Graham Reid | | 1 min read
Lord Have Mercy
.jpg)
From time to time Elsewhere will single out a recent release we recommend on vinyl, like this which comes with all the lyrics (necessary with Sparks) and credits. And is available on white vinyl.
Check out Elsewhere's other Recommended Record picks . . .
.
Sparks brothers Ron and Russell Mael (aged 79 and 76 respectively) open their 28th studio album with Do Things My Own Way (“My advice, no advice, gonna do things my own way”) which probably didn't need to be said.
From being acclaimed as glam rockers early in their career, then art rock and the pinnacle of synth pop/disco with their glorious The Number One Song in Heaven, Sparks have always done exactly what they wanted, even to the point of writing that silly opera Annette.
There's often a lashing of irony in their lyrics and they can veer from the mundane to the sublime without missing a beat.
That said, they can be an acquired taste and many have long considered them a singles band rather that buying into a whole album.
But since the overlong but interesting doco The Sparks Brothers four years ago there appears to have been some re-evaluation of their 21st century albums.
Although this often witty and sharply self-produced album might not shift the dial further in their favour is is, like Forrest Gump's chocolate box analogy, full of very tasty bites, not the least the ridiculously catchy JanSport Backpack and Running Up A Tab At The Hotel For The Fab, both of which succeed through considerable repetition.
At heart whatever genre they land in – or are placed – Sparks are devoted to pop music and they deliver dollops of it here: the very funny Don't Dog It in which they ask for spiritual advice from a holy man (who offers the song's title); the minimalist pop in the slightly troubling In a Long Red Light . . .
And then there's the wit: “Everybody looks great at night, ain't no trick to look great at night on the measured In Daylight; the quasi-classical strings on I-405 Rules (a tribute to the California freeway which is better than the Danube, Seine, Thames etc).
It is remarkable that Sparks are still her and creative, and that they can write songs which are astute, sometimes beautiful and keep you guessing.
Mad indeed.
.
This album is available digitally but also on light blue vinyl from Southbound Records here
post a comment