singingringingtree
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Re: S P A R K S
Jul 27, 2010, 21:14
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Fitter Stoke wrote: I adored the Moroder stuff for Virgin at the time, but it hasn't worn well.
DISAGREE!!! "no 1 in heaven" is a record is still play, over + over again ... side 2 is damn near perfect + they can play the long version of the title track at my funeral if they like ... loved it at the time, but love it MORE now
Sparks were one of the 1st bands i remember making any sort of impression on my on TOTP, circa 1974 ... them + Sensational Alex Harvey Band ... Bowie + Bolan + Roxy = can't remember much about 'em, but my 8 yr old brain was set on fire by Sparks + SAHB ... strange .....
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Monolith Cocktail
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Re: S P A R K S
Jul 28, 2010, 14:48
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keith a wrote: IanB wrote: Love Propaganda. Bon Voyage is one of my favourite glam era album tracks. Woofer / Tweeter is pretty great. I love the cover of that one and the way they seem to be trying (and failing) to pose like a "normal" 70s rock band like Silverhead or someone like that. Have heard nothing since those days but just wanted to register my love of those first four albums. Queen owe them big time. They were (in my mind at least) to LA what The Tubes were to San Francisco. Love the first Tubes album.
Yeah, Bon Voyage is great!
Bizarrely I've still not heard the pre-Kimono stuff. Really should get them!
Here's a great intro to the 21st century Sparks. The Rhythm Thief, the opening track from Lil Beethoven, and a bit of a fave of mine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ive4NdBMjt0
'Girl from Germany' an early classic worth checking out (the leading single from 'A Woofer In Tweeters Clothing').
Dom Valvona
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Kid Calamity
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Re: S P A R K S
Jul 28, 2010, 15:15
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About fifteen years ago, whilst decorating a back room in our London house, preparing to move to Shropshire I was listening to the radio - and Johnny Walker was on. He mentioned that Sparks would be performing live in the studio and asked for requests for them to play from their back catalogue.
Bored of plastering more white emulsion onto the walls, I phoned in and asked for a song I'd only heard once before called 'Change'. I remembered that I really liked it at the time and for some silly reason had it logged in my random memory banks with assorted Gerry Anderson trivia and key episodes of 'Kung Fu'. I wasn't all that sure I'd remembered the title correctly - and neither was he.
So he didn't ask them to do it.
Is there a song somewhere, probably a single. called 'Change'?
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Kid Calamity
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Re: S P A R K S
Jul 28, 2010, 15:23
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'No. 1 Song In Heaven' is and always will be one of the most danceable and uplifting records ever made! An utter joy. I just love the way the beat kicks in and then there's that hook. Brill.
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1001realapes
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Re: S P A R K S
Oct 22, 2012, 10:57
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I've just started with Halfnelson
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Sin Agog
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Edited Oct 22, 2012, 13:21
Re: S P A R K S
Oct 22, 2012, 11:27
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Indiscreet is definitely my favourite these days. It's the most purely melodic thing they've done, I think. That chamber production doesn't hurt, either. Also, the 1968 Psyched out version of A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing is way up there- far more than just a curio for fanatics and much more interesting than the album of the same name put out 5 years later. One of the best Psyche Pop albums ever released and sadly resigned to bootleg status. It's the American Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
Two more of my favourites that don't get so much attention: Angst In My Pants (proof that the 80s wasn't hell for every act that started out in the '60s and '70s. Sherlock Holmes is in my Top 5 Sparks songs) and the highbrow+lowbrow=one raised eyebrow whatthefuckery of Hello Young Lovers.
Their appearance on Never Mind The Buzzcocks was one of the best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8CXMTXUjKs Ron is great. "It's one of two things: it's either Je T'aime Moi Non Plus by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin or else it's One Less Bitch by N.W.A."
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1001realapes
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Edited Oct 22, 2012, 11:51
Re: Sparks
Oct 22, 2012, 11:49
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I'm apalled that the sped up tracks from
Woofer have not been corrected , except
on the Japanese cd ?
Wiki
In 1988, the album was first issued on CD, again in tandem with the first Sparks album, but in order to fit both programs within the constraints of a single disc, the last four tracks of the album were mastered at a higher speed than on the original LP, shortening the running time to 39:27. Though the album has subsequently been reissued in a standalone format, including the most recent reissue on Rhino Encore, released in 2008, the sped-up master has continued to be used.
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Sin Agog
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Edited Oct 22, 2012, 12:41
Re: S P A R K S
Oct 22, 2012, 12:41
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Change. A highlight of sorts from the otherwise not so hot Pet Shop Boysisms of Music That You Can Dance To. Also released as a single with an acoustic version of This Town Ain't Big Enough For the Both of Us.
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dolphin79
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Re: S P A R K S
Mar 29, 2015, 22:17
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Same with me. Maybe the Ron and Zal effect had something to do with it as well as the catchy music.
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Moon Cat
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Re: S P A R K S
Mar 29, 2015, 22:55
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Haven't they just weirdly merged with Franz Ferdinand?
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