. I don't see any gigs scheduled in the U.S. on their web site; looks like London (including an appearance on the Jonathan Ross show) and Tokyo next. I'm glad I was able to finally see this most elusive of old favorites live. See them if you get a chance
Little did I know at the time, but the brothers Ron and Russell had been at this for quite a long time before I stumbled upon them. They were Los Angeles natives who spent their teenage years in the sixties as models for mail-order catalogs(mail, male, Mael?) They formed their first band, Halfnelson, as students at UCLA in 1970. They recorded their first album in 1971, a self-titled affair produced by Todd Rundgren for the Bearsville label. Soon after they changed their name to Sparks, and the first album under the new moniker appeared in 1972, titled "A Woofer In Tweeter's Clothing".
The band's style was a unique concoction of keyboard-based songs (mostly written by Ron Mael) with a tough rock backing and Russell swooping vocals laid on top. They were odd, often bizarre tunes with a very skewed world view and much off-beat humour. Art Pop is the label most often thrown at them, though the band itself has gone through three distinct musical phases, all the while remaining unmistakably them.
Phase one took them through the glam rock years and it was during this period that they became big stars in England, a country they subsequently moved to for a few years. They went to number two with their song "This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us" in 1974, a track off their classic album 'Kimono My House'. They had similar success for the next year or so, where the Brothers style, mixed with the almost Spiders From Mars-ish rock band backing made them fit in well with the times.
After a couple of flop albums, the brothers changed labels, band members and direction, as they enlisted famed disco producer Giorgio Moroder to helm their 1979 come-back album, 'No.1 Song In Heaven'. This album not only spawned a pair of UK hits, but also was highly influential for the emerging techno pop movement of the early to mid-eighties. The pair used this template for roughly the next 20 years, fusing Ron's synth-based backing to such lyrical oddities as "Tryouts For The Human Race", "SexTown USA","All You Ever Think About Is Sex", "When Do I Get To Sing My Way", "I Thought I Told You To Wait In The Car", "How To Get Your Ass Kicked" and the song they are probably the most famous for here in the U.S., 1983's duet with Jane Weidlin of the Go-Go's, "Cool Places",which reached the lofty heights of number 49.
By the turn of the 21st century, Sparks sensed it was time to move in a totally new direction. Considering how patchy many of their albums were from the mid-80's on, it was probably not a moment too soon. Since 2002's "Lil Beethoven" album, the Mael brothers have now adopted a style of elaborately layered keyboards (though more actual piano than ever before), string sections and vocals ,and almost no drums. Ron Mael is now creating quasi-classical compositions of great complexity and detail. Though different in approach, these are still Sparks tunes and new song titles such as "Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girls", "I Married Myself", "Dick Around' and "The Director Never Yelled 'Cut' " let you know that their tongue remains firmly in cheek.
Sparks are definitely an acquired taste. In fact, they are most likely to inspire a very negative reaction in most. I am not sure there is a middle ground in ones opinion of them and I can totally understand when their music makes many people lunge for the stereo in an effort to turn it down or off. They are the epitome of a cult band and I'm sure their international following, especially in England, France and Japan, wouldn't have it any other way.
Which brings us to this special Valentine's Day performance at Royce Hall , which is a snazzy performing arts building on the UCLA campus that is modeled on a famous basilica in Milan. The all-seated venue seems more appropriate for a visiting orchestra or dance troupe than a weirdo pop band, but here we are. Though they still live in the Los Angeles area, Sparks rarely play the states and the fact they are doing a special show in which they are performing their new album 'Exotic Creatures of the Deep' and their classic 'Kimono My House' in their entirety has made this a special event. The show was sold out (1800 seat capacity) and the crowd seemed like a West Coast Sparks convention, such was their enthusiasm. I overheard people saying they had come from as far as Arizona, New York , and even Japan for the show.
It turns out to be a fantastic show. Sparks did the new album in its entirety, took an intermission break and came back out and did 'Kimono My House', then reemerged again for an 8 song encore that included "Propaganda", "At Home, At Work, At Play", "No. 1 Song in Heaven","BC", "Mickey Mouse", "Dick Around" , "When Do I Get To Sing My Way" and "Suburban Homeboy".
The staging for 'Exotics Creatures' was amazing. There were giant gilded picture or mirror frames suspended in the air towards the back of the stage. The backing band, which included Steve McDonald of Redd Kross, played behind and in-between the frames,so as to appear to be giant portraits come to life. There was a massive video screen in the middle of them, also with a giant picture frame around it. Films and graphics were displayed on it, timed to go with whatever song was being played. The Mael brothers played on front, center stage: Russell flouncing around and Ron mostly sitting at his keyboard and making his usual weird faces that look like a combination of irritability and consternation.
On a few songs Ron was interacting with the footage on screen. For instance, on "Let the Monkey Drive", Ron called an animated monkey out to play an animated piano. The most clever bit was when Ron appeared to be playing a piano on the video screen (which was made to look like a desk top computer screen with application icons running down the one side) during "Photoshop (Me Out of Your Life)", in an update of the classic Daffy Duck cartoon, the piano kept changing size, color, position, number of pianos, as Ron frantically pretended to keep trying to play the song. Brilliant piece of theater. Another bit came at the end of the "Kimono" performance when each album cover would be displayed on the screen and Ron would light a real lighter at the bottom of the screen and it appeared the album was engulfed in flames. They did this for each and every one of the albums, which gave the audience a chance to applaud their favorites; I was particularly boisterous for my first Sparks album, "Angst In My Pants". When the new albums was "burnt up", Ron tossed the lighter over his shoulder and and walked off the stage as the band concluded 'Equator' and the album.
Ron and Russell appeared as they have in the photos for the last couple of albums. Russell has some dyed floppy fringe cut and Ron has perfected his crotchety old-man-next-door look, complete with those round horn rimmed glasses that George Burns once favored.
No sign of huge Sparks fan, Morrissey, but they did perform the song "Lighten Up,Morrissey" (which if you listen to the lyrics is not really a dig at him, but a plea to him to not be so appealing to the singer's love interest) and introduced it my saying it was about "a good buddy of ours". They even sold t-shirts with that song title emblazoned on the front. I am certain that Moz was there someplace that night: he has been in town recently to launch his new album.
Again, it was a great show. I went in uncertain about the two albums in their entirety format and wished it was more a standard show, but I was pleasantly surprised how I enjoyed it all. I don't see any gigs scheduled in the U.S. on their web site; looks like London (including an appearance on the Jonathan Ross show) and Tokyo next. I'm glad I was able to finally see this most elusive of old favorites live. See them if you get a chance
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