Sparks!

[oh dom]

I'm surprised there isn't a thread on them already? Unless I didn't look hard enough. Considering they're quite Muse-y [but have been doing all this since Muse were in nappies, probably] - though, Muse apparently, have never heard [of] them???????
I bet you'll all know at least one Sparks song.?! JHrrrrrrrm

[Caff]

I like them. I was tempted by their best of the other day.

[oh dom]

I like them. I was tempted by their best of the other day.

YOU SHOULD HAVE!
Actually, have mine. His master has loads of Sparks CDs.

[Caff]

YOU SHOULD HAVE!
Actually, have mine. His master has loads of Sparks CDs.

Is that a serious offer because I'd take your Sparks best of off your hands if you have plenty at home already ;).

[oh dom]

I'll gi' it you on Saturday, duck.

[Krasnojarsk]

Never turn your back on Mother Earth Sparks?

[oh dom]

Yes, This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us, Sparks.

[Krasnojarsk]

<3

[EvanMael]

Can't believe I found a thread for this band, they're fantastic. I think Muse might have been influenced by them on the new record, Soldiers Poem reminds me of a song Sparks did, "My Babys Taking Me Home"

New single 'Dick Around' is coming out soon. Watch out fot it.

[thedarkone]

Sparks are indeed most fantastic.

[pubicmage]

Yeah, they are a brilliant band. Hello Young Lovers is definitely amongst the best albums of this year, in my opinion. The entire album is a great live experience, they have some pretty cool visual effects and stuff...

[ʘ]

Think I saw them whilst supporting some other band, last year... :confused:

[IntoTheWhite]

PublicImage just recently introduced me to their music, I'm still a n00b, but I love what I've heard. It really just gets better and better each time you listen to it.

[EvanMael]

I saw them at Electric Picnic last week.

Amazing!

[synthetic_soul]

I was just about to start a new thread, but no i stopped, thought and then searched! GO ME! Didn't really expect to find anything so i was pleasently surprised!

Ron is the man!

this clip cracks me up everytime :- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj06IaSuQ2c

Russell is all like yeah baby! then it turns to Ron.......ha.

[pubicmage]

Did anybody see them on Jonathan Ross's show? It was the biggest pile of shit ever!

We waited through some extremely long and boring interviews for what? A 2 minute version of Dick Around and a verse from TTABEFTBOU. It was like listening to the short song clips on Amazon! It was a scandal!

[synthetic_soul]

Yeah, it was pretty awful wasn't it? was that the same night i had to sit through ian wright talking? that was horrific.

[pubicmage]

Yeah. I didn't think anybody could be as boring as Ian Wright is!

It was quite funny when he was talking to them kids and the girl looked like she was asleep though! Can't say I blame her

[EvanMael]

The performance was still great though!;)

[pubicmage]

Yeah, Russell's facial expressions were crazy. It would have been so much better if they had shown the full songs, Dick Around just doesn't work without every single verse. 6 minutes isn't exactly a radio-friendly time length, though!

[pubicmage]

The new single is genius. They're using drums full time again, by the sound of it!

But I don't suppose anybody else here other than EvanMael has given it much attention at this stage, haha.

[EvanMael]

:LOL:

I've tried to decipher the lyrics...some are missing or incorrect but most are correct.


Good Morning
Who are you?
I woke up and saw you
I'm dreaming, still dreaming
My life is now about to have some meaning

Good Morning
I'm thinking
I must have been drinking
And said something clever
It must have been ????

Thank you god
For something rare as this
What surely must have been
A holy night of bliss
Gratitude for having thought of me
I know you're time is tight
And yet you thought of me

Good morning
You woke up
Got dressed up
Hair messed up
While I fix you breakfest
I hope it's just your laugh that is infectious

Good morning
In sorrow
I know that tomorrow
You'll be with some winner
Who is richer, younger and maybe even fitter

Rubles in the bank and petrol in the tank
A son of Mercedes Benz who spends and spends
[?????????{
But will he ever wish you a "Good morning"?

Thank you god
For something rare as this
What surely must have been
A holy night of bliss
Gratitude for having thought of me
I know you're time is tight
And yet you thought of me

And did I stumble, have a fall?
Hit my head against a wall
[???????????????]
Are you just a high price service from up town?

Good morning
Bonjurno
Ohio
Buneous Dias
Hey, where you going?
Hey, where you going?
Does ???? really mean good morning?


Please spare me derision
I'll do my rendition
A lengthy recital
Of every song with foolish in the title

Good morning
Good morning

Good morning
I need you
I need you
Who are you?

[pubicmage]

Just read them on the official board. ;)

I cannot make out the missing words either, although I'm pretty sure the line after the Mercedes Benz one mentions restaurants. The other words are a bit indecipherable, though! Transcribing Dick Around was a bit more difficult, but these lyrics are definitely top notch.

I love "I hope it's just your laugh that is infectious."

[Claire]

I'm going to see them play Propaganda :D

[spiralstatic666]

Im going to Lil' Beethoven and Hello Young Lovers!

I can't believe it.
Seeing Muse and Sparks, my 2 favourite bands in the space of 2 months!! :D:D:D

[pubicmage]

Ooh, good. I'm going to see No. 1 in Heaven and hopefully everything from Interior Design onwards if I can get the money together.

I saw Hello Young Lovers when they toured it in 2006 and it was spectacular. The theatrics are insane.

[spiralstatic666]

Ooh, good. I'm going to see No. 1 in Heaven and hopefully everything from Interior Design onwards if I can get the money together.

I saw Hello Young Lovers when they toured it in 2006 and it was spectacular. The theatrics are insane.

Awesome!
I wish i could see more, but...
1. No one i know around here likes/has heard of them.
2. The hotel i'm staying in is £150 a night :stunned:

So i've had to settle for 2.

I also saw Hello Young Lovers in 2006! And watched the live webcam thing when they played in London :happy:

[pubicmage]

Ah, I'm lucky as far as accomodation is concerned because I know a total Sparks fanatic who'll let me stay at his for free (he's got a golden ticket, which makes me more envious than I can express) because I let him stay at mine when he was stalking them on the Hello Young Lovers tour.

The new album is what I'm looking forward to above everything else, but I think Plagiarism would be brilliant to see live. I wonder if any of the collaborators that are on the album will be joining them (I doubt Faith No More will because they split up about ten years ago). The arrangement of Propaganda from that album would be extremely difficult to play live!

Also, WHAT THE HELL?????!/1/1?!?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wv2Vv8M8ns

[spiralstatic666]

Ah, I'm lucky as far as accomodation is concerned because I know a total Sparks fanatic who'll let me stay at his for free (he's got a golden ticket, which makes me more envious than I can express) because I let him stay at mine when he was stalking them on the Hello Young Lovers tour.

The new album is what I'm looking forward to above everything else, but I think Plagiarism would be brilliant to see live. I wonder if any of the collaborators that are on the album will be joining them (I doubt Faith No More will because they split up about ten years ago). The arrangement of Propaganda from that album would be extremely difficult to play live!

Also, WHAT THE HELL?????!/1/1?!?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wv2Vv8M8ns

Oh my god you are SO lucky!!!
So is he!
I'd sell my soul for a golden ticket! :LOL:

I think it will depend on how they do it. If it's just a cd backing then it won't be too spectacular, but if they do actually get the people on with them it would be amazing!
I doubt faith no more too but wasn't the most recent guitarist in it? Maybe he could talk them into it.

Oh WOW! I've not heard that one yet!!
*puts it on*


EDIT: I really like that actually! It's amazing how different all 3 new ones are :D

[pubicmage]

Oh my god you are SO lucky!!!
So is he!
I'd sell my soul for a golden ticket! :LOL:

I think it will depend on how they do it. If it's just a cd backing then it won't be too spectacular, but if they do actually get the people on with them it would be amazing!
I doubt faith no more too but wasn't the most recent guitarist in it? Maybe he could talk them into it.

Oh WOW! I've not heard that one yet!!
*puts it on*


EDIT: I really like that actually! It's amazing how different all 3 new ones are :D

Haha, I know, I just have to hope that none of them sell out before I can get tickets (I don't see Interior Design being a massive hit for some reason! :p But that's one that I'd like to see live more than the others because I think it will sound infinitely better live than its studio conterparts). I wish I could get a golden ticket but even if I had the money it would clash with exams. Argh. I'd love to see Propaganda and Indiscreet but A levels make that impossible, but at least the first few weeks following my last exam will be spent seeing Sparks again. I can't remember the last time I was so excited about a new album.

Dean Menta has been working with Sparks since he left Faith No More, I think, so there's no doubt that he'll be playing at most of the concerts. The rest of the band is extremely questionable but I'm sure they'll get a brilliant group together regardless.

The new song didn't come online until today, but I'm 100% sure it was not broadcast on the radio like the last two. There was a promo copy of the new album on eBay a while ago which was retracted for some reason, so it could've been the seller that uploaded it. I dunno, I'm just glad that it's available despite being in mono and at a low bitrate. It sounds more like the last two albums in terms of orchestration, but I don't think it would fit in because Ron's synth is far more prominent. The new album will be amazing!

[EvanMael]

I'd kill (maybe Hillary Clinton) to see Faith No More and Sparks do 'Something For The Girl With Everything'!

[spiralstatic666]

Haha, I know, I just have to hope that none of them sell out before I can get tickets (I don't see Interior Design being a massive hit for some reason! :p But that's one that I'd like to see live more than the others because I think it will sound infinitely better live than its studio conterparts). I wish I could get a golden ticket but even if I had the money it would clash with exams. Argh. I'd love to see Propaganda and Indiscreet but A levels make that impossible, but at least the first few weeks following my last exam will be spent seeing Sparks again. I can't remember the last time I was so excited about a new album.

Dean Menta has been working with Sparks since he left Faith No More, I think, so there's no doubt that he'll be playing at most of the concerts. The rest of the band is extremely questionable but I'm sure they'll get a brilliant group together regardless.

The new song didn't come online until today, but I'm 100% sure it was not broadcast on the radio like the last two. There was a promo copy of the new album on eBay a while ago which was retracted for some reason, so it could've been the seller that uploaded it. I dunno, I'm just glad that it's available despite being in mono and at a low bitrate. It sounds more like the last two albums in terms of orchestration, but I don't think it would fit in because Ron's synth is far more prominent. The new album will be amazing!

*hugs!* How wonderful to talk to a fellow sparks fan who knows what they're on about!! :happy:

You're right, i doubt they will sell out. The most likely ones to go will be (other than propaganda, kimono and indiscreet) will be the newer ones.
I know most people hate this album, but i'm absolutely begging my mum to let me go and see Balls. I just love the synths so much, it would be incredible to hear it live!

Luckily i've not got any exams or anything at the moment, just a shortage of money :rolleyes:.

Ahhh that'll be why then! I heard the other two on the radio and downloaded them from the sparks forum but hadn't checked it today.

Yes it is very similar to the previous two. I'm glad they've brought the synths back though, even if it is just a little bit :happy:.

What's your top 10 sparks songs then? :p

[spiralstatic666]

I'd kill (maybe Hillary Clinton) to see Faith No More and Sparks do 'Something For The Girl With Everything'!

That would be pretty immense! :D

[pubicmage]

*hugs!* How wonderful to talk to a fellow sparks fan who knows what they're on about!! :happy:

You're right, i doubt they will sell out. The most likely ones to go will be (other than propaganda, kimono and indiscreet) will be the newer ones.
I know most people hate this album, but i'm absolutely begging my mum to let me go and see Balls. I just love the synths so much, it would be incredible to hear it live!

Luckily i've not got any exams or anything at the moment, just a shortage of money :rolleyes:.

Ahhh that'll be why then! I heard the other two on the radio and downloaded them from the sparks forum but hadn't checked it today.

Yes it is very similar to the previous two. I'm glad they've brought the synths back though, even if it is just a little bit :happy:.

What's your top 10 sparks songs then? :p

This thread should really have at least 20 pages. They're so overlooked by the mainstream, and I think (this is from the viewpoint of a huge Bowie fan) that their 'glam' rock albums are better than Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane combined! The discography is so diverse and they're one of the wittiest groups around, so it's not really that suprising that they're still a bit of a cult band, because most people seem to have a phobia of originality. Still, it's always good to find people who actually appreciate the genius of the Maels!

I think Kimono and Propaganda are the only ones that've sold out. It really annoys me because the Islington academy only has a capacity of around 800 (!) but my greedy side is delighted because it means I might be able to see more. I'll sell lots of LPs to raise the money if that's what it takes! I also think Balls is really good, although my favourite track is 'The Calm Before the Opera' from the Australian editions, so I don't know if they'd play that at the Balls concert.

The full time return of the synths (from what we've heard, at least) is going to make the new LP so different to the last two. I'm so glad they're not one of those awful bands who repeat the exact same thing with each album. Ron's harpsichord on the new song sounds great.

It's too hard to choose a definite top ten, but at the moment I'd say it's a bit like this (in no order):

Dick Around
Tryouts For The Human Race
Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girls
Looks, Looks, Looks
In The Future
Lighten Up, Morrissey
Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth
Nicotina
Beat The Clock
Number One Song in Heaven

It's inconsistent because they've done so many different styles. I cannot ever make a definitive list. No. 1 in Heaven is definitely my favourite album, but that's the only thing that's not going to change!

[EvanMael]

I am a huge Balls fan :happy:

It's criminally underrated. I think The Angels is a real masterpiece that's been sadly overlooked. It took me ages to like it but then when I did, I couldn't stop listening. Russell's voice is really fantastic. I think an orchaestral arrangement would be terrific.

I'd be quite interested to hear Interior Design. Because I think a more modern production would really improve the songs...and 'So Important' is so fantastic. I love it.

My top ten at the moment, I'd say...

So Important
When Do I Get To Sing 'My Way'
The Calm Before The Storm
Bon Voyage
Slowboat
Happy Hunting Ground
Waterproof
Let's Go Surfing
Tryouts For The Human Race
When I'm With You


...And I can never settle on my favourite Sparks album.

It's always Lil Beethoven, Hello Young Lovers, Indiscreet, Propoganda, No.1 or Gratuitious Sax. Depends on my mood I suppose.

[pubicmage]

When Do I Get To Sing 'My Way'

Ooh yes. But what is better, the original version or the Plagiarism version? I'm inclined to go for the latter.

I agree about Interior Design. It would be much better without the dated sounds, and it's also worth seeing because it's unlikely that they will play anything from that album very often when they do more proper tours.

[EvanMael]

Ooh yes. But what is better, the original version or the Plagiarism version? I'm inclined to go for the latter.

I agree about Interior Design. It would be much better without the dated sounds, and it's also worth seeing because it's unlikely that they will play anything from that album very often when they do more proper tours.

I dislike the drums on the Plagiarism version but everything else is superior. The extra singers are really great when they mimmick the string hits.

But really...my favourite version is the DEE VEE DEE version. Josh Klinghoffer (bad spelling) does a really cool guitar solo and it's all around fantastic because it goes straight into This Town then.

Edit*...I don't even really like Muse anymore haha

[spiralstatic666]

This thread should really have at least 20 pages. They're so overlooked by the mainstream, and I think (this is from the viewpoint of a huge Bowie fan) that their 'glam' rock albums are better than Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane combined! The discography is so diverse and they're one of the wittiest groups around, so it's not really that suprising that they're still a bit of a cult band, because most people seem to have a phobia of originality. Still, it's always good to find people who actually appreciate the genius of the Maels!

I think Kimono and Propaganda are the only ones that've sold out. It really annoys me because the Islington academy only has a capacity of around 800 (!) but my greedy side is delighted because it means I might be able to see more. I'll sell lots of LPs to raise the money if that's what it takes! I also think Balls is really good, although my favourite track is 'The Calm Before the Opera' from the Australian editions, so I don't know if they'd play that at the Balls concert.

The full time return of the synths (from what we've heard, at least) is going to make the new LP so different to the last two. I'm so glad they're not one of those awful bands who repeat the exact same thing with each album. Ron's harpsichord on the new song sounds great.

It's too hard to choose a definite top ten, but at the moment I'd say it's a bit like this (in no order):

Dick Around
Tryouts For The Human Race
Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girls
Looks, Looks, Looks
In The Future
Lighten Up, Morrissey
Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth
Nicotina
Beat The Clock
Number One Song in Heaven

It's inconsistent because they've done so many different styles. I cannot ever make a definitive list. No. 1 in Heaven is definitely my favourite album, but that's the only thing that's not going to change!

I actually don't mind too much that they're not very well know. I mean, obviously it would be great for them to see more appreciation of their work, but it's a bit like being a member in an exclusive club if you know what i mean?
I've never really given Bowie a good listen to be fair, so i can't really judge on that. It's suprisingly actually because most of the music i listen to is 70's/80's stuff.

I know! How ridiculous was it that the BBC wouldn't play Dick Around?! If they actually gave it a listen and saw it wasn't sexual then i think it could have been quite popular! Although it would depend on how open to the originality the listeners are, and like you said, that is normally quite minimal.

Yeah i think they are the only ones so far.
I don't at all mind that it's only 800. It's obviously not selling out, so fans aren't missing out on seeing them due to demand, and it also means that the fans will get to see them up close.
What time are you planning on getting there for?
I'd like a good view but i doubt (since most fans are older than us) that many people will be queing from early in the morning so i was thinking of getting there between 4 and 5.

Oooh, i've not heard that one! That's the only problem with sparks, if there's a song you're missing, you can't exactly go and find it on limewire :LOL:.

Yes me too, but i'm even happier that they're not one of those bands who changes everything on every album, but does it badly!

Good choices!
Mine are probably (in no order).

Rhythm Thief.
Pineapple.
Simple Ballet.
Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girls.
When Do I Get To Sing My Way.
Alabamy Right.
Rock, Rock, Rock.
Profile.
In The Future.
Lets Go Surfing.

(Wacky Women
Good Morning
Sherlock Holmes
Moon Over Kentucky...) :rolleyes::p

[spiralstatic666]

I am a huge Balls fan :happy:

It's criminally underrated. I think The Angels is a real masterpiece that's been sadly overlooked. It took me ages to like it but then when I did, I couldn't stop listening. Russell's voice is really fantastic. I think an orchaestral arrangement would be terrific.

I'd be quite interested to hear Interior Design. Because I think a more modern production would really improve the songs...and 'So Important' is so fantastic. I love it.

My top ten at the moment, I'd say...

So Important
When Do I Get To Sing 'My Way'
The Calm Before The Storm
Bon Voyage
Slowboat
Happy Hunting Ground
Waterproof
Let's Go Surfing
Tryouts For The Human Race
When I'm With You


...And I can never settle on my favourite Sparks album.

It's always Lil Beethoven, Hello Young Lovers, Indiscreet, Propoganda, No.1 or Gratuitious Sax. Depends on my mood I suppose.

The Angels is brilliant!
I even called my pet Angel after it :nerd::LOL:.

How could i forget slowboat!!
Add it to my list of more than 10 :p

[EvanMael]

The Angels is brilliant!
I even called my pet Angel after it :nerd::LOL:.



My dog was called Sparky, then when I heard them he was re-named Sparks. He wasn't pleased about it.

this tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmmmmmmme

So good...

[spiralstatic666]

My dog was called Sparky, then when I heard them he was re-named Sparks. He wasn't pleased about it.

this tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmmmmmmme

So good...

Awwwww! What breed is he?
I love animals :happy:

*joins in the singing*
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowoooooooooo

[EvanMael]

Awwwww! What breed is he?
I love animals :happy:

Well I can't say with any certainty. We got him young off some old lady who couldn't manage him. A vet said he was a cross between a labradoor and a jack russell. Which is just insane.
And he is insane. Really.

[spiralstatic666]

Well I can't say with any certainty. We got him young off some old lady who couldn't manage him. A vet said he was a cross between a labradoor and a jack russell. Which is just insane.
And he is insane. Really.

Awww! He sounds lovely! :happy:

[EvanMael]

Awww! He sounds lovely! :happy:

Why thank you!

Now for no apparent reason... :rabbi:

Actually anyone heard the Interior Design demos? They don't have any guitars but the mix is quite strong. Perhaps better than the album.

[pubicmage]

I dislike the drums on the Plagiarism version but everything else is superior. The extra singers are really great when they mimmick the string hits.

But really...my favourite version is the DEE VEE DEE version. Josh Klinghoffer (bad spelling) does a really cool guitar solo and it's all around fantastic because it goes straight into This Town then.

Edit*...I don't even really like Muse anymore haha

I prefer the drums on the re-recorded version but I can see why people might not like them. The overall arrangement/orchestration/production is far better than the original, so it should be interesting to hear it live because they'll most likely be using a proper drum kit.

I still haven't seen Dee Vee Dee and I cannot gather the money to pay for it until I get more tickets for the Islington thing.

I don't remember the last time I listened to Muse. I still like them and I'll listen to their next album but they just don't excite me anymore. I found their live performance a little disappointing because it didn't match up to all the hype generated through the consensus that they are the best live group around.

I actually don't mind too much that they're not very well know. I mean, obviously it would be great for them to see more appreciation of their work, but it's a bit like being a member in an exclusive club if you know what i mean?
I've never really given Bowie a good listen to be fair, so i can't really judge on that. It's suprisingly actually because most of the music i listen to is 70's/80's stuff.

I know! How ridiculous was it that the BBC wouldn't play Dick Around?! If they actually gave it a listen and saw it wasn't sexual then i think it could have been quite popular! Although it would depend on how open to the originality the listeners are, and like you said, that is normally quite minimal.

Yeah i think they are the only ones so far.
I don't at all mind that it's only 800. It's obviously not selling out, so fans aren't missing out on seeing them due to demand, and it also means that the fans will get to see them up close.
What time are you planning on getting there for?
I'd like a good view but i doubt (since most fans are older than us) that many people will be queing from early in the morning so i was thinking of getting there between 4 and 5.

Oooh, i've not heard that one! That's the only problem with sparks, if there's a song you're missing, you can't exactly go and find it on limewire :LOL:.

Yes me too, but i'm even happier that they're not one of those bands who changes everything on every album, but does it badly!

Good choices!
Mine are probably (in no order).

Rhythm Thief.
Pineapple.
Simple Ballet.
Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girls.
When Do I Get To Sing My Way.
Alabamy Right.
Rock, Rock, Rock.
Profile.
In The Future.
Lets Go Surfing.

(Wacky Women
Good Morning
Sherlock Holmes
Moon Over Kentucky...) :rolleyes::p

I know what you mean, definitely, and I think Russell actually said something similar about the fans' attitude in a recent interview. It's good to know that when they go on tour there won't be a massive surge to get tickets as quickly as possible! And I think small venues are far better than arenas or stadiums.

Bowie managed to evade my musical radar for a long time but when I got into him properly it was completely worth it because his discography is almost as varied as Sparks' (he's covered glam, new wave, blue eyed soul, ambient, disco and folk music amongst plenty of other styles).

Dick Around would never have been that popular, I don't think. It's totally ridiculous that the BBC decided to ban it, but even if they didn't I doubt the mainstream listeners would have been open to something of that calibre (it would also be distressing to hear an edited version).

I still haven't even arranged how I'm going to be travelling to Islington but I'll most likely be going via Brighton because that's where my friend lives. He said he's going to London some time near 4 PM, but I don't think there will be a huge queue to get to the front. You've also got to bear in mind that the queueing will be followed by a support act, and people will probably go to the bar at the end of their set, so I doubt it will be difficult to get near the front!

Pineapple is a great song. It's always interesting to hear something with lyrics written by Russell instead of Ron! The Australian edition of Balls has two bonus tracks but the second is only on certain editions ('Now That I Own The ABC', I think it's called) and I don't have it. But I'm uploading The Calm Before the Opera right now so I'll edit this post when it's done.

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=D06E65B90F37F10F

Behold! It's almost like something you'd expect to hear on Hello Young Lovers because of the vocal layering on pipe organ.

[spiralstatic666]

I prefer the drums on the re-recorded version but I can see why people might not like them. The overall arrangement/orchestration/production is far better than the original, so it should be interesting to hear it live because they'll most likely be using a proper drum kit.

I still haven't seen Dee Vee Dee and I cannot gather the money to pay for it until I get more tickets for the Islington thing.

I don't remember the last time I listened to Muse. I still like them and I'll listen to their next album but they just don't excite me anymore. I found their live performance a little disappointing because it didn't match up to all the hype generated through the consensus that they are the best live group around.



I know what you mean, definitely, and I think Russell actually said something similar about the fans' attitude in a recent interview. It's good to know that when they go on tour there won't be a massive surge to get tickets as quickly as possible! And I think small venues are far better than arenas or stadiums.

Bowie managed to evade my musical radar for a long time but when I got into him properly it was completely worth it because his discography is almost as varied as Sparks' (he's covered glam, new wave, blue eyed soul, ambient, disco and folk music amongst plenty of other styles).

Dick Around would never have been that popular, I don't think. It's totally ridiculous that the BBC decided to ban it, but even if they didn't I doubt the mainstream listeners would have been open to something of that calibre (it would also be distressing to hear an edited version).

I still haven't even arranged how I'm going to be travelling to Islington but I'll most likely be going via Brighton because that's where my friend lives. He said he's going to London some time near 4 PM, but I don't think there will be a huge queue to get to the front. You've also got to bear in mind that the queueing will be followed by a support act, and people will probably go to the bar at the end of their set, so I doubt it will be difficult to get near the front!

Pineapple is a great song. It's always interesting to hear something with lyrics written by Russell instead of Ron! The Australian edition of Balls has two bonus tracks but the second is only on certain editions ('Now That I Own The ABC', I think it's called) and I don't have it. But I'm uploading The Calm Before the Opera right now so I'll edit this post when it's done.

Muse will always be my favourite band. Well, considering their next album is more up to the standards of Showbiz and Origin rather than BHAR.
I saw them at RAH the other night and it was totally mind blowing, especially megalomania on the organ.
I have to say though, i'm more excited about seeing sparks, probably because i've been listening to them a lot longer and have always admired them and their music.

:LOL: Yeah thats deffinately a plus!! It's not fun trying to hunt down tickets for sold out gigs because the internet crashed for 10 seconds!
I agree that small venues are better, it's so much more personal.

I really will have to give him a listen. I think the only one i really know is Heroes. I love the live version with Marc Bolan but i rarely listen to it as it always makes me cry :rolleyes:.

I actually have an edited version of dick around. It's heartbreaking to listen to because it cuts out so much! It doesn't even once play "the leaves are green" part! :mad:

I'm getting a direct train to london then the tube down to Islington. I'm staying in the Hilton hotel which is right next door to it for Lil Beethoven and HYL. But if i get to see Balls i need to travel all the way across London again to near Wimbledon.
You're right about the bar! I'm not moving out of my space for anything :p!

I agree! He hasn't written very many but the ones he has are great! Just as much lyrical wit as Ron.

Great! Thank you :happy:

Edit: *listens*
Edit2: Thats Gooooooood! I know what you mean about HYL!

[pubicmage]

Muse will always be my favourite band. Well, considering their next album is more up to the standards of Showbiz and Origin rather than BHAR.
I saw them at RAH the other night and it was totally mind blowing, especially megalomania on the organ.
I have to say though, i'm more excited about seeing sparks, probably because i've been listening to them a lot longer and have always admired them and their music.

:LOL: Yeah thats deffinately a plus!! It's not fun trying to hunt down tickets for sold out gigs because the internet crashed for 10 seconds!
I agree that small venues are better, it's so much more personal.

I really will have to give him a listen. I think the only one i really know is Heroes. I love the live version with Marc Bolan but i rarely listen to it as it always makes me cry :rolleyes:.

I actually have an edited version of dick around. It's heartbreaking to listen to because it cuts out so much! It doesn't even once play "the leaves are green" part! :mad:

I'm getting a direct train to london then the tube down to Islington. I'm staying in the Hilton hotel which is right next door to it for Lil Beethoven and HYL. But if i get to see Balls i need to travel all the way across London again to near Wimbledon.
You're right about the bar! I'm not moving out of my space for anything :p!

I agree! He hasn't written very many but the ones he has are great! Just as much lyrical wit as Ron.

Great! Thank you :happy:

Edit: *listens*

I still like them but my fandom is currently inactive. Their next album might change that if Matt was actually being serious when he said there'll be a 15 minute space rock solo, but he's been talking about that for years! Megalomania on a pipe organ must have been spectacular. I hope that was recorded.

When I went to see Muse the stupid courier for Seetickets managed to lose my ticket in the post, so I had to get it re-printed at the arena. I cannot stand Seetickets because of that! I'm so glad Sparks decided to use Ticketweb instead.

"Heroes" is one of my favourite Bowie albums, but it's not the easiest one he's done. Pretty much all of the second side (vinyl speak!) is 'dark' ambient music with no melody or rhythm, but I think it is brilliant atmospheric stuff.

Did you see that terrible appearence from Friday Night With Jonathan Ross a few years ago? The watered down versions of Dick Around and This Town (which, incidentally, they should NOT be expected to play whenever they're on television/radio promoting their new album!) were amongst the most infuriating things I've ever heard. The performances themselves were really good, but it just sounded like those 30 second samples that you can listen to on Amazon. It was also obvious that they played the full songs because the editing was incredibly sloppy, making it look a bit like Russell decided to teleport around the room (he probably can).

It's going to be awkward for me because it means travelling down during a gap between some exams (hah, I must see No. 1 in Heaven) then going back up the next day, then going back down a month later...Trains are far too expensive! I think it is worth it, though.

Russell is definitely a very good songwriter, but I don't think that Ron's wit will ever be topped. He's a total genius.

It's great, isn't it? The vocal layering and instrumentation is brilliant, but it goes by so quickly! I need to find the other bonus track.

[spiralstatic666]

I still like them but my fandom is currently inactive. Their next album might change that if Matt was actually being serious when he said there'll be a 15 minute space rock solo, but he's been talking about that for years! Megalomania on a pipe organ must have been spectacular. I hope that was recorded.

When I went to see Muse the stupid courier for Seetickets managed to lose my ticket in the post, so I had to get it re-printed at the arena. I cannot stand Seetickets because of that! I'm so glad Sparks decided to use Ticketweb instead.

"Heroes" is one of my favourite Bowie albums, but it's not the easiest one he's done. Pretty much all of the second side (vinyl speak!) is 'dark' ambient music with no melody or rhythm, but I think it is brilliant atmospheric stuff.

Did you see that terrible appearence from Friday Night With Jonathan Ross a few years ago? The watered down versions of Dick Around and This Town (which, incidentally, they should NOT be expected to play whenever they're on television/radio promoting their new album!) were amongst the most infuriating things I've ever heard. The performances themselves were really good, but it just sounded like those 30 second samples that you can listen to on Amazon. It was also obvious that they played the full songs because the editing was incredibly sloppy, making it look a bit like Russell decided to teleport around the room (he probably can).

It's going to be awkward for me because it means travelling down during a gap between some exams (hah, I must see No. 1 in Heaven) then going back up the next day, then going back down a month later...Trains are far too expensive! I think it is worth it, though.

Russell is definitely a very good songwriter, but I don't think that Ron's wit will ever be topped. He's a total genius.

It's great, isn't it? The vocal layering and instrumentation is brilliant, but it goes by so quickly! I need to find the other bonus track.

I actually read somewhere recently that they may be going more orchestral on the next album! That would just be perfect! Lots of pianos, a whole load of strings, beautiful :happy:.
Actually yes it was! Are you a member on muselive? I don't post on there but it's handy for downloads. They've got it on there, or if you have msn or something i could send it you?
Its great quality but you'll never capture the essence of it live.

Oh god, don't tell me that! I've booked all my sparks tickets with See! :stunned:

I did see it! And you're dead right about them always being made to play this town. No other bands would have to do that :mad:.
:LOL: wouldn't suprise me!

Ohh unlucky, at least sparks can be your inspiration for your exams!
They helped me get an A on my music GCSE :p.

Trains are shockingly expenisive. Luckily if you buy them in advance you can get them a LOT cheaper! I live about 100 miles north of london and i can get a return 1st Class for £15 and normal class for £8/9 ish! Deffinately worth it! It's a once in a lifetime experience :happy:.

Ron will always be better, but not by too far!

Deffinately too short. Should be doubled! I actually got half way through it the second time without realising it was repeating! :LOL:

[pubicmage]

I actually read somewhere recently that they may be going more orchestral on the next album! That would just be perfect! Lots of pianos, a whole load of strings, beautiful :happy:.
Actually yes it was! Are you a member on muselive? I don't post on there but it's handy for downloads. They've got it on there, or if you have msn or something i could send it you?
Its great quality but you'll never capture the essence of it live.

Oh god, don't tell me that! I've booked all my sparks tickets with See! :stunned:

I did see it! And you're dead right about them always being made to play this town. No other bands would have to do that :mad:.
:LOL: wouldn't suprise me!

Ohh unlucky, at least sparks can be your inspiration for your exams!
They helped me get an A on my music GCSE :p.

Trains are shockingly expenisive. Luckily if you buy them in advance you can get them a LOT cheaper! I live about 100 miles north of london and i can get a return 1st Class for £15 and normal class for £8/9 ish! Deffinately worth it! It's a once in a lifetime experience :happy:.

Ron will always be better, but not by too far!

Deffinately too short. Should be doubled! I actually got half way through it the second time without realising it was repeating! :LOL:

I hope so, but I'm going to reserve judgement until it actually comes out because Matt is quite notorious for his wildly inaccurate descriptions of his own music! I'll scrawl through Muselive to get that song, definitely. The organ at the Albert Hall is the second biggest in the UK, I think, so it will undoubtedly be epic (alas, a recording can never recreate it). I don't use any IM programmes because I am too verbose and always end up writing extremely long replies, so the whole quickfire typing doesn't work for me due to the character limits!

That was only one bad experience. I managed to successfully receive a ticket for Howling Bells from them a few years ago, and it's probably Royal Mail that should be blamed if anything! There's not much they can do to stop it getting lost in the post. It's just carelessness on behalf of "Her Majesty"'s letterbox goons!

It's so irritating when they do that sort of thing, but it's very typical of the BBC. I can understand them wanting to cut down a six minute song because it obviously takes up a lot of the show's time (why would they invite them in the first place if they cannot efficiently commit the time slot?), but that is too much. When Radiohead were on a few weeks ago the stupid announcer talked over their second song (yes, Radiohead get a full song but Sparks only get two short excerpts) as the credits were rolling and the Beeb decided to play a snippet before cutting off to one of the rubbish transitions they use between different programmes. It's appalling editing, especially when you take the price of the TV license into account!

Haha, maybe. I'm going to think of them more as a post-exam relief group. The day after my last exam should be spent seeing Interior Design (it's not that bad!) then hopefully the rest of their discography. Yay!
I only got a B at GCSE level in music beacause I am an atrocious composer. I'm dropping A level for that reason. I just cannot finish a composition because I always get writer's block when I'm about ten bars into it, and it would be quite foolish to enter the exam without submitting a full unit of coursework. Ugh! I prefer to just improvise.

My god that's cheap. The last time I checked the date for No. 1 in Heaven, the prices were £37 for a single fare...I knew it wouldn't be cheap but it's ridiculously extortionate. I'll have to check some more train companies to see if there is anything a bit more appropriate. Couldn't really care less about getting First Class or whatever because it'll only be around four hours, all of which will be spent listening to No. 1 in Heaven on loop (approximately eight listens, I make it). The cheaper the better!

Maybe we'd found out how good he really is if he contributed an equal amount of lyrics to an album. It doesn't really matter to me because I know Russell's singing defines Sparks just as much as Ron's keyboards and lyrics. He has a great range, and somehow his spoken-word vocals are just as captivating as his falsetto singing. I love the distorted microphone sound on What Are All These Bands So Angry About?

Another thing I really like about that song is the drum beat. It has quite a harsh sound but it never dominates the foreground, which I think works really well. It also stands out from Hello Young Lovers and Lil' Beethoven's orchestral sounds because of the drum machine, because I think that the lack of drums (for the most part) on those two albums is one of the most important factors in defining their sound. If they had drums all the time it would just sound like a rock band adding classical elements to their music, but instead it is far more subtle and works more effectively than every other crossover that I've heard.

That's a bit of a long post, but it's difficult not to say a lot when Sparks are the topic of discussion! I'm so glad this thread is alive again. :D

[spiralstatic666]

I hope so, but I'm going to reserve judgement until it actually comes out because Matt is quite notorious for his wildly inaccurate descriptions of his own music! I'll scrawl through Muselive to get that song, definitely. The organ at the Albert Hall is the second biggest in the UK, I think, so it will undoubtedly be epic (alas, a recording can never recreate it). I don't use any IM programmes because I am too verbose and always end up writing extremely long replies, so the whole quickfire typing doesn't work for me due to the character limits!

That was only one bad experience. I managed to successfully receive a ticket for Howling Bells from them a few years ago, and it's probably Royal Mail that should be blamed if anything! There's not much they can do to stop it getting lost in the post. It's just carelessness on behalf of "Her Majesty"'s letterbox goons!

It's so irritating when they do that sort of thing, but it's very typical of the BBC. I can understand them wanting to cut down a six minute song because it obviously takes up a lot of the show's time (why would they invite them in the first place if they cannot efficiently commit the time slot?), but that is too much. When Radiohead were on a few weeks ago the stupid announcer talked over their second song (yes, Radiohead get a full song but Sparks only get two short excerpts) as the credits were rolling and the Beeb decided to play a snippet before cutting off to one of the rubbish transitions they use between different programmes. It's appalling editing, especially when you take the price of the TV license into account!

Haha, maybe. I'm going to think of them more as a post-exam relief group. The day after my last exam should be spent seeing Interior Design (it's not that bad!) then hopefully the rest of their discography. Yay!
I only got a B at GCSE level in music beacause I am an atrocious composer. I'm dropping A level for that reason. I just cannot finish a composition because I always get writer's block when I'm about ten bars into it, and it would be quite foolish to enter the exam without submitting a full unit of coursework. Ugh! I prefer to just improvise.

My god that's cheap. The last time I checked the date for No. 1 in Heaven, the prices were £37 for a single fare...I knew it wouldn't be cheap but it's ridiculously extortionate. I'll have to check some more train companies to see if there is anything a bit more appropriate. Couldn't really care less about getting First Class or whatever because it'll only be around four hours, all of which will be spent listening to No. 1 in Heaven on loop (approximately eight listens, I make it). The cheaper the better!

Maybe we'd found out how good he really is if he contributed an equal amount of lyrics to an album. It doesn't really matter to me because I know Russell's singing defines Sparks just as much as Ron's keyboards and lyrics. He has a great range, and somehow his spoken-word vocals are just as captivating as his falsetto singing. I love the distorted microphone sound on What Are All These Bands So Angry About?

Another thing I really like about that song is the drum beat. It has quite a harsh sound but it never dominates the foreground, which I think works really well. It also stands out from Hello Young Lovers and Lil' Beethoven's orchestral sounds because of the drum machine, because I think that the lack of drums (for the most part) on those two albums is one of the most important factors in defining their sound. If they had drums all the time it would just sound like a rock band adding classical elements to their music, but instead it is far more subtle and works more effectively than every other crossover that I've heard.

That's a bit of a long post, but it's difficult not to say a lot when Sparks are the topic of discussion! I'm so glad this thread is alive again. :D

Haha yes! Good point. I hope they do though, like Absolution but with an orchestral part.
I can't stop listening to it since i got it! It's a shame that non of the many videos on youtube i've seen really do it justice. The visuals were incredible, just Matt sat up at this HUGE organ (yes, i think it is the 2nd largest in the UK), and when it's the chorus the whole thing lights up in crimson red! Stunning
:LOL:! I'm not supprised if you always type this much!

It probably is Royal Mail. I've used them once before when i got my Wembley ticket and coach ticket and all was fine. I have heard a lot of complaints about See however.
Lol goons, i love that word :p.

Totally! If they weren't gonna have time for the whole song then it would have been acceptable to cut it down a little, but not as much as they did.
Urgh, i hate it when radio presenters do that. If it's a music station, just okay the god damn music! If we wanna listen to a more talk-based show we can put on Radio2 (which is normally what i have on).

Wow! That sounds awesome! Obviously i'd love to see them all, but if i got to see my top 2 albums then i'd be more than satisfied :happy:.

Actually, i was amazed that i got an A. My music teacher guessed i would, but then he left, and we had about 6 other rubbish teachers in our final year :rolleyes: so on the mocks i ended up with an E!! At which point i thought there was gonna be no hope for me, so wrote very very little for the write ups about the coursework. I thought i was terrible at composing but obviously not when i got an A. I composed a piece on my synthesizer which i then had to play at an *arts evening* thing they did to try and make our school look classy...(:LOL:!), for the ensemble i sang seven nation army with a band my mates put together for the GCSE, and the other composition i wrote in half an hour which was a song, i really wanted to put a piano piece to it but i'm awful at writing down my music. I prefer to listen to songs then work them out on piano/synth etc myself. I've got really good at it and it's much more fun than writing your own :happy:.

Well depending where you're traveling from, the train company tries to rip you off. For example, i travel up to Bridlington quite often and if i typed into the search engine *Chesterfield to Bridlington* it says it will cost £30 advanced booking. But, if i type in *Derby to Bridlington* which is actually further south from here, it will cost £10 advanced booking and the train actually stops in Chesterfield! Ridiculous is it not?
It's deffinately worth looking on a map at which big towns or citys your train will pass through too, because sometimes rather than typing in where you're going to where you're from, if you break it up, it can sometimes work out a lot cheaper. Like i think if you said *Chesterfield to St Albans* its £45 but if you say *Chesterfield to Bedford*-*Bedford to St Albans* it'd be £29, and you don't have to change anywhere different because from here to st albans you always have to change at bedford.
Hope you understood all that :$.

I think it would be nice to hear him contribute more but like you said, his singing really does play as much of a role in sparks as Rons work. I also like it when he talks on songs! Normally i think it sounds bland when bands to it but Russel can really bring the song alive with his voice. Like on Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girls, it's an amazing song and he doesn't even do any singing!

:yesey: to everything you just said in the last big paragraph!
It's nice to hear a band who don't feel the need to have big loud drums in every song. It almost makes it more special then when they do!

This is also quite a long post! I could talk about them all day!
I know! I'm so glad i found it! :happy:

[pubicmage]

Haha yes! Good point. I hope they do though, like Absolution but with an orchestral part.
I can't stop listening to it since i got it! It's a shame that non of the many videos on youtube i've seen really do it justice. The visuals were incredible, just Matt sat up at this HUGE organ (yes, i think it is the 2nd largest in the UK), and when it's the chorus the whole thing lights up in crimson red! Stunning
:LOL:! I'm not supprised if you always type this much!

It probably is Royal Mail. I've used them once before when i got my Wembley ticket and coach ticket and all was fine. I have heard a lot of complaints about See however.
Lol goons, i love that word :p.

Totally! If they weren't gonna have time for the whole song then it would have been acceptable to cut it down a little, but not as much as they did.
Urgh, i hate it when radio presenters do that. If it's a music station, just okay the god damn music! If we wanna listen to a more talk-based show we can put on Radio2 (which is normally what i have on).

Wow! That sounds awesome! Obviously i'd love to see them all, but if i got to see my top 2 albums then i'd be more than satisfied :happy:.

Actually, i was amazed that i got an A. My music teacher guessed i would, but then he left, and we had about 6 other rubbish teachers in our final year :rolleyes: so on the mocks i ended up with an E!! At which point i thought there was gonna be no hope for me, so wrote very very little for the write ups about the coursework. I thought i was terrible at composing but obviously not when i got an A. I composed a piece on my synthesizer which i then had to play at an *arts evening* thing they did to try and make our school look classy...(:LOL:!), for the ensemble i sang seven nation army with a band my mates put together for the GCSE, and the other composition i wrote in half an hour which was a song, i really wanted to put a piano piece to it but i'm awful at writing down my music. I prefer to listen to songs then work them out on piano/synth etc myself. I've got really good at it and it's much more fun than writing your own :happy:.

Well depending where you're traveling from, the train company tries to rip you off. For example, i travel up to Bridlington quite often and if i typed into the search engine *Chesterfield to Bridlington* it says it will cost £30 advanced booking. But, if i type in *Derby to Bridlington* which is actually further south from here, it will cost £10 advanced booking and the train actually stops in Chesterfield! Ridiculous is it not?
It's deffinately worth looking on a map at which big towns or citys your train will pass through too, because sometimes rather than typing in where you're going to where you're from, if you break it up, it can sometimes work out a lot cheaper. Like i think if you said *Chesterfield to St Albans* its £45 but if you say *Chesterfield to Bedford*-*Bedford to St Albans* it'd be £29, and you don't have to change anywhere different because from here to st albans you always have to change at bedford.
Hope you understood all that :$.

I think it would be nice to hear him contribute more but like you said, his singing really does play as much of a role in sparks as Rons work. I also like it when he talks on songs! Normally i think it sounds bland when bands to it but Russel can really bring the song alive with his voice. Like on Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girls, it's an amazing song and he doesn't even do any singing!

:yesey: to everything you just said in the last big paragraph!
It's nice to hear a band who don't feel the need to have big loud drums in every song. It almost makes it more special then when they do!

This is also quite a long post! I could talk about them all day!
I know! I'm so glad i found it! :happy:

I just remember that I need to reply to this! Sparks should play at the Albert Hall just to do 'As I Sit Down To Play The Organ At The Notre Dame Cathedral' on a real pipe organ. Although I'm sure the actual Notre Dame organ would be more appropriate. Still...

My ticket for No. 1 in Heaven arrived a few days ago, which obviously made me die with excitement. It is currently residing in my Doctor Who sanctuary that nobody else is allowed to go near because losing a Sparks ticket would be the most awful experience ever.

Thankfully the BBC seem to be much more enthusiastic about broadcasting the new Sparks album because Terry Wogan played Good Morning a few days ago, it's on the Radio 2 playlist (albeit the C list, but it's better than nothing) and it's one of Lamacq's candidates for his Radio 6 playlist, so it looks as though the new album might actually chart higher than the last few if we're really lucky!

I might not be able to see that many because my damn school have insisted that the sixth-formers do work experience in the second week of June, which is the most annoying thing ever. I don't want them to give me a bad reference by missing it, so it looks like I will miss lots. :(

Haha, I much prefer learning other people's songs too because I'm far too lazy to do anything original unless it is completely improvised (but if I record a good improvisation I can listen back and figure it out again! haha, that's the ultimate form of lazy composition). A level music is so much more difficult than GCSE, but I honestly haven't learned anything new about theory since taking it up other than what an appogiatura is, which is odd. I just cannot compose classical music, so it's definitely the wrong subject for me! I should have taken something purely essay based instead (all of my other subjects are...) because I can ramble on for hours without losing ideas. Yay for language.

I'll probably get an indirect/multiple-change train to Brighton. I don't even think it's possible to get a direct one anyway, so I probably cannot get it cheap by doing it that way! Oh well, it doesn't really matter because I'll only be going to see one album because of my school so I've got more than enough for a return ticket. I just hope that I have enough for the new album once I throw all of money away on train tickets! It's not too long away now...Less than a month!

Pineapple is hilarious. I've been listening to it a lot lately, along with Lil' Beethoven. I've always liked that album but I didn't really love it until recently, so that was quite a good discovery. I love the distorted vocal sound What Are All These Bands So Angry About. It's amazing! I could listen to that album forever and it would never get boring. Plus 'I Married Myself' is great fun to play on the piano with dodgy arpeggios and broken chords for a wee bit of variation. There are still a few chords I haven't figured out though because I've never tried figuring something out by ear on anything other than guitar in the past! They should publish sheet music some time. I'd love to have the string quartet arrangement from Under The Table With Her (which puts George Martin's work with The Beatles to shame! It's so overlooked even though Tony Visconti's other work is generally extremely popular) to do a synth based cover with vocoded singing.

[spiralstatic666]

I just remember that I need to reply to this! Sparks should play at the Albert Hall just to do 'As I Sit Down To Play The Organ At The Notre Dame Cathedral' on a real pipe organ. Although I'm sure the actual Notre Dame organ would be more appropriate. Still...

My ticket for No. 1 in Heaven arrived a few days ago, which obviously made me die with excitement. It is currently residing in my Doctor Who sanctuary that nobody else is allowed to go near because losing a Sparks ticket would be the most awful experience ever.

Thankfully the BBC seem to be much more enthusiastic about broadcasting the new Sparks album because Terry Wogan played Good Morning a few days ago, it's on the Radio 2 playlist (albeit the C list, but it's better than nothing) and it's one of Lamacq's candidates for his Radio 6 playlist, so it looks as though the new album might actually chart higher than the last few if we're really lucky!

I might not be able to see that many because my damn school have insisted that the sixth-formers do work experience in the second week of June, which is the most annoying thing ever. I don't want them to give me a bad reference by missing it, so it looks like I will miss lots. :(

Haha, I much prefer learning other people's songs too because I'm far too lazy to do anything original unless it is completely improvised (but if I record a good improvisation I can listen back and figure it out again! haha, that's the ultimate form of lazy composition). A level music is so much more difficult than GCSE, but I honestly haven't learned anything new about theory since taking it up other than what an appogiatura is, which is odd. I just cannot compose classical music, so it's definitely the wrong subject for me! I should have taken something purely essay based instead (all of my other subjects are...) because I can ramble on for hours without losing ideas. Yay for language.

I'll probably get an indirect/multiple-change train to Brighton. I don't even think it's possible to get a direct one anyway, so I probably cannot get it cheap by doing it that way! Oh well, it doesn't really matter because I'll only be going to see one album because of my school so I've got more than enough for a return ticket. I just hope that I have enough for the new album once I throw all of money away on train tickets! It's not too long away now...Less than a month!

Pineapple is hilarious. I've been listening to it a lot lately, along with Lil' Beethoven. I've always liked that album but I didn't really love it until recently, so that was quite a good discovery. I love the distorted vocal sound What Are All These Bands So Angry About. It's amazing! I could listen to that album forever and it would never get boring. Plus 'I Married Myself' is great fun to play on the piano with dodgy arpeggios and broken chords for a wee bit of variation. There are still a few chords I haven't figured out though because I've never tried figuring something out by ear on anything other than guitar in the past! They should publish sheet music some time. I'd love to have the string quartet arrangement from Under The Table With Her (which puts George Martin's work with The Beatles to shame! It's so overlooked even though Tony Visconti's other work is generally extremely popular) to do a synth based cover with vocoded singing.

Sorry for the delay in replying to this!

That would be pretty awesome! But yeah, Notre Dame would be a little more fitting!

Ooo good!
Well i ordered i ticket for Balls and that's arrived, no sign of the others yet though.

Doctor Who eh? Good music AND tv taste! The looks i got on the bus the other day when my phone rang and it was the doctor who theme :LOL:!

I know! :D Must have heard them being played on the radio every other time i put it on!! Brilliant!

Awwh no! Thats unlucky! :(.
Which ones do you think you'll be able to make it to?
I was gutted this morning, The Standards were supposed to be supporting on the 10th June, and i'd REALLY got into their songs on myspace and they have a great image, but Sparks have changed their support slot to the 30th May so i won't see them! :mad::(

Hopefully we'll get some other good band though. I know The Young Knives are playing in May too, knowing my luck the dates i'm going will have rubbish bands :rolleyes:.

Hey! If lazy composition works! Then there's nothing wrong with it :p.
I'm good at rambling about a topic for essays too :happy:. I'm sure you'll do fine with A level music! I'm not bad at composing classical music, but i prefer synthy-minimalism type compositions.

You should have enough then! Two weeks, TWO weeks!! *Eee!* :happy: I can't wait!! And it's also the Eurovision that week too! Could it get much better? :LOL:

That's why I chose to see Lil' Beethoven over any others. The earlier albums are fantastic obviously! But that one will always remain my favourite. I've never tried that with I Married Myself but i can imagine it sounding very interesting!
I originally learned to pick out tunes on a tiny little keyboard when i was younger, then i got a proper one, then i learned to do it on the guitar, and know i do it mostly on my Roland synth. (HAD to get a Roland after i saw Ron playing one on the last tour! Did you see how he re-arranged the letters? :p).

Under The Table With Her has quite a simple string tune, i'm sure you'd be able to figure it out without sheet music :happy:

[EvanMael]

Lil' Beethoven is fantastic. My opinion of it changed for a while and I thought it was merely 'very good' but now I can definitely say it's amazing. I think it's by far their most coherent and complete record to date. The Rhythm Thief is so simple but it changes every time and somehow I've never got irritated by the repetition. Then you have Suburban Homeboy which is a great way to end any album. Your Call...is probably the only case when I think the repetition is just too much, but of course I suppose that's the whole point of that particular tune.

Recently I've been listening alot to Whomp. It's lovely...

[spiralstatic666]

Lil' Beethoven is fantastic. My opinion of it changed for a while and I thought it was merely 'very good' but now I can definitely say it's amazing. I think it's by far their most coherent and complete record to date. The Rhythm Thief is so simple but it changes every time and somehow I've never got irritated by the repetition. Then you have Suburban Homeboy which is a great way to end any album. Your Call...is probably the only case when I think the repetition is just too much, but of course I suppose that's the whole point of that particular tune.

Recently I've been listening alot to Whomp. It's lovely...

Good to know that someone else appreciates Lil' Beethoven! :happy:
The Rhythm Thief is just mindblowing! I also really like Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girls, it's so cleverly written and unusual! (But i guess you could say that about any sparks song! :LOL:).

Whomp is a really great album! Not listened to it recently actually *goes hunting for it*.

Are you going to any of the concerts?

[EvanMael]

Well I obsessed about Lil Beethoven' for a long while because I bought the live dvd before I got the album and I loved the visual stuff that was combined with the music. It's their masterpiece I think. The way the vocal melodies overlap and just the music are great. Really they created a genre on that record.

Indeed I am. My dad ridicolously believes I'm going to do well in my exams so that's why I am able to go :LOL:

I'm going to the first three. Not my favourites at all, but they are most suitable choices because the exams in Ireland start on June 4th and I got to study alot between then.

I'd really love to see the 80s records...Indiscreet, Propoganda...Gratutious...Balls...Last two and the new one.

So basically what I am saying is, I really would like to go to all twenty one.

[spiralstatic666]

Well I obsessed about Lil Beethoven' for a long while because I bought the live dvd before I got the album and I loved the visual stuff that was combined with the music. It's their masterpiece I think. The way the vocal melodies overlap and just the music are great. Really they created a genre on that record.

Indeed I am. My dad ridicolously believes I'm going to do well in my exams so that's why I am able to go :LOL:

I'm going to the first three. Not my favourites at all, but they are most suitable choices because the exams in Ireland start on June 4th and I got to study alot between then.

I'd really love to see the 80s records...Indiscreet, Propoganda...Gratutious...Balls...Last two and the new one.

So basically what I am saying is, I really would like to go to all twenty one.

It was actually the DVD that really got me into Lil' Beethoven as well!
We had it on at christmas and i hadn't realised that the album was so good!

Haha :p! What exams have you got?

:LOL:! Tell me about it! People who live in london are SO lucky!

I'm going to Balls, Lil' Beethoven and Hello Young Lovers.

I'd have thought that they would tour the new album so we should get another chance to see that live! :happy:

[EvanMael]

Oh just...English, Maths, Irish, Economics, History, Music and German...which will determine the rest of my life :LOL:

I'm sure they'll do another tour of England and Europe and they'll probably do what they've been recently doing. Play new album then have a second set of classics.

[spiralstatic666]

Oh just...English, Maths, Irish, Economics, History, Music and German...which will determine the rest of my life :LOL:

I'm sure they'll do another tour of England and Europe and they'll probably do what they've been recently doing. Play new album then have a second set of classics.

:stunned: Oh dear.
Well English, History, Music, Economics shouldn't be toooooooooo bad.

Maths, Irish and German i'd panic about.
But i don't know Irish or German and i'm awful at complex maths :$
But i'm sure you'll do fine!
Who knows, you may even be rewarded with more concerts! :p

Thats what i suspect too. Hopefully they won't have a bunch of dick heads shouting out "REINFORCEMENTS!!" at every given opportunity like at the one i went to :rolleyes:

[EvanMael]

:stunned: Oh dear.
Well English, History, Music, Economics shouldn't be toooooooooo bad.

Maths, Irish and German i'd panic about.
But i don't know Irish or German and i'm awful at complex maths :$
But i'm sure you'll do fine!
Who knows, you may even be rewarded with more concerts! :p

Thats what i suspect too. Hopefully they won't have a bunch of dick heads shouting out "REINFORCEMENTS!!" at every given opportunity like at the one i went to :rolleyes:

I've been doing Irish for 11 years...and I can say my age and where I live. That's about it.

I'm sure that was pretty awful...but you must admit Reinforcements is pretty great :happy:

[spiralstatic666]

I've been doing Irish for 11 years...and I can say my age and where I live. That's about it.

I'm sure that was pretty awful...but you must admit Reinforcements is pretty great :happy:

:LOL:!

It is a great song! They were clearly annoying Russell though, when they sang This Town he went over to them and shouted "This town aint big enough for both of us!", which everyone else found hillarious except them :p

[EvanMael]

:LOL:!

It is a great song! They were clearly annoying Russell though, when they sang This Town he went over to them and shouted "This town aint big enough for both of us!", which everyone else found hillarious except them :p

Hahaha...great!

Hopefully I'll get a chance to meet them over there. I shall stalk many cafees.

[spiralstatic666]

Hahaha...great!

Hopefully I'll get a chance to meet them over there. I shall stalk many cafees.

Ah, you have the same plan as me then :p.

I know it's unlikely, but i'm staying in the closest decent hotel to the venue, maybe i'd meet them over breakfast :LOL:!
I'm gonna try my best to meet them, it would be such an honour!

[EvanMael]

Ah, you have the same plan as me then :p.

I know it's unlikely, but i'm staying in the closest decent hotel to the venue, maybe i'd meet them over breakfast :LOL:!
I'm gonna try my best to meet them, it would be such an honour!

And they're supposed to be really friendly people.

Sparks and Morrissey are the only musicians I'd like to meet. Of course with Morrissey there is always the fear...he'll just be all :stunned: 'I must be somewhere else'

[spiralstatic666]

And they're supposed to be really friendly people.

Sparks and Morrissey are the only musicians I'd like to meet. Of course with Morrissey there is always the fear...he'll just be all :stunned: 'I must be somewhere else'

Yes i've heard they're really friendly!

I think i'd appreciate seeing any band that i like, but i REALLY would love to meet sparks, muse, and the actor Alan Rickman :happy:

[EvanMael]

Alan Rickman is very cool!

If you want a preview of the new album...

http://www.7digital.com/stores/productDetail.aspx?shop=122&pid=241320

I was kind of disturbed intially...but it sounds absoloutely amazing!
Mr.pubicmage I have a strong feeling you will adore this. What with the piano madness! It seems to be the same as the previous two but yet another progression. Likeable, This Is The Renaissance, I've Never Been High and Strange Animal sound incredibly promising! And I now think She Got Me Pregnant is amazing!


Woot!

[pubicmage]

Aaggh. This is a really bad time for my computer to have a shitty soundcard that doesn't work.

[spiralstatic666]

Argh!
I've already heard Good Morning, LUM, and SGMP, which normally i'd avoid at all costs. I'm one of those idiots that doesn't want to hear the songs until you get the whole album experience of holding it in your hands, looking at the pictures, reading over the lyrics, then listening to the songs :p.
So thank you for the link! But i'm gonna try and wait till it arrives through the letterbox :happy:






....The piano comment sounds very promising :D

[EvanMael]

Argh!
I've already heard Good Morning, LUM, and SGMP, which normally i'd avoid at all costs. I'm one of those idiots that doesn't want to hear the songs until you get the whole album experience of holding it in your hands, looking at the pictures, reading over the lyrics, then listening to the songs :p.
So thank you for the link! But i'm gonna try and wait till it arrives through the letterbox :happy:

....The piano comment sounds very promising :D

Yeah ideally, that's how I'd like it. But I'm an impatient man.

[EvanMael]

I've heard it all!

Wow. It's been kind of hard to take everything in. But it's really good. 'This Is The Renaissance' I adore. It's fantastic. Actually all the songs are strong. I think this album shows Ron at his best. His playing is amazing. Russells' voice is just the same. I think this is the last album they will do of this style.

I'm off to listen to it...AGAIN...and AGAIN, etc. Study can go away.

[spiralstatic666]

I've heard it all!

Wow. It's been kind of hard to take everything in. But it's really good. 'This Is The Renaissance' I adore. It's fantastic. Actually all the songs are strong. I think this album shows Ron at his best. His playing is amazing. Russells' voice is just the same. I think this is the last album they will do of this style.

I'm off to listen to it...AGAIN...and AGAIN, etc. Study can go away.

Don't rub it in :mad::p.

I neaaaaaarly gave in and listened to the clips last night, but didn't!

[EvanMael]

Don't rub it in :mad::p.

I neaaaaaarly gave in and listened to the clips last night, but didn't!

Well done. You better not listen!:p

[spiralstatic666]

Well done. You better not listen!:p

I'm trying, i'm trying! :p

[pubicmage]

Thanks very much for the link, Sir Evan. I think the album is fantastic and is a natural successor to Lil' Beethoven and Hello Young Lovers. In this respect, I think that it can be compared to Indiscreet, which can also be seen as the final installment in a 'trilogy' of albums; it takes elements of the previous two and fuses them with new ideas to create a very different sound.

It is definitely meant to be heard as a full album rather than a collection of songs because of the wonderful recapitulations of the introduction - the full-circle movement linking 'Likeable' with 'Intro' would not make as much sense if it was was not listened to within the context of the rest of the album, which is a clever move by Ron Mael.

The orchestral element still makes itself clear, but I think it differs quite a lot from the previous two albums because drums have a much more indiscreet (an adjective that I have longer to use to describe Sparks) presence rather than being used on only a few songs. The vocals are also very different, as Russell sings throughout rather than providing a speech-like narrative on the last two records. And, as Evan said, the Ron's piano playing is more interesting on this record than on most of the previous albums - Let The Monkey Drive is excellent. I really like its dynamics. I think it is a bit less complimentary of the orchestration than in the past, having more a presence in the foreground, which is good to me because it adds a more noticable layer to the music.

I Can’t Believe That You Would Fall for All the Crap in This Song actually exceeded my expectations. The synth sound is very nice and sounds quite similar to Good Morning, and the lyrics, as expected, are just as witty. The piano part from Ron is interesting; some of the chords remind me of the prélude from The Gadfly by Shostakovich, but that is probably a bad comparison that I can only make because it is one of the few pieces that I have bothered to learn properly on the piano.

The orchestration is quite different in tone to the last two albums, which I think is worth noting. It sounds almost like film soundtracks in places, perhaps a little like Danny Elfman or Philip Glass in a pop context. Glass is a more fitting comparison to me because they really embrace minimalism by using the same chord sequences and building through the arrangements and dynamics instead of progressing the tonality (in this respect, their masterpiece will always be My Baby's Takin' Me Home, but it's a really interesting approach that most pop groups could never pull off successfully).

I will stop rambling on for now because I will most likely end up meeting some kind of character limit if I keep writing. That and it will become boring soon.

[spiralstatic666]

If the album is as good as your essay about it.
Then i might just die of happiness.

Now however. I'll just curse my stubborn ways and continue to count down the days to release. :'(

[pubicmage]

It's definitely worth the wait. I almost stopped myself listening to it after Good Morning but it was impossible. It is too encapsulating.

The very intro to Likeable reminds me of Rock, Rock, Rock. The song itself is very different, but the strings at the beginning are almost identical! I think it is the only song on the album that has spoken word vocals. It's so cleverly done because the very end is just like the start of the album. Miss the start, miss the end!

[spiralstatic666]

It's definitely worth the wait. I almost stopped myself listening to it after Good Morning but it was impossible. It is too encapsulating.

The very intro to Likeable reminds me of Rock, Rock, Rock. The song itself is very different, but the strings at the beginning are almost identical! I think it is the only song on the album that has spoken word vocals. It's so cleverly done because the very end is just like the start of the album. Miss the start, miss the end!

That's what i suspected.
I know if i listen to any of it, i'll have to listen to the rest. So i've just gotta wait it out :p.

Uff. Stop it. I love the intro on Rock, Rock, Rock! I'm gonna be the only one out of you two now who hasn't heard it! I thought at least i had you to wait with because of your sound card, but noooo :p.

Miss the start, miss the end, clever ;)

[pubicmage]

A sound card can never stop somebody who is possessed with an mp3 player and CD-Rs! To be honest, I'm quite glad that it is dysfunctional at the moment because I would most likely have listened through the computer for the first time otherwise, which isn't the best way of hearing it as they have hardly any bass and sound extremely thin in comparison to my proper hi-fi.

Rock, Rock, Rock is probably my favourite song from HYL. I loved Ron's hair metal guitar theatrics during the live versions of it!

It's too hard to not use other song titles for sake of cheesiness. I revel in the opportunity whenever it arises.

[spiralstatic666]

A sound card can never stop somebody who is possessed with an mp3 player and CD-Rs! To be honest, I'm quite glad that it is dysfunctional at the moment because I would most likely have listened through the computer for the first time otherwise, which isn't the best way of hearing it as they have hardly any bass and sound extremely thin in comparison to my proper hi-fi.

Rock, Rock, Rock is probably my favourite song from HYL. I loved Ron's hair metal guitar theatrics during the live versions of it!

It's too hard to not use other song titles for sake of cheesiness. I revel in the opportunity whenever it arises.

That is very true!
Thats the other thing with me, i destroyed one of the speakers in my laptop so any bass sounds all reverby and horrible, i want the first time i hear it to be on my hi fi too.
I'm sure my neighbours will love me playing sparks over and over :p.

I can't decide!
RRR, VNF and AISDTPTOATNDC (bloody sparks and their long titles!) are all top songs from that one.
Ha yes! The theatrics were awesome! :happy:
I wonder what they've got planned for us this time round :D.

Ha, i do it all the time. Drives people mad! :rolleyes:

[pubicmage]

It's okay for me because my neighbours are stupidly noisy most of the time, so it's only fair that I can respond with excessive volumes of my own!

It's too hard to choose a top track from Hello Young Lovers. All I can say is that Here Kitty is definitely NOT the best! I don't know why, but that song has always annoyed me a bit. Especially when it is put up against the other songs from the album, most of which are fantastic. I need to listen to Metaphor right now, it is a breath of fresh air! (take that sentence as my response to your third paragraph, haha)

[spiralstatic666]

It's okay for me because my neighbours are stupidly noisy most of the time, so it's only fair that I can respond with excessive volumes of my own!

It's too hard to choose a top track from Hello Young Lovers. All I can say is that Here Kitty is definitely NOT the best! I don't know why, but that song has always annoyed me a bit. Especially when it is put up against the other songs from the album, most of which are fantastic. I need to listen to Metaphor right now, it is a breath of fresh air! (take that sentence as my response to your third paragraph, haha)

Well mine's a police officer, so you never know when she's actually home. But if she complains, i can just explain that i find her smoking outside beneath my window quite irritating too!

My dad hates Here Kitty with a passion! But saying that, he hates Equator, so what does he know :LOL:!
I don't mind Here Kitty. It's not one that i'd see on a playlist and be like *Oo! Must put that on!*, but if you hear it randomly, i actually get quite into it!
I can see why a lot of people don't like it though, it's not your average sparks song topic or sound.

:LOL: I love it! I could have a discussion about sparks quotes all day!

[pubicmage]

Well mine's a police officer, so you never know when she's actually home. But if she complains, i can just explain that i find her smoking outside beneath my window quite irritating too!

My dad hates Here Kitty with a passion! But saying that, he hates Equator, so what does he know :LOL:!
I don't mind Here Kitty. It's not one that i'd see on a playlist and be like *Oo! Must put that on!*, but if you hear it randomly, i actually get quite into it!
I can see why a lot of people don't like it though, it's not your average sparks song topic or sound.

:LOL: I love it! I could have a discussion about sparks quotes all day!

I love having a good reason to shoot down complaints from neighbours. It makes them much more bearable. Summer is approaching, which sadly means that my neighbours' dogs will start barking like the bastards that they are in the garden every morning. Sparks would be a good response since they only seem to listen to happy hardcore crap.

Haha, I always like it when somebody hates a popular song, just because they often have the strangest ways of justifying why they dislike it. I don't mind the melody or lyrics that much, but the stupid cat sample is a bit too much! If it was shorter, I would like it more.

Sparks have more brilliant quotes than any other band I can think of. "I married myself, I'm very happy together" is one of the best things anybody has ever written.

[spiralstatic666]

I love having a good reason to shoot down complaints from neighbours. It makes them much more bearable. Summer is approaching, which sadly means that my neighbours' dogs will start barking like the bastards that they are in the garden every morning. Sparks would be a good response since they only seem to listen to happy hardcore crap.

Haha, I always like it when somebody hates a popular song, just because they often have the strangest ways of justifying why they dislike it. I don't mind the melody or lyrics that much, but the stupid cat sample is a bit too much! If it was shorter, I would like it more.

Sparks have more brilliant quotes than any other band I can think of. "I married myself, I'm very happy together" is one of the best things anybody has ever written.

I love having a good reason to shoot down complaints from anyone! They soon learn to stop complaining! :LOL:
Not a dog fan then? Or just those dogs?

None of my neighbours have any noisy pets, i've got enough of my own!

Happy hardcore? Oh dear :noey:.

Yeah the cat sample isn't neccisary.

I LOVE I Married Myself!
I can so imagine listening to that quite satisfield when i'm 80 sat in my old woman chair :LOL:

Well we've said top ten favourites, how about a worst 10? Just to add a little controversy :p
1 being the worst.

Mine's probably:
10.The Lady Is Lingering.
9. Confusion.
8. Fill-er-up
7. I Want To Hold Your Hand (cover).
6. Madonna.
5. Who Don't Like Kids?
4. Lets Get Funky.
3. Cool Places.
5. My Other Voice.
2. Big Boy.
1. Tarzan And Jane.

[pubicmage]

I love having a good reason to shoot down complaints from anyone! They soon learn to stop complaining! :LOL:
Not a dog fan then? Or just those dogs?

None of my neighbours have any noisy pets, i've got enough of my own!

Happy hardcore? Oh dear :noey:.

Yeah the cat sample isn't neccisary.

I LOVE I Married Myself!
I can so imagine listening to that quite satisfield when i'm 80 sat in my old woman chair :LOL:

Well we've said top ten favourites, how about a worst 10? Just to add a little controversy :p
1 being the worst.

Mine's probably:
10.The Lady Is Lingering.
9. Confusion.
8. Fill-er-up
7. I Want To Hold Your Hand (cover).
6. Madonna.
5. Who Don't Like Kids?
4. Lets Get Funky.
3. Cool Places.
5. My Other Voice.
2. Big Boy.
1. Tarzan And Jane.

Those dogs are evil. I don't dislike the whole species, but these ones are identical and bark like noise rockers.

That list is evil, I think. Some of it (especially that stupid Beatles cover!) is pretty naff, but I love My Other Voice, Tarzan and Jane, Who Don't Like Kids (except for the stupid line sung by kids), Cool Places, Madonna and The Lady is Lingering. My Other Voice is actually my favourite song from No. 1 in Heaven! It's so unlike Sparks, so I should obviously listen to more by Giorgio Moroder.

Here's my list:

Here Kitty (DIE!)
Rock and Roll People in a Disco World (I like melody but it sounds so dated)
More Than a Sex Machine (I just dislike the style of this song)
Just Got Back From Heaven (yuck)

I cannot think of songs that I dislike. There are more but I can't remember their names!

[spiralstatic666]

Those dogs are evil. I don't dislike the whole species, but these ones are identical and bark like noise rockers.

That list is evil, I think. Some of it (especially that stupid Beatles cover!) is pretty naff, but I love My Other Voice, Tarzan and Jane, Who Don't Like Kids (except for the stupid line sung by kids), Cool Places, Madonna and The Lady is Lingering. My Other Voice is actually my favourite song from No. 1 in Heaven! It's so unlike Sparks, so I should obviously listen to more by Giorgio Moroder.

Here's my list:

Here Kitty (DIE!)
Rock and Roll People in a Disco World (I like melody but it sounds so dated)
More Than a Sex Machine (I just dislike the style of this song)
Just Got Back From Heaven (yuck)

I cannot think of songs that I dislike. There are more but I can't remember their names!

:eek: You don't like More Than A Sex Machine?! I love that one!!
It's great to see how people can like a band, but have such different tastes within the band.

I can't stand Tarzan And Jane. It's just so, blergh!

I had to go through my playlist to remind myself of the bad ones :p it's much better to just focus on the good.

I think that's why i don't like my other voice, it has no spark to it (aha :rolleyes:).

[EvanMael]

The Lady Is Lingering is fantastic!

I definitely agree with this being the Indiscreet of their 00s era.
What's your favourite tunes from it so?

My Worst List...

1 Beat The Clock (Plagiarism)
2 No.1 In Heaven (With Jimmy Sommerville)
3 Funny Face (Plagiarism)...I love the original
4 Fingertips
5 Kiss Me Quick
6 Stop If You Think You've Heard This Before
7 Just Because You Love Me
8 Rock'n' Roll People In A Disco World
9 Fun Bunch Of Guys From Outer Space
10 Here Kitty

Here Kitty does have its qualities though. Russells' sort of acapella bit and the "du du da" bits are nice.

And to go on to Big Beat. I actually think the songs are quite good and so are the lyrics. But I just listen to it very rarely because the production is so so bad. The guitar work is good but too weak sounding. The drums, well they sound dire. You can't even hear Rons paino. It's one of the albums I'd like to have seen during the Spectacular. I am sure it would have more power to it.

[pubicmage]

Photoshop is a definite stand-out, and I really like This is the Renaissance. There aren't any weak links, in my opinion, and it is sounding better with each listen (like all other Sparks albums do).

Big Beat and Introducing Sparks both suffer badly from poor production, which I think is a real shame because both albums have some really good songs. I still haven't heard the reissue of Introducing, but I'm hoping that it will be more listenable than the vinyl rips I've heard.

[EvanMael]

Photoshop is a definite stand-out, and I really like This is the Renaissance. There aren't any weak links, in my opinion, and it is sounding better with each listen (like all other Sparks albums do).



Renaissance is fantastic. Despite the unbelieveable simplicity of 'Crap' I think it's on of the best. I love Russell's voice on it.

[spiralstatic666]

:'(:'(:'(



:p

[Jamie_H]

I thought they were pretty much a comedy band? I'll have to check them out.

[spiralstatic666]

I thought they were pretty much a comedy band? I'll have to check them out.

They have done some comical songs, and their topics are usually about ridiculous things, but they are serious musicians.
Most people think of them as a comedy band because of Ron's moustache! :p

Let us know what you think! :happy:

[EvanMael]

Well there far from being a joke band...but they are extremely witty.

And god I hate Radiohead. Sorry, I just thought I should say it here :p

[spiralstatic666]

Well there far from being a joke band...but they are extremely witty.

And god I hate Radiohead. Sorry, I just thought I should say it here :p

Lol! Where did that come from?!
I also dislike Radiohead.
They are SO over-rated. The only decent songs they've ever done are "Just" and "Street Spirit", which is very poor for such a large number of songs.

[EvanMael]

Lol! Where did that come from?!
I also dislike Radiohead.
They are SO over-rated. The only decent songs they've ever done are "Just" and "Street Spirit", which is very poor for such a large number of songs.

Because they seem like the complete opposite to Sparks and they are so revered on this forum. I like 'Just' yeah, that's one most non fans seem to like.

I suppose I am offering a dull opinion, but they're just boring :p:LOL:

[spiralstatic666]

Because they seem like the complete opposite to Sparks and they are so revered on this forum. I like 'Just' yeah, that's one most non fans seem to like.

I suppose I am offering a dull opinion, but they're just boring :p:LOL:

Probably because he actually sings it properly :p.
Is it just me that thinks the singer sounds like he's having a stroke whenever he opens his mouth?!
Especially that first single off the new album! Urgh. :stunned:

[pubicmage]

Because they seem like the complete opposite to Sparks and they are so revered on this forum. I like 'Just' yeah, that's one most non fans seem to like.

I suppose I am offering a dull opinion, but they're just boring :p:LOL:

I suppose that's one way of convincing the majority to empathise with your musical taste! I like Radiohead (post-2000 Radiohead, at least), but I will not discuss it in this thread because it's far too unmaelistic.

On the topic of the new album, Strange Animal and I Can't/........Crap...in..Song... are unbearably catchy. I couldn't sleep because the hooks kept getting stuck in my head!

[Jamie_H]

They have done some comical songs, and their topics are usually about ridiculous things, but they are serious musicians.
Most people think of them as a comedy band because of Ron's moustache! :p

Let us know what you think! :happy:

It's because my Geography A level teacher used to play them in class sometimes. The two songs i actually heard involved the line "There's no such thing as aliens" and the other one involved cats meowing alot.

[spiralstatic666]

It's because my Geography A level teacher used to play them in class sometimes. The two songs i actually heard involved the line "There's no such thing as aliens" and the other one involved cats meowing alot.

There's No Such Thing As Aliens and Here Kitty then :p.
We were talking about Here Kitty earlier, it's not your typical Sparks song.

If you're after some good ones the best place to start would probably be with these:
This Town Aint Big Enough For Both Of Us.
Amateur Hour.
Rhythm Thief.
Dick Around.
Number One Song In Heaven.

Should give you a broad range of their styles :happy:

[spiralstatic666]

You guys are gonna hate me.

You know that competition to win tickets to Music That You Can Dance To or Interior Design...

Well, guess who's won? :D:D:D:D:D:D

Now to decide which one :p

[Gemsy]

I suppose that's one way of convincing the majority to empathise with your musical taste! I like Radiohead (post-2000 Radiohead, at least), but I will not discuss it in this thread because it's far too unmaelistic.

On the topic of the new album, Strange Animal and I Can't/........Crap...in..Song... are unbearably catchy. I couldn't sleep because the hooks kept getting stuck in my head!

:LOL:

[pubicmage]

You guys are gonna hate me.

You know that competition to win tickets to Music That You Can Dance To or Interior Design...

Well, guess who's won? :D:D:D:D:D:D

Now to decide which one :p

AGHGRHGHRGH.

I'd go for Interior Design, just because it's only for the proper hardcore fans (and it is better, I think). It will be much better without the bubonic production.

:LOL:

Do yoo know Sparks?

Beyond the obvious, of course. It's amazing that they can simultaneously be the best ever glam band and the best ever disco band.

[Gemsy]

AGHGRHGHRGH.

I'd go for Interior Design, just because it's only for the proper hardcore fans (and it is better, I think). It will be much better without the bubonic production.



Do yoo know Sparks?

Beyond the obvious, of course. It's amazing that they can simultaneously be the best ever glam band and the best ever disco band.
I know some! Never really got into them proper though. Any recommendations? :D (I've just discovered the beauty of LastFM for free listening/sampling!)

[spiralstatic666]

AGHGRHGHRGH.

I'd go for Interior Design, just because it's only for the proper hardcore fans (and it is better, I think). It will be much better without the bubonic production.



I told you!! :LOL:
I've listened to them both just now and without a doubt think Interior Design would be the best.
I'm sooooo excited!!!!!!! :D


I know some! Never really got into them proper though. Any recommendations? :D (I've just discovered the beauty of LastFM for free listening/sampling!)

Further back in the thread i suggested some for new listeners :happy:

[Gemsy]

I told you!! :LOL:
I've listened to them both just now and without a doubt think Interior Design would be the best.
I'm sooooo excited!!!!!!! :D




Further back in the thread i suggested some for new listeners :happy:

Nice one bruvva! *looks* :D
I'll have a good listen, and be back to chat about my discoveries. :happy:

[spiralstatic666]

Nice one bruvva! *looks* :D
I'll have a good listen, and be back to chat about my discoveries. :happy:

Good good :D.
Hope you like them! :happy:

[pubicmage]

I know some! Never really got into them proper though. Any recommendations? :D (I've just discovered the beauty of LastFM for free listening/sampling!)

Indiscreet and Propaganda are good starts, and I'm sure that both albums are fully streamable on the site because I've forced some others to listen to them!

Last.fm is so good.

I told you!! :LOL:
I've listened to them both just now and without a doubt think Interior Design would be the best.
I'm sooooo excited!!!!!!! :D

I HATE the second song from Interior Design but the rest of it is all at least 'quite good'. It is overlooked, at any rate, but I like Introducing Sparks despite its dubious production...Different Sparks fans seem to have different tastes because they've covered so many styles. A bit like Bowie.

[Gemsy]

Indiscreet and Propaganda are good starts, and I'm sure that both albums are fully streamable on the site because I've forced some others to listen to them!

Last.fm is so good.



I HATE the second song from Interior Design but the rest of it is all at least 'quite good'. It is overlooked, at any rate, but I like Introducing Sparks despite its dubious production...Different Sparks fans seem to have different tastes because they've covered so many styles. A bit like Bowie.
I'll check them out, thankies. Mmmhmm, that's what I've gathered from all I've read about them... 20 albums, there's gonna be something for everyone! :D

[EvanMael]

And so I depart at 4am tomorrow...I shall report back when I do get back :happy:


And that's great you won tickets! I think that will be one of the most interesting albums to hear...because I doubt they have ever played songs from it live before!

[pubicmage]

Ooh, have fun! (how could you not?) I will have to join those who are listening to each album on the day that it is performed.

It's only ten days until I see No. 1 in Heaven, which is insanely exciting. Tryouts For the Human Race!

[EvanMael]

Ooh, have fun! (how could you not?) I will have to join those who are listening to each album on the day that it is performed.

It's only ten days until I see No. 1 in Heaven, which is insanely exciting. Tryouts For the Human Race!

Did you see that you can watch the shows online? Of course you have to pay I take it...but still!

[pubicmage]

No, I did not know that, but I think I will have to investigate further! I would love to see Indiscreet in particular even if I cannot be there.

[spiralstatic666]

No, I did not know that, but I think I will have to investigate further! I would love to see Indiscreet in particular even if I cannot be there.

http://www.cdpulse.com/venue/page/Carling+Academy+Islington
:happy:

[EvanMael]

Well I'm back...

Absoloutely fantastic. Russell is amazing. Both with his singing and his marvellous suits:LOL:. He sang most of the songs better than on the record and just seems to have an endless energy supply.

Halfnelson was my favourite night because it made me like the album even more. High C and Slowboat were the highlights. And Of course Kimono was also impressive. But then again no surprise there.

Last night when we got back to our hotel, just a minute away from the venue. We discovered that the Kimono gig was being broadcast on the huge flatscreen in the bar. Which of course seemed a bit bizarre. It was all recorded by a friend of Russell's from LA on this really high quality camera. And then after that he start playing all these older Sparks stuff he had recorded. He was also with Joe Elliot (the singer out of Def Leppard) (:$)...and he very kindly bought us all pizza :LOL:

Unfortunately the bar had to close...

I love London.


Did any of guys watch the gigs online?

[spiralstatic666]

Well I'm back...

Absoloutely fantastic. Russell is amazing. Both with his singing and his marvellous suits:LOL:. He sang most of the songs better than on the record and just seems to have an endless energy supply.

Halfnelson was my favourite night because it made me like the album even more. High C and Slowboat were the highlights. And Of course Kimono was also impressive. But then again no surprise there.

Last night when we got back to our hotel, just a minute away from the venue. We discovered that the Kimono gig was being broadcast on the huge flatscreen in the bar. Which of course seemed a bit bizarre. It was all recorded by a friend of Russell's from LA on this really high quality camera. And then after that he start playing all these older Sparks stuff he had recorded. He was also with Joe Elliot (the singer out of Def Leppard) (:$)...and he very kindly bought us all pizza :LOL:

Unfortunately the bar had to close...

I love London.


Did any of guys watch the gigs online?



Glad you had such an awesome time!!! :happy:

Oh the suits! The suits!! Puts the blazer i bought for the gigs to shame!

You weren't staing at the Hilton were you? That's about a minute from the venue and is where im staying for 2 of the 4 nights.
Didn't meet the guys then? :p

I watched them all online. You can get recodings of Woofer and Kimono on the official board too :D.

GOT THE ALBUM TODAY!!
Pure genious!!! :D<333333

[Gemsy]

I fucking love them, btw.

[spiralstatic666]

I fucking love them, btw.

Great!! :happy:

They're Likeable ;)

[EvanMael]

Glad you had such an awesome time!!! :happy:

Oh the suits! The suits!! Puts the blazer i bought for the gigs to shame!

You weren't staing at the Hilton were you? That's about a minute from the venue and is where im staying for 2 of the 4 nights.
Didn't meet the guys then? :p

I watched them all online. You can get recodings of Woofer and Kimono on the official board too :D.

GOT THE ALBUM TODAY!!
Pure genious!!! :D<333333

Jurrys Inn...just a street or two from the Hilton.
I wanted to hang around but I didn't want to annoy my dad and there was a lot of other people there too.

[Claire]

Propaganda last night was ammezzin :D

Now I need to get more stuff really, I only have three albums, haha. Rubbish.

[Gemsy]

AWWW jealous. I wanna see them...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfxkq726AMI

LULZ.

[spiralstatic666]

Ahhh beautiful Russell, and his broken tooth :p

[Gemsy]

Ahhh beautiful Russell, and his broken tooth :p

The bit where Ron's looking through his leg... creepy. :LOL:

[pubicmage]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95jDdBmzyiE

This is still my favourite. I cannot wait for Sunday!

[spiralstatic666]

I was JUST gonna say, if you think that's creepy, check out Ron's striptease!!
:LOL:

[EvanMael]

All watching Indiscreet tonight? I can't wait!

Forget teh football...

[EvanMael]

I hope you are watching it...it's fantastic so far!

[spiralstatic666]

Certainly am!

Pineapple!! :D

[EvanMael]

That was stunning.
I love Sparks...:happy:

[spiralstatic666]

That was stunning.
I love Sparks...:happy:

Don't forget the bonus track :p

PLEASE PLAY PROFILE. And if not tonight, at one im going to :D

[EvanMael]

Don't forget the bonus track :p

PLEASE PLAY PROFILE. And if not tonight, at one im going to :D

Oh I amn't...and yes they should!

[EvanMael]

Oooo....nice surprise

[spiralstatic666]

Oh I amn't...and yes they should!


Profile has GoneWithTheWind. :(

[EvanMael]

But what an enjoyable night though....I'm just so glad it has gone so well for them. They work so bloody hard.

[spiralstatic666]

Tell me about it.
They deserve so much more than flowers!

They really are admirable. :happy:

[Gemsy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95jDdBmzyiE

This is still my favourite. I cannot wait for Sunday!

LOVELOVELOVE.

[pubicmage]

The new album is looking as though it might actually chart in the top 40. It would be really odd to see it immersed amongst such a horrid collection of shit, but it would be still great.

I think I'm beginning to prefer it to the last two albums, but maybe that is because it is still completely fresh. Strange Animal is amazing.

Oh, and I Can't Believe That You Would Fall For All The Crap In This Song is the best thing to play on the piano since sliced bread. It's far too good. I'm suprised the new album is fully streamable on last.fm!

[EvanMael]

Strange Animal is amazing.



Yes it is! I can't believe that so many on the Sparks forum thought it was not that good. The arrangement is great, the instruments, the singing, the lyrics...basically everything.

Big Beat tonight :happy:

[pubicmage]

I wasn't that fond of it the first time I heard it but the chorus managed to get stuck in my head for some reason, so I obviously had to listen to it again and again. I think it is actually my favourite song from the new album!

[pubicmage]

Well, the album doesn't seem to have charted, but I cannot say I'm suprised despite its success in the mid-weeks. The general public would not understand musical ingenuity even if it raped their cat.

No. 1 in Heaven was the strangest gig experience I have ever had. The support act were unsuprisingly rather mediocre and stylistically unsuitable for what is essentially a disco album - I'd call them a mix between lounge music and lullabies - but around two-thirds of the way during their set, I started to feel ridiculously ill and broke into masses of sweat. At what was almost the worst possible time imaginable, I almost passed out and had to be carried to the bar by my friends to get some water because I couldn't see or move by myself! I can only blame this on the fact that I had almost no sugar-based food at all that day and hardly any water, but it was quite frightening even though the same thing has happened to me in the past. I bet everybody thought I'd taken ecstasy or something.

Anyway, I waited outside for some air and the like (what is like air? I shall have to write an essay on this some day) and managed to get back in to see Sparks, but feel a bit ill again just as Tryouts For The Human Race was about to start, which naturally made me want to cry. I went back out for a little more fresh (by Islington's standards, at least) air, some chocolate and a wee bit more water, which is presumably helpful when you are almost completely deprived of sugar and hydrogen.

By the time I got back in, Tryouts was almost finished, but I did manage to catch the last chorus. Never mind. It's one of those No. 1 in Heaven songs that get played live fairly regularly, so I'm not massively disappointed because I am sure I will get to see it some time in the future (iii-in the-eee fuuu-ture).

The person working at the door told us that there are seats on the upper level, so I managed to spend the rest of the concert sitting on an overtly comfortable sofa - the only problem was that I was left watching the band on screens. That was so strange, but I would rather have seen it that way than stay outside and freeze to death. My Other Voice was obviously the highlight because they never play that, but I was slightly disappointed that Russell didn't break out a vocoder to sing the second verse. It was still quite excellent, however, despite the drums being far too high in the mix from the monitor on the balcony.

Before they played The Number One Song in Heaven, Russell pointed out that it was the first time they have played the album in its entirety, which implies to me that they might do it again some time. Next year would be the ideal excuse since it is the 30th anniversary of the album and they did the same thing for Kimono My House.

Even if it was the most peculiar way to experience a live band, I still think it was worth the money. Ron's retro 1979 hair alone justified the price! Let's hope they do a proper tour later this year. I heard quite a few mentions of a September tour, but I have no idea if there's any substance behind that rumour.

[Gemsy]

Awww, dude! Sorry you felt ill, that must've been so frustrating. Hope you feel better soon! It's really odd that they're playing through albums; I was saying that bands should do that more often only the other day. I hope they tour again soon, I really do. I'd love to see them.

(I can't think of any other stuff that's like air..)

[pubicmage]

At least I have a fairly interesting gig story now!

I love the whole album-live-in-its-entirety concept. Obviously not if the album's rubbish, but albums like Dark Side of the Moon can only work live that way because they're just shitty fragments otherwise. Bands can easily do an album in the first set and a collection in the second, because it satisfies both setlist fascists that way.

[EvanMael]

Ah sorry to hear about that, but of course glad you didn't miss it all!

it happened to me at Electric Picnic when I was watching Massive Attack. I hadn't had any water all day and what with the incesant pounding coming from their two drum kits I nearly passed out.

And you can always get Dee Vee Dee for Tryouts!

[pubicmage]

Indiscreet is actually the best album since sliced bread. Everybody who doesn't own it/doesn't plan on owning it very soon should be banned forever.

[EvanMael]

Omg, sparks so soooooound like queen

[pubicmage]

Yeh, I kno what u mean. The solo from Goofing Off is a total Brian May ripoff.

[EvanMael]

But yes Indiscreet is quite the work of art. I've got a lovely Vinyl of it too :happy:

[pubicmage]

Me too! I picked up Indiscreet and Hello Young Lovers on vinyl a while ago. One of the two seems to be on my record player at all times. It's difficult to find any of their other albums outside of eBay. I'd love a copy of Introducing Sparks on vinyl just for the hilarity of the cover. I can also imagine Lil' Beethoven sounding wonderful on vinyl for some reason.

I wonder what would happen if I played Under The Table With Her at 45 RPM.

[pubicmage]

I just want to bring this thread back to say that their first album is a completely overlooked work of genius. It took me ages to appreciate it properly but it's such a quaint, unique and bizarre album. It sounds nothing like anything else they've ever done but it still sounds like Sparks. I think (No More) Mr. Nice Guys is one of the best songs they've ever done.

Who the hell is the other singer on Biology 2? That cannot be Russell.

Oh, and the Brenda Is Always In The Way is wonderful. It's always ridiculously exciting to hear a new song.

[EvanMael]

I just want to bring this thread back to say that their first album is a completely overlooked work of genius. It took me ages to appreciate it properly but it's such a quaint, unique and bizarre album. It sounds nothing like anything else they've ever done but it still sounds like Sparks. I think (No More) Mr. Nice Guys is one of the best songs they've ever done.

Who the hell is the other singer on Biology 2? That cannot be Russell.

Oh, and the Brenda Is Always In The Way is wonderful. It's always ridiculously exciting to hear a new song.

Yes you're correct. It was amazing when I saw it. I enjoyed it more than Kimono. High C is one of my favourite songs and I think Slowboat is probably the best ballad they've done and perhaps the most straightforward song they've ever written. I believe the singer is Earle Mankey who's the guy who played guitar on the album and also A Woofer. He wrote that song too.

Little Little Brenda...
It's such a class song, I love the bits when it goes all "you want to see a movie... etc" Russell's voice is terrific.

I really need a new Sparks album!

[pubicmage]

Yes you're correct. It was amazing when I saw it. I enjoyed it more than Kimono. High C is one of my favourite songs and I think Slowboat is probably the best ballad they've done and perhaps the most straightforward song they've ever written. I believe the singer is Earle Mankey who's the guy who played guitar on the album and also A Woofer. He wrote that song too.

Little Little Brenda...
It's such a class song, I love the bits when it goes all "you want to see a movie... etc" Russell's voice is terrific.

I really need a new Sparks album!

I actually think it's a better album than Kimono, but that's coming from a person who wouldn't even put Kimono amongst the top ten Sparks albums. For some reason, it just never grew on my like Propaganda and Indiscreet did and always came across as the weak link from the Island years. But there is still time for it to grow on me properly because I didn't fully appreciate Lil' Beethoven until last year and now it's my joint-favourite with No. 1 in Heaven and Indiscreet.

I love the fact that there is a song called Roger on the album. I'm going to pretend I'm named after it if anybody asks in the future. It's such a quirky little song and has some of the craziest keyboard parts Ron has ever recorded.

I thought the other singer from Biology 2 sounded female, mainly because of the "ooooh, let's do it!" bit at the start. It doesn't really matter, but whoever it is has an extremely weird voice! I'd love to hear how the album works live because there's so much studio trickery going on that seems impossible to recreate. The production is a little flat at times but I think that makes it quite charming for some reason.

It's brilliant that everybody is already impatiently waiting for another album even though the new one has only been out for a couple of months!

[EvanMael]

I actually think it's a better album than Kimono, but that's coming from a person who wouldn't even put Kimono amongst the top ten Sparks albums. For some reason, it just never grew on my like Propaganda and Indiscreet did and always came across as the weak link from the Island years. But there is still time for it to grow on me properly because I didn't fully appreciate Lil' Beethoven until last year and now it's my joint-favourite with No. 1 in Heaven and Indiscreet.

I love the fact that there is a song called Roger on the album. I'm going to pretend I'm named after it if anybody asks in the future. It's such a quirky little song and has some of the craziest keyboard parts Ron has ever recorded.

I thought the other singer from Biology 2 sounded female, mainly because of the "ooooh, let's do it!" bit at the start. It doesn't really matter, but whoever it is has an extremely weird voice! I'd love to hear how the album works live because there's so much studio trickery going on that seems impossible to recreate. The production is a little flat at times but I think that makes it quite charming for some reason.

It's brilliant that everybody is already impatiently waiting for another album even though the new one has only been out for a couple of months!


I'm sure the voice at the very start is indeed a lady. Althought Russell did a very accurate rendition of her voice in London. I think he's the chap at the very start though.

I would put Kimono in their top 10, but I just prefer Propoganda and Indiscreet. They don't have a hit that really matches up to This Town but as complete albums their far more superior.

[Knightofcydonia]

I bought Mael Intuition The best of 74-76 a while back on iTunes as their image always appealed to me when I saw them on ToTP2 and I have to say, I absolutely love it. My favourite song from it is Hospitality on Parade, but the other 19 songs are great too. There was one song on there, Reinforcements I think, that has the best production quality of any song I've ever heard.

What would you recommend I buy next, as they're definitely going to be my new music binge, I think.

[EvanMael]

Well you could buy any of the three classic albums most of those songs come from.

Kimono My House
Propoganda
Indiscreet.

All pretty flawless stuff.

Then for their electronic side.

No.1 In Heaven

Last three albums are very impressive, but some may not like them because they're very styleised.

Lil'Beethoven
Hello Young Lovers
Exotic Creatures Of The Deep.



That's about all the standout ones I suppose.

[pubicmage]

I think the Halfnelson LP is a stand out, just because they never did anything else like it (it took forever to get into it properly, but now it's in my top five). The same can be said about Gratuitous Sax, but with the electronic stuff, No. 1 is by far the best place to start.

Indiscreet is definitely the best choice if Hospitality On Parade is your favourite song.

[Knightofcydonia]

Wow, this was on page 17.

Just got the CD of Mael Intuition on eBay for £3 from a seller with 100% feedback. Chuffed as fuck as I already have it off iTunes and I loves it.

[pubicmage]

Do you have any of their proper albums yet? Propaganda has once again become my favourite from the Island era. Bon Voyage is one of the best album closers I've ever heard.

[Knightofcydonia]

I haven't, but I saw Kimono earlier for a fiver.

[Gemsy]

Hay Sparkingtons. I wanna go and see them in March. What night will be better? :D

[pubicmage]

20th = glam lolz and new album.

21st = disco lolz and new album.

I really want to go to the first, because I've already seen No. 1 in Heaven live (kind of. haha). If I can get the money together, maybe. If I wasn't poor and if my friend's birthday didn't clash with the second, I would definitely go to both.

[Gemsy]

Yeah I was up for the first one (obv ololol) BUT. I wanna see No. 1. as well! Where is the Forum, anyway?

[seregon]

They seem like a lot of fun have given them a listen lately

[Gemsy]

I wanna see Indiscreet too. DARN IT. I wanna see them all!

[pubicmage]

Yeah I was up for the first one (obv ololol) BUT. I wanna see No. 1. as well! Where is the Forum, anyway?

It's damn difficult to choose these things. Kimono My House is about ten minutes long than No. 1, but that means they'll probably do a slightly longer set of miscellaneous songs during the No. 1 encore.

And yes, I want to see Indiscreet. Agh, it's so good. I will have to listen to it right now. They played it last year, and even hired a string quartet for Under the Table With Her! Ron's microphone was turned down, though, so his one line was completely ruined, which is what everybody was waiting to hear. :LOL:

I also want to see Propaganda, with Mike Patton joining them for a few songs again.

And I reaaaally want to see them play Angst in My Pants! Best album of the '80s.

[Claire]

Yeah I was up for the first one (obv ololol) BUT. I wanna see No. 1. as well! Where is the Forum, anyway?

Kentish Town. I might go to the first one :D (if there's still tickets?)

[Gemsy]

It's damn difficult to choose these things. Kimono My House is about ten minutes long than No. 1, but that means they'll probably do a slightly longer set of miscellaneous songs during the No. 1 encore.

And yes, I want to see Indiscreet. Agh, it's so good. I will have to listen to it right now. They played it last year, and even hired a string quartet for Under the Table With Her! Ron's microphone was turned down, though, so his one line was completely ruined, which is what everybody was waiting to hear. :LOL:

I also want to see Propaganda, with Mike Patton joining them for a few songs again.

And I reaaaally want to see them play Angst in My Pants! Best album of the '80s.:LOL: I can't believe his mike was turned down, fucken boo! lol dinner for twelve. Is he a doggy in that song? I think of him as a doggy under the table. :chuckle: Awww man, you saw Mike Patton! :eek: I'm still yet to see him live.

Yep Claire there's still tickets! On seetickets anyway. :D WANT. I might buy one later. Fuckit. :D I don't go to enough gigs anymore.

[pubicmage]

:LOL: I can't believe his mike was turned down, fucken boo! lol dinner for twelve. Is he a doggy in that song? I think of him as a doggy under the table. :chuckle: Awww man, you saw Mike Patton! :eek: I'm still yet to see him live.

Yep Claire there's still tickets! On seetickets anyway. :D WANT. I might buy one later. Fuckit. :D I don't go to enough gigs anymore.

haha, I wasn't there unfortunately. I just had a first hand account from somebody who went to all 21 shows (envy envy envy). I don't think Patton has actually played with them in concert, but I think the guitarist from the last few albums was in the last FNM lineup. Dean Menta or something like that.

It's so expensive travel during the recession. But I must get to Kimono My House! I don't even like it that much, but I can imagine it sounding much better live.

[Feed the Hex]

Gah!
I really want to go to the 20th but I have a weekend away booked on 21st-22nd and can't afford the extra trip into London as well ...arsebiscuits!!
I adore Sparks ...think I''ve said I first saw them live in 1974 so it's sort of scary they are still going and what's more I still love 'em :LOL:...feeling the passing of the years fo' sho' :$:LOL:
Anyone hear if they'll be doing other dates ...especially up North?

[spiralstatic666]

I'm goiiiiiiiiing :D:D:D:D:D
Going on the 20th to see Kimono My House! Absolutely can't wait!! Hope everyone can make it! We should have a meet up!

I'll stand out a mile; red hair and a long sleeve black shirt with 21x21 related Sparks writing on the back and "It Ain't Done With Smoke And Mirrors" on the front :D;)!!

[Rage Kitty]

YAY!

I'm going!
:D

[Gemsy]

:LOL: AMAZEN. Sparks meet up?

[Rage Kitty]

:LOL: AMAZEN. Sparks meet up?

Oh yes!

I'M ACTUALLY GOING TO SEE THE MAEL-TASH IRL!
:happy:

[Gemsy]

Oh yes!

I'M ACTUALLY GOING TO SEE THE MAEL-TASH IRL!
:happy:

:LOL: YAAAY! tash of win <3
I am overdrawn, but I THINK I might just buy a ticket anyway. :D

[Rage Kitty]

:LOL: YAAAY! tash of win <3
I am overdrawn, but I THINK I might just buy a ticket anyway. :D

I so want you there that I will lend you money if you want
:)

[Gemsy]

I so want you there that I will lend you money if you want
:)

AWWW. :'( Bless your face! <3 :D
Luckily the money I paid in today has cleared already and I actually have £424. I'm heading over to Seetickets as I type. :happy:

EDIT: done :D OMG I'M AM OMG GOING TO SEE SPARKS. yay yay YAY.

[Rage Kitty]

awww. :'( bless your face! <3 :d
luckily the money i paid in today has cleared already and i actually have £424. I'm heading over to seetickets as i type. :happy:

Edit: Done :d omg i'm am omg going to see sparks. Yay yay yay.

happy happy joy joy!
:D

[EvanMael]

I've acquired a job.
I like London.
I love Sparks.

Hmmm

[spiralstatic666]

I've acquired a job.
I like London.
I love Sparks.

Hmmm

Coooooome!!
Everyone thinking about it should go!!

And yes Gemsy, Sparks meet up! :happy:

[Claire]

I'm going :D

With my mother. Again. Lolz.

[pubicmage]

I just bought a Kimono ticket. YAYYyy. But I have no idea what the hell to do for accomodation and shit.

[Gemsy]

HERE kitty kitty kitty HERE kitty HERE kitty

[pubicmage]

The cat sound effects. It would be a much better song without them. haha. Modesty Plays. Now that's a song!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mB35LsLMH3U

Russell looks far too cool in that video. seriously.

[Gemsy]

MAJOR SUIT ENVY. :eek:
I cannot stop singing Dick Around. It's STUCK IN MAH BRANES.

[pubicmage]

It definitely has some of the best lyrics ever. If they don't play it at the Kimono gig, I will send a complaint to Ofcom or something. It is a prerequisite. When I last saw them, they played Dancing is Dangerous (a song written for Noel (http://discodelivery.blogspot.com/2006/10/disco-delivery-27-noel-is-there-more.html)) for the encore, which is a good alternative solely because they'd never played it before then! I doubt they'll ever play it again, really.

Why the hell? WHY THE HELL? Why the hell? WHY THE HELL???

[Gemsy]

It definitely has some of the best lyrics ever. If they don't play it at the Kimono gig, I will send a complaint to Ofcom or something. It is a prerequisite. When I last saw them, they played Dancing is Dangerous (a song written for Noel (http://discodelivery.blogspot.com/2006/10/disco-delivery-27-noel-is-there-more.html)) for the encore, which is a good alternative solely because they'd never played it before then! I doubt they'll ever play it again, really.

Why the hell? WHY THE HELL? Why the hell? WHY THE HELL???

Awww, if they do play it I will say yay very loudly. I will be saying yay anyway. OMG excited. :D

[pubicmage]

They should play As I Sit To Play The Organ At The Notre Dame Cathedral. It's crazy. Demented. But Dick Around sounds so good live, especially when the guitars and drums come in. And the stage antics are obviously the best.

[Gemsy]

They should play As I Sit To Play The Organ At The Notre Dame Cathedral. It's crazy. Demented. But Dick Around sounds so good live, especially when the guitars and drums come in. And the stage antics are obviously the best.

Yeah, I can imagine that guitar/drums bit live would be immense! When I first heard that bit I went nuts! It's so metal. <3 Haha, I love As I Sit... too. Hallelujahhallelujahhallelujah

[pubicmage]

Yeah, I can imagine that guitar/drums bit live would be immense! When I first heard that bit I went nuts! It's so metal. <3 Haha, I love As I Sit... too. Hallelujahhallelujahhallelujah

Even just watching it on the video can make you appreciate how awesome it is! I love it too much. As I Sit Down is so weird live. They generated an animated organ onto the screen and Ron sat in front of it 'playing' it. It's the most theatrical concert I've ever seen.

AGH! iTunes is pissing about with the playback and making it sound like some kind of stupid minimalistic composition by Steve Reich.

[pubicmage]

Fuck. I'm listening to Equator (best song on the album) already, but it feels like I only just put Kimono on. I forgot how great this album is. It goes by far too quickly. I'd rate it above both of the other mid-'70s 'glam' (I'm always reluctant to call Sparks glam-rock) albums at the moment!

[Rage Kitty]

When do I get to do it my way?
When do I get to feel like Sid Vicious felt?

<3

[Gemsy]

I fucking adore Equator! HahahaHA. You said you said you said.

Also also:
I lmao off every time I hear "Gonna hang myself... from my famlee tree!"

[Gemsy]

I CANNOT GET ENOUGH
of this band. :LOL:

I've gone from vaguely knowing a couple of songs off of Kimono My House to just living and breathing them. Epic epic epic love love love!

:D:D:D
:D:D
:D
!

[pubicmage]

I know the feeling, and it's greeeeeeeeeat (I hope that doesn't read like the bastard from the Frosties advert). There is so much to hear, and you can get so many plays out of each album. I need to listen to Angst in My Pants at once.

[Obi]

was humming "This town..." but I really know very little about them.

Any suggestions for a noob?

[Rage Kitty]

was humming "This town..." but I really know very little about them.

Any suggestions for a noob?

Get 'Kimono In My House' and work your way throught the albums

I like 'Gratutious Sax & Senseless Violins' myself as well

:happy:

[Gemsy]

Indiscreet

and

Hello Young Lovers

and the new album

and

OMG I WANT THEM to come and play all their songs in my bedroom 24-7 *squees*

[pubicmage]

If you like the Pet Shop Boys, get Gratuitous Sax.

If you like glam rock, get everything from A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing through to Indiscreet.

If you like mental bullshit, get their last three albums and their first album.

If you like new wave, get everything from Terminal Jive through to Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat.

If you like synthpop duos and want to hear the first band to do that stuff, get No. 1 in Heaven. Giorgio Moroder produced it, which is always good news.

If you like dodgy music that isn't quite as good as the rest of their discography, get Big Beat, Introducing Sparks, Music That You Can Dance To, Interior Design and Balls. They all have some great and not-so-great songs, and most of them have dodgy production.

If you like Faith No More, Jimmy Sommerville, Erasure and Tony Visconti, get Plagiarism. It's a collection of Sparks songs covered by Sparks.

I think that covers it all (except b-sides, demos and soundtracks).

[Gemsy]

I LOVE ALL OF IT. :LOL:
I need all their albums, right now, otherwise I might die.

[pubicmage]

I only actually own No. 1 in Heaven, Indiscreet (vinyl yay), Hello Young Lovers (pink vinyl!) and Exotic Creatures of the Deep...the rest, I got from my friend in Brighton, who sent me all of their albums in FLAC along with dozens on bootlegs and videos. Sparks activism. He's sent the same collection to a few others. Whoever said illegal distribution of music is a bad thing? I probably wouldn't have heard more than the obvious without it!

I seriously never realised exactly how good Kimono My House is until last week. I've always liked it, but never really thought it was anywhere near as good as Indiscreet and Propaganda. AH!!!!!!!!11

Their first album is one of my favourites. It's so quirky.

[Gemsy]

I only actually own No. 1 in Heaven, Indiscreet (vinyl yay), Hello Young Lovers (pink vinyl!) and Exotic Creatures of the Deep...the rest, I got from my friend in Brighton, who sent me all of their albums in FLAC along with dozens on bootlegs and videos. Sparks activism. He's sent the same collection to a few others. Whoever said illegal distribution of music is a bad thing? I probably wouldn't have heard more than the obvious without it!

I seriously never realised exactly how good Kimono My House is until last week. I've always liked it, but never really thought it was anywhere near as good as Indiscreet and Propaganda. AH!!!!!!!!11

Their first album is one of my favourites. It's so quirky.
PINK VINYL! :eek:

I started with Kimono, 'cause I had two songs from it (Obvious song is obvious and Equator, for some reason) so I have that and I found Hello Young Lovers and Exotic Creatures for a fiver on Music Magpie and you sent me Indiscreet and omg I CAN'T STOP LISTENINGINGING TO THEM AND I AM TOTALLY IN LURVE. I only buy CDs if they're less than a fiver. :LOL: I'm 'aquiring' some more right now. :unsure:

Ahhh Kimono is awesome. I love Thank God it's not Christmas and the riff in Hasta Mañana Monsieur. My god. It's how all music should be, goddamnit. There's not a single duff song on that there lp. <3

And I love Indiscreet too much. My housemate was just lol'ing at me singing along to Under the Table. :LOL: and I laugh my head off every time at Without Using Hands. Brilliant.

[pubicmage]

PINK VINYL! :eek:

I started with Kimono, 'cause I had two songs from it (Obvious song is obvious and Equator, for some reason) so I have that and I found Hello Young Lovers and Exotic Creatures for a fiver on Music Magpie and you sent me Indiscreet and omg I CAN'T STOP LISTENINGINGING TO THEM AND I AM TOTALLY IN LURVE. I only buy CDs if they're less than a fiver. :LOL: I'm 'aquiring' some more right now. :unsure:

Ahhh Kimono is awesome. I love Thank God it's not Christmas and the riff in Hasta Mañana Monsieur. My god. It's how all music should be, goddamnit. There's not a single duff song on that there lp. <3

And I love Indiscreet too much. My housemate was just lol'ing at me singing along to Under the Table. :LOL: and I laugh my head off every time at Without Using Hands. Brilliant.

Equator. Damn, I would've gotten into them much sooner if I knew that instead of This Town. Not that the latter is a bad song (I love it, despite being overplayed), but Equator is one of the coolest songs ever, and it's such an awesome way to end the album. I love Russell's falsetto on that song so much. The layering is also ingenious.

They've covered so many different styles, so that whenever you finally move on from obsessively listening to one album (I know that so well. I practically listened to nothing other than Indiscreet last May), you start listening just as obsessively to another. And if you get sick of that, you can go back to the last one and it'll sound fresh! It's a bit like Bowie.

It's impossible not to sing along to Under the Table with Her. Hahah, I love it. The string quartet arrangement is brilliant. I wish they would do more in that style. The time signature changes in Without Using Hands are great. Ah, the whole album is. Looks, Looks, Looks should've been a big hit.

[Feed the Hex]

I had my player an shuffle and Looks Looks Looks came on, hadn't heard it in an age ...great song ..:D
Gutted about not seeing them next month ...hopefully they'll do a few more dates around the country at some point, would love to see them again.

[Gemsy]

Equator. Damn, I would've gotten into them much sooner if I knew that instead of This Town. Not that the latter is a bad song (I love it, despite being overplayed), but Equator is one of the coolest songs ever, and it's such an awesome way to end the album. I love Russell's falsetto on that song so much. The layering is also ingenious.

They've covered so many different styles, so that whenever you finally move on from obsessively listening to one album (I know that so well. I practically listened to nothing other than Indiscreet last May), you start listening just as obsessively to another. And if you get sick of that, you can go back to the last one and it'll sound fresh! It's a bit like Bowie.

It's impossible not to sing along to Under the Table with Her. Hahah, I love it. The string quartet arrangement is brilliant. I wish they would do more in that style. The time signature changes in Without Using Hands are great. Ah, the whole album is. Looks, Looks, Looks should've been a big hit.
I love the way Equator ends. :D

I can't stop saying 'I love' in this thread.
LOVE.
I think Indiscreet is my favourite so far. I was dancing around to Looks, Looks, Looks with my hoover last night. :D

I kinda like what I've heard of Balls so far too. Haha.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3G4iA6UBJY

LOL JANITOR RON.

and lol:
danb92uk (6 days ago)
well if I ever had a dream about teletubbie land and sparks this would be it

[pubicmage]

Indiscreet is one of the best. I still put No. 1 in Heaven, Lil' Beethoven and Gratuitous Sax above it, but they're all spectacular 5/5 albums.

Balls is odd. It has some great songs (I LOVE How to Get Your Ass Kicked), but I still haven't gotten into some of it. The Australian bonus track, the Calm Before the Opera, is BRILLIANT. In fact, I'll upload it in a moment, because it's quite hard to find. It sounds like something that could fit on Hello Young Lovers.

http://www.4shared.com/file/84990736/9b4e6e19/12_.html

[Gemsy]

I don't think I've ever got into an album as quickly EVER as quickly quick I have with ECOTD. You know, the other day on my LJ I was like, "I have it but have only listened to it once or twice"... well? Now I know all the words. It's like the one album that has been missing from my life.

Thanks! The Calm Before the Opera! :D:D:D It is indeed BRILLIANT!

[pubicmage]

I don't think I've ever got into an album as quickly EVER as quickly quick I have with ECOTD. You know, the other day on my LJ I was like, "I have it but have only listened to it once or twice"... well? Now I know all the words. It's like the one album that has been missing from my life.

Thanks! The Calm Before the Opera! :D:D:D It is indeed BRILLIANT!

Haha, oh it's so awesome. I forgot about it for ages after two months or so of listening, then rediscovered it when I watched the webcast of the live premiere. Strange Animal is OMG. I love it so much. And it has some extra spoken-word verses live! I can't wait to hear this shit next month. It's just amazing. It didn't strike me as being as good as HYL and LB when it first came out, but now I think it's easily as good as the former (nothing can match Lil' Beethoven in my eyes, though). It's a natural progression, stylistically, and it should be interesting to see how they follow it up with the 22nd album.

The drum machine on that track is great. I wish they would do stuff like that more often. Actually, they used drum machines constantly from 1979-1994, so I don't know what I'm whinging about. Haha.

A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing is so good, and it clearly has the best album name of the 1970s. It's not as bombastic and glammy as the following three LPs, but it is evidently going for a similar type of thing after the ridiculously zany pop songs from their first album. Nothing Is Sacred is too catchy. Ah, you need to hear this! It's such an overlooked classic. Here Comes Bob could easily fit in somewhere on Indiscreet. The strings and piano make the most awesome sound together.

Sparks Mk. 1 is so different. They sound more like a full band to me than just Ron and Russell with some 'disposable' musicians playing under their direction. In fact, Earle and Jim Mankey both contributed to the songwriting on the first album; as far as I know, nobody else has co-written on their other albums, except Visconti and Moroder (but they were producers, not band members), which supports my point. It's almost always Mael-only in terms of songwriting, but Biology 2 (the vocals on that song are incredibly bizarre) was penned solely by E. Mankey - there is no Mael contribution whatsoever in the credits. He's a great guitarist. I wish they had recorded more together.

LOL. The guy who plays the violin on It Ain't 1918 is called Mike Piggot. What a fantastic surname. I'm rambling.

Oh yeah, I was reading some reviews the other day, and some idiotic critic accused them of writing misogynistic songs! What the fuck? How could anybody fail to realise how ironic the majority of their songs tend to be? I'm convinced that he wanted to dislike them, leading him to write some of the most contrived criticisms possible.

For fun, here is today's super MP3; a bonus track from Lil' Beethoven, entitled 'Wunderbar'. It is one of the funniest songs they've ever recorded, I think, and I don't believe it is possible to dislike:

http://www.4shared.com/file/85184467/6b5e23ad/Wunderbar.html

I've edited this post about ten times now. Haha. The completely unanimous 5-star ratings for Lil' Beethoven on Amazon make me happy. It's so annoying that such an original album has gone pretty much unnoticed by the majority. It is perfect music.

Ooo, and here is the secret hidden bonus track from the Japanese version of ECOTD:

http://www.4shared.com/file/85187005/c6b6e235/14-Brenda_Is_Always_In_The_Way.html

[Gemsy]

OH MY GOD. Wunderbar is HILARIOUS! Oh my GOD! Ja ja! I'm in hysterics. Lolzy and Deutsch. They must have written that for me! Das ist nicht zu fassen! And omg: is he saying "fußball"?! OMG I love them. I love them so much. Sparks ist Geil!

Oh no, I'd never say they were mysogynistic! What did he use as an example? We should send this guy 30 copies of Wunderbar by spamular e-mail.

I was listening to Woofer last night! Stand out tracks for me are definitely Biology 2, Here Comes Bob and Whippings and Apologies (crazy lolz right there) and The Louvre is sooo pretty. LOL at Do-Re-Mi! I love the melody of Nothing Is Sacred! Aaahhh!

I looked for Lil' Beethoven in HMV today - I've only heard Rhythm Thief - bestvideoever - and Wunderbar now, obv! and this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctOsdYEzb9g

and I wants more - can you BELIEVE HMV have moved all their music downstairs and filled the first floor with video games and such? I DESPAIR. Not that I ever buy music from there normally, but y'know. Priorities! There should be shops full of only Sparks albums. They only had Balls. I didn't get that one though; I ended up just getting a load of Smiffs and Grace Jones. I found Kimono My House and the When Do I Get to Sing My Way? single on vinyls in Oxfam Music too. I didn't buy them either, 'cause it was raining and 'cause I'm a noob. So I'm on eBay right now and I just bought Lil' Beethoven. I kinda broke my personal rule (which I hardly ever stick to) of not spending more than fiver on a CD, but I just know it's gonna be worth it. When I get it I will sit here and listen intently and open a post to this thread and record my first thoughts/reactions.

Mankey is the most awesome surname.

I am REALLY tempted to get a ticket to the No. 1 in Heaven night. REALLY REALLY. I totally love No. 1 in Heaven, ffs. I LOVE IT ALL. There's just nothing they can do wrong. Ahhh, can I go and see them twice? I can't remember the last time I was so excited about a band! I always edit my long posts numerous times. Not today though I hope (we'll see!) I'm typing this in Notepad while looking for dresses online and listening to Indiscreet for the twentieth time today. Ahhh.

Brenda Brenda Brenda Brenda Brenda's in the way.

Oh also, while I'm here - I love the vocals on their later albums. There's loads of them! Vocals vocals everywhere and not a drop on me. It's like a whole choir of sooo many Russells :happy:. Especially with songs like (Baby, Baby) Can I Invade Your Country, with all the complicated speaky parts. Absolutely mental.

photoshop photoshop photoshopshop photoshopshop photoshop photoshop photoshopshop

[pubicmage]

I think they sampled some German football commentator or summat, and put that crazy music to his voice. I've got to listen to it right now. The melodramatic violins are awesome. There's a video of them playing it on YouTube, I think. YAH:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkRSSwYw77A

Russell even tells the story of the song before they play it! It sounds crazy live.

I don't know what he was talking about. It was probably something from Big Beat, which has hilarious bullshit like 'White Women' all throughout it. That album is weird. Sometimes I love it, and sometimes I cannot listen beyond the first track. I don't know why.

I think Moon Over Kentucky is one of the best from Woofer. Whippings and Apologies is just a masterpiece, though. All of their album-closers from that period were so fitting (they still are, of course!), but I think Equator was the best. I can't wait to hear it live. OMG.

Ahh, I was in HMV today and I saw the Deluxe version of Lil' Beethoven! I was there to get a new copy of Withnail and I, so I had to ignore it. Bah. Maybe some lucky person will discover its ingenuity by chance some time. I'll have to go back regularly to see if it sells. I bought lots of bookz instead. I want some Sparks books (I mean fictional books written by the Maels, not biographies).

I hate HMV sometimes. I remember going downstairs to get some of my beloved jazz albums, only to find that it had been swapped with shitty games! But it's good in the long run, because it means I never have to walk past some spotty little gamer ever again. Segregation can be a good thing, afterall.

Lil' Beethoven should amamamze you. It's so weird. Only two of the songs have drums, and even then, they are used quite sparingly. My Baby's Taking Me Home has some of the best vocal layering I've ever heard, and it goes through so many subtle key changes. Ah, just thinking about it makes me want to die with joy. Plus Ron gets a spoken word passage near the end, which is always a bonus.

I'd loooooove to go to No. 1 as well, but it clashes with my friend's birthday, so I'd have to be a twat if I wanted to see it. Aghhhhhh. I could always pretend the Maels kidnapped me before I could get the train.

The layers and layers of vocals on the last three albums is one of the reasons why I love them so much. The Very Next Fight is my favourite for that stuff. I love how you hear so many different lines being spoken simultaneously, along with the harmonies and the counterpoint of Ron's keyboard parts. But Waterproof has to be my favourite, just for this:

"I see you crying, but I'm not buying your Meryl Streep mimicry.
It's misdirected, your voice inflected for maximum sympathy."

It's the best couplet of all time! I laugh every time I hear it. The lyrics for that song are too good to be true. The twee music contrasts with the lyrical content perfectly.

I want to see Sparks playing Hello Young Lovers in its entirety on Valentine's Day. It would be a great way to completely take the piss out of the ridiculous waste of time the whole facade is. I love it when they mock love.

[pubicmage]

oh oh oh oh oh oh

Do you have TTABEFBOU and Something for the Girl With Everything with FNM? The latter is even better than the original version, I think! Patton's voice fits in so well.

[Gemsy]

You should see the grin on my face right now. My Other Voice + JD and lemonade <3

[pubicmage]

Withhhhh my other voice I willl destrooooooooooyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy this roooooooooom

I LOVE THAT SONG. So many people like to slag it off because of the vocoder, but it adds some variation to the album, and does so by being completely and utterly awesome. And I saw its first ever live performance! :p

Damn it, I can't stop listening to the glam rock stuff at the moment. It's making me want to watch Life on Mars, which is obviously a very very very good thing.

[Gemsy]

I think they sampled some German football commentator or summat, and put that crazy music to his voice. I've got to listen to it right now. The melodramatic violins are awesome. There's a video of them playing it on YouTube, I think. YAH:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkRSSwYw77A

Russell even tells the story of the song before they play it! It sounds crazy live.

I don't know what he was talking about. It was probably something from Big Beat, which has hilarious bullshit like 'White Women' all throughout it. That album is weird. Sometimes I love it, and sometimes I cannot listen beyond the first track. I don't know why.

I think Moon Over Kentucky is one of the best from Woofer. Whippings and Apologies is just a masterpiece, though. All of their album-closers from that period were so fitting (they still are, of course!), but I think Equator was the best. I can't wait to hear it live. OMG.

Ahh, I was in HMV today and I saw the Deluxe version of Lil' Beethoven! I was there to get a new copy of Withnail and I, so I had to ignore it. Bah. Maybe some lucky person will discover its ingenuity by chance some time. I'll have to go back regularly to see if it sells. I bought lots of bookz instead. I want some Sparks books (I mean fictional books written by the Maels, not biographies).

I hate HMV sometimes. I remember going downstairs to get some of my beloved jazz albums, only to find that it had been swapped with shitty games! But it's good in the long run, because it means I never have to walk past some spotty little gamer ever again. Segregation can be a good thing, afterall.

Lil' Beethoven should amamamze you. It's so weird. Only two of the songs have drums, and even then, they are used quite sparingly. My Baby's Taking Me Home has some of the best vocal layering I've ever heard, and it goes through so many subtle key changes. Ah, just thinking about it makes me want to die with joy. Plus Ron gets a spoken word passage near the end, which is always a bonus.

I'd loooooove to go to No. 1 as well, but it clashes with my friend's birthday, so I'd have to be a twat if I wanted to see it. Aghhhhhh. I could always pretend the Maels kidnapped me before I could get the train.

The layers and layers of vocals on the last three albums is one of the reasons why I love them so much. The Very Next Fight is my favourite for that stuff. I love how you hear so many different lines being spoken simultaneously, along with the harmonies and the counterpoint of Ron's keyboard parts. But Waterproof has to be my favourite, just for this:

"I see you crying, but I'm not buying your Meryl Streep mimicry.
It's misdirected, your voice inflected for maximum sympathy."

It's the best couplet of all time! I laugh every time I hear it. The lyrics for that song are too good to be true. The twee music contrasts with the lyrical content perfectly.

I want to see Sparks playing Hello Young Lovers in its entirety on Valentine's Day. It would be a great way to completely take the piss out of the ridiculous waste of time the whole facade is. I love it when they mock love.
Omg that is amazing. HAHA. Aww!

I actually have Big Beat here too - it's not made much of an impression yet. In fact, I thought it was really kinda, like... traditional rock 'n' roll? Maybe that's why it doesn't stand out for me. Haha, I like White Women though. Songs like I Want to Be Like Everybody Else - it's like, typical rock music with basic chords and straight forward melodies. Still cool, like, but to coin one of your phrases - it's not completely Maelistic. :D It's like they were playing down their weirdness or something. Although I do like all the shouty bits in Fill 'Er Up. And I quite like Everybody's Stupid. And I Like Girls. C'MON GIRLS. Haha.

I would love to see HYL live! In fact, on Vbleurgh Day, I think I will do that... listen to HYL at top volume whether the couple who reside in my house are here or not. Their lyrics are fully amazing. I've never been arsed about lyrics at all, but theirs really are incredible. I've laughed out loud SO many times, and of course anyone who mocks love gets a thumbs-up from me, of course, tbh. Ahhh. <3

Okay we should've swapped HMVs. :mad: I think I bought the special version on eBay actually. It has bonus tracks! And I think you should bin your mate off :phu: Oh to be kidnapped by the Maels! I am so excited about this gig. I really am, and I can't remember the last time I really looked forward to a gig. You know, I never say this, but I really do think I HAVE A FAVOURITE BAND.
oh oh oh oh oh oh

Do you have TTABEFBOU and Something for the Girl With Everything with FNM? The latter is even better than the original version, I think! Patton's voice fits in so well.
patton?
PATTON?
<3
Withhhhh my other voice I willl destrooooooooooyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy this roooooooooom

I LOVE THAT SONG. So many people like to slag it off because of the vocoder, but it adds some variation to the album, and does so by being completely and utterly awesome. And I saw its first ever live performance! :p

Damn it, I can't stop listening to the glam rock stuff at the moment. It's making me want to watch Life on Mars, which is obviously a very very very good thing.
OKAY I HAVE TO GO. I just love that album too much. OMG. Vocoders get so much beef and they are awesome, if they're not done by Cher. Simple. And I just love that noise that goes all the way through the album. I have always described that noise as an 'electronic pigeon' :LOL: coo-coo
Schön!
You can just tell that SO many bands were inspired by this album. I'm a massive Royksopp fan, for example, and you can just hear the influence! Amazing. And criminally underrated. I have to hear it live. Can I?

[Gemsy]

Propaganda has the best melodies ever.

[Rage Kitty]

I have the single cd version Sparks and FNM doing TTABEFTBOU
I will try and upload the lovely later
:happy:

[Gemsy]

Oops, I seem to have accidentally gone on Seethemtickets and got another one.

[pubicmage]

Omg that is amazing. HAHA. Aww!

I actually have Big Beat here too - it's not made much of an impression yet. In fact, I thought it was really kinda, like... traditional rock 'n' roll? Maybe that's why it doesn't stand out for me. Haha, I like White Women though. Songs like I Want to Be Like Everybody Else - it's like, typical rock music with basic chords and straight forward melodies. Still cool, like, but to coin one of your phrases - it's not completely Maelistic. :D It's like they were playing down their weirdness or something. Although I do like all the shouty bits in Fill 'Er Up. And I quite like Everybody's Stupid. And I Like Girls. C'MON GIRLS. Haha.

I would love to see HYL live! In fact, on Vbleurgh Day, I think I will do that... listen to HYL at top volume whether the couple who reside in my house are here or not. Their lyrics are fully amazing. I've never been arsed about lyrics at all, but theirs really are incredible. I've laughed out loud SO many times, and of course anyone who mocks love gets a thumbs-up from me, of course, tbh. Ahhh. <3

Okay we should've swapped HMVs. :mad: I think I bought the special version on eBay actually. It has bonus tracks! And I think you should bin your mate off :phu: Oh to be kidnapped by the Maels! I am so excited about this gig. I really am, and I can't remember the last time I really looked forward to a gig. You know, I never say this, but I really do think I HAVE A FAVOURITE BAND.

patton?
PATTON?
<3

OKAY I HAVE TO GO. I just love that album too much. OMG. Vocoders get so much beef and they are awesome, if they're not done by Cher. Simple. And I just love that noise that goes all the way through the album. I have always described that noise as an 'electronic pigeon' :LOL: coo-coo
Schön!
You can just tell that SO many bands were inspired by this album. I'm a massive Royksopp fan, for example, and you can just hear the influence! Amazing. And criminally underrated. I have to hear it live. Can I?

I've only really heard Big Beat about six or seven times. Haha. It's good, but it's not as interesting or crazy as their other albums. Introducing Sparks gets the same treatment, but that album benefits from having Goofing Off on it, which is easily one of the best songs they wrote in the '70s. I love it, even if it has some cheesy handclapping sounds. The guitar solo reminds me of Brian May. Big Beat and Introducing are always lauded by critics, but they're nowhere near as bad as they are made out to be. They aren't Sparks at their best, but that doesn't make them bad at all.

It's true. Before I listened to Sparks, the only lyricists I ever bothered with were Lou Reed and Frank Zappa. Everybody else sounded boring. Then good old Ronny boy fixed that (and Russell, with his four or five compositions, including PINEAPPPLE). Witty lyrics are just the best. The Magnetic Fields are also very very good in that respect. Check out 69 Love Songs. I think they must have been influenced by Sparks to some degree, the big difference being that the male singer has a baritone voice. Haha, I want to hear a baritone singer doing a cover of Equator.

Ahh, looking at the train times, I could spend all of my money on Sparks and still get back on the 22nd easily. Actually, the route on the 22nd is far less annoying than the one offered for the 21st because I won't have to get 25353050 buses in between every train, so it is very tempting...and I haven't really seen No. 1 in Heaven live yet. Only heard it. Ah, ridiculous memories.

Cher ruined vocoders for most people, yes. Damn her damn her. I don't think anybody sane (I'm listening to Aladdin Sane right now. It's far too good for my mortal ears) could listen to Kraftwerk, for example, and criticise vocoders. The first time I stayed at my Sparks friend's house, he decided to get a vocoder out, but we just couldn't get a Dalek sound from it. Blah.

I've never even heard Royksopp. Boo me. I've spent too long listening to shoegaze and glam rock. Everything else has been forgotten.

Propaganda has the best melodies ever.

Yes yes yesy esy esy eys yesyeys yesy. It goes by so damn quickly. All of their 'classic' albums seem to go on for no long than 35 minutes, with No. 1 only going on for 30! I love how I chose, from a possible 21 different shows, to see the shortest one there was. Haha.

I have the single cd version Sparks and FNM doing TTABEFTBOU
I will try and upload the lovely later
:happy:

http://www.4shared.com/file/86994617/c740d044/16_-_Sparks_-_Something_For_The_Girl_With_Everything__with_Fait h_No_More_.html

http://www.4shared.com/file/86995161/dc919256/10_-_Sparks_-_This_Town_Aint_Big_Enough_For_Both_Of_Us__with_Fa ith_No_More_.html

I has both lolol. I've got twenty-one hours of Sparks on this computer, so I can upload pretty much anything they've ever done if people can't find it.

Actually, I think there might be another song or two they did together, but I can't find it at the moment.

[pubicmage]

Oops, I seem to have accidentally gone on Seethemtickets and got another one.

I need to go to this thing, damnit. It's my favourite Sparks album, so how can I justify NOT going? It can't!

[Gemsy]

OMG they did SFTGWE with FNM too! I ADORE that one. I JUST ADORE IT. It makes me want to run around in excitement! Ahhh. Epic win.

Aaargh I can't listen to any of these choons until my housemate goes to bed, hahaha. We're watching a programme about dreams. Which is very interesting but I'm getting impatient.

Royksopp have that kinda dreamy quality about them, which is similar to the feeling of No. 1 in Heaven (and they have a song called Sparks, haha!) Floaty music. I know what I mean. Haha. I don't even know if they count Sparks as an influence, but you can hear it, whether it's indirect or not who knows. Floaty, ahaha. I'm shite at describing music. The only journalistic quality I possess is the ability to say things like 'it's OMG AMAZING' and 'I LOVE IT SO MUCH'. And yep, I totally need to check out Magnetic Fields. I've heard nothing but good stuff about them.

Sparks at their worst = better than everyone else at their best, trufax. Ahhh if they ever did the 21 nights again I think I would have to borrow my mum's credit card and go to all of them. Haha! Their shows look so amazing and I am so excited. I don't know if I'm going to stay in London in between or not? I might do two journeys 'cause of WORK. Shit, forgot about work. Haha. Oh I don't care though, I'll walk out if I have to! HAHA.

Oh yeah, was the No. 1 show the one you missed 'cause you were ill? :(

[pubicmage]

OMG they did SFTGWE with FNM too! I ADORE that one. I JUST ADORE IT. It makes me want to run around in excitement! Ahhh. Epic win.

Aaargh I can't listen to any of these choons until my housemate goes to bed, hahaha. We're watching a programme about dreams. Which is very interesting but I'm getting impatient.

Royksopp have that kinda dreamy quality about them, which is similar to the feeling of No. 1 in Heaven (and they have a song called Sparks, haha!) Floaty music. I know what I mean. Haha. I don't even know if they count Sparks as an influence, but you can hear it, whether it's indirect or not who knows. Floaty, ahaha. I'm shite at describing music. The only journalistic quality I possess is the ability to say things like 'it's OMG AMAZING' and 'I LOVE IT SO MUCH'. And yep, I totally need to check out Magnetic Fields. I've heard nothing but good stuff about them.

Sparks at their worst = better than everyone else at their best, trufax. Ahhh if they ever did the 21 nights again I think I would have to borrow my mum's credit card and go to all of them. Haha! Their shows look so amazing and I am so excited. I don't know if I'm going to stay in London in between or not? I might do two journeys 'cause of WORK. Shit, forgot about work. Haha. Oh I don't care though, I'll walk out if I have to! HAHA.

Oh yeah, was the No. 1 show the one you missed 'cause you were ill? :(

YESYES. I love that song more than anything. It's just so good, and the lyrics are superb. It's hilarious to sing along to, and Patton sounds amazing doing the falsetto next to Russell's voice.

Haha, I do love dreams, even if I rarely have any. But Sparks are more important, I think we can all agree. I wonder what Ron Mael dreams about.

"Dreamy" and "floaty" are always good descriptive words that immediately want to make me listen to it. I'm listening to My Bloody Valentine right now, who, I think, are probably the dreamiest band of all time. I love shoegazing so much. I want Sparks to become shoegazers. OMG I just found a cover of "Heroes" by The Magnetic Fields. It sounds like a shoegaze version, but maybe that's just because my ears have gone fuzzy after hours of Slowdive and MVB:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQIBTDwNapw

The vocals are very understated, and it sounds different to the original. I like it.

It would be outstanding if they decided to do it again. I doubt it, since it must have taken them forever just to arrange it, and playing so many different songs in such a short space of time must be pretty strenuous when you get to their age. They're amazing for doing it, though! This isn't the first time they've put on a live version of Kimono My House (the 21x21 excluded), so perhaps they will continue to do things like these from time to time. I'd love them to play Indiscreet again, because that was the one I wanted to see the most after No. 1, but the dates were too far apart to justify it.

The good thing about being a stupid little unemployed student is that I get every weekend off, and I think the first show is on Friday with the second on Saturday, so it'll be easy for me if I decide to go to No. 1.

Yep, I blacked out just after the (dreadful!) support act finished their set, so I had to spend the rest of the time sitting on the balcony. There were sofas up there, for some stupid reason, but I'm glad they were there. At least I managed to hear it all, even if I had to watch it on a screen.

[Claire]

I haven't heard the new album yet :(

[Gemsy]

LOL PATTON YOU FUCKEN RULE. HAHAHA. Amazing.
That is a lovely cover of "Heroes". I should really check out 69 Love Songs. Ahhh. I bet Ron's dreams are full of laughter and rainbows and fairies. Ah, he's such a legend. I was watching him tap dance earlier. :LOL:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/Gemsy/lolron-2.jpg

"Here's a partridge in a tree, a gardener for the tree, complete with ornithologist." I have fits of lolz every time. TOO MANY LOLZ. Best band ever. And yeah it must've been a hell of a mission learning all those songs. How many notes was it that Ron had to play? Hahaha. Amazing talent is amazing.

I can't stop saying amazing.

Awww, that sucks that you could only watch on a screen! I've only blacked out at a show once and that was Manic Millennium, and I was on my way out at the time so I didn't miss anything, thank God. Hahaha. Woah deja vous. I think I might have said that before!

[pubicmage]

I haven't heard the new album yet :(

When I first saw them, they were playing Hello Young Lovers in its entirety, which I hadn't heard prior to seeing them. I still thought it was amazing, though, and I think the same could probably be said about this new album. They have all sorts of theatrical madness that adds to the album when they play it live, so I think it is quite good to hear it for the first time at a concert!

LOL PATTON YOU FUCKEN RULE. HAHAHA. Amazing.
That is a lovely cover of "Heroes". I should really check out 69 Love Songs. Ahhh. I bet Ron's dreams are full of laughter and rainbows and fairies. Ah, he's such a legend. I was watching him tap dance earlier. :LOL:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/Gemsy/lolron-2.jpg

"Here's a partridge in a tree, a gardener for the tree, complete with ornithologist." I have fits of lolz every time. TOO MANY LOLZ. Best band ever. And yeah it must've been a hell of a mission learning all those songs. How many notes was it that Ron had to play? Hahaha. Amazing talent is amazing.

I can't stop saying amazing.

Awww, that sucks that you could only watch on a screen! I've only blacked out at a show once and that was Manic Millennium, and I was on my way out at the time so I didn't miss anything, thank God. Hahaha. Woah deja vous. I think I might have said that before!

Damn damn right. I love it so much. From that FNM lineup, Dean Menta still records with Sparks every time they put an album out. His guitar work always makes their music a bit more interesting, so I hope they keep working together! His me(n)tal riffs on Dick Around really help to make it superb.

Ah, rainbows. That reminds me of a line from Ron's short dialogue near the end of My Baby's Taking Me Home: "A rainbow falls, but we're both colourblind". I love it. So perhaps he does dream about rainbows, in an unorthodox sense!

I want that t-shirt right now. One of the press releases actually mentioned the amount of notes they had to learn, but maybe they just made that up. Haha. It would be amazing if Bowie decided to copy them and play all of his discography live. I wonder how many people would attend Tin Machine II!

Amazing talent is an asset.

When somebody mentions blacking out at a gig, it is quite difficult not to let them know they are not alone in having done so! The amount of times I've written about that Sparks thing is audacious. Haha.

[Gemsy]

It'll be a GREAT thing to not have heard it before the show! Hearing/seeing it all live with all the theatrical theatrics :happy: Ahhh, I wish I hadn't listened already now!

I go NUTS with the guitars in Dick Around. \m/ So that's who it is! Haha! I think my favourite bit of guitaring in a Sparks song is Hasta Manana. It's awesome and I can't wait to hear that in the FLESH. Haha, I watched the video of My Baby's Taking Me Home last night! I might watch it again twenty times and then see what kind of dreams I have. HAHA. Who needs drugs when you gots Sparks videos? Amazing.

Amazingamazingamazingamazing. Amazing talent is an amazing asset, and Our Ron surely has it! I'd love to tap dance with him one day. Ohyesh. LOL at the Bowie playing all his discography. As long as he doesn't recreate the looks - I can't see him pulling that one off, hahaha.

Being squished at a gig is probably my worst fear. I actually feared for my life at Reading last year! I thought I was going to be trampled. Shows these days seem to be like a cattle market. That was on the way out too though, haha. I think it's sad that Sparks are quite underrated but on the other hand it's sooo nice to be able to just buy tickets on a whim, and not be in a RACE OF DOOM for them. I can't be arsed with it anymore. I'm not going to any festivals. Just Sparks this year, so far.

:happy:

I am SO EXCITED about these shows and I am so messy and emo at the moment and I'm afraid that when I get there I will cry. I KNOW I'll cry when they play My Other Voice. Aaahhh. I want to program that song into my brain so it constantly plays in there and drowns out the imbeciles I have to deal with in my life.

Oh! Oh! That reminds me, hahaHA, I was happily singing along to Tits earlier while cleaning, and a teacher snuck up behind me :facepalm: How embarrassing. LOL. Of course I wasn't going to stfu just because she was there, 'cause then she'd know I was embarrassed, which is just embarrassing, so I just carried on. I got stuck in and accidentally listened to Indiscreet 4 times.

[pubicmage]

Every time I listen to Complaints, I hear Russell singing 'Cornflakes' in the chorus. Hahahah. It sounds so odd, and I have to check to song name to remind myself what it is actually called. It's a bit like how I used to think Radar Love by Golden Earring is called Red Eye Love. I love mis-hearing lyrics.

Yeaah, I'd love to hear Strange Animal and Likeable for the first time FUCKEN LIVE. And Lighten Up, Morrissey would be brilliant live. It sounds so much more lively and energetic than it does in the studio.

Haha, yes, me too. It's amazing. I love all of the guitar parts from Hello Young Lovers. The guitar from The Very Next Fight (I bum this song soooo much. It's one of the best things I've ever heard) just makes me want to die with joy, even though its presence is pretty subtle and brief. I can't put into words just how much I love it. The combination of that and everything else that is going on never ceases to amaze me. They need to add a third show and play Hello Young Lovers again. Ah, they just need to do 21x21 again, ffs.

Home, my baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home

That's how you write a song!

Ah, the tapdancing is awesome. It's not as good as his striptease, but nothing is. Ron kind of tried to reprise the No. 1 in Heaven hairstyle back in May, so maybe Bowie could somehow once again get his magic '80s hair, or the ridiculously long hair he had in the very early '70s. And he can dress as he did on TMSTW's sleeve once again. All I really want is to hear the entire Berlin trilogy live, with Eno, Fripp AND Belew joining him.

Standing at gigs always makes me worry. When I saw Muse in 2006, me and my friend both decided to surf out and go near the back, where there was so much free space to just do whatever the hell we wanted. I'd much rather do that than allow myself to get squashed amongst dozens of sweaty people at the front! It becomes fucking annoying when you have to make a conscious effort to breath properly. And it is a shame that Sparks don't seem to sell out quickly (I think these shows will be pretty much filled, though, because Kimono and No. 1 are easily their two most popular albums and both sold fantastically last year), but they must make more than enough, since they keep coming back for more! The good thing is that they stick to small venues, which is always better.

I don't have any other gigs arranged at all this year. I rarely go to them, actually. I did want to see David Byrne this year, but the fucker sold out too quickly. The only other thing I have planned is a jolly old threatre trip to see Gandalf and Picard starring in Waiting for Godot (OMG I CAN'T WAIT). I will wait outside the stage door all night in the vain hope that I can see Patrick Stewart's bald head up close. Maybe if I meet him, I can ask him to do a facepalm.

Ah, when I was watching the webcast for the very last show in London last yaer, I had to let out some tears at the end. It was phenomenal, even just from watching it on the internet. I don't think I would cry at any concert except My Bloody Valentine, who would make me cry because they are apparently so loud that they steal your hearing forever.

Hahahha, that is amazing. I want to get the lyrics printed onto a t-shirt and wear it to school every day. I don't care if people think I'm a tramp for it. They just need to know those lyrics fluently, or their lives will never be complete.

[pubicmage]

Here kitty kitty kitty kitty here kitty here kitty

I finally LOVE this song. How did it take so long? It's ingenious!

[Gemsy]

Here kitty kitty kitty kitty here kitty here kitty

I finally LOVE this song. How did it take so long? It's ingenious!

I love when it goes all sinister! :happy: do da, do do do da!
Chicks dig dig d-i-g dig dig metaphors. :LOL: and when he changes the syncopation (?) in the last verse. "Chicks, dig dig d-i-gDIG, dig." Ha! Fantastisch. I think my favourite on HYL after Dick Around is (Baby Baby) Can I Invade Your Country? It's just NUTS. Haha.

[Gemsy]

Every time I listen to Complaints, I hear Russell singing 'Cornflakes' in the chorus. Hahahah. It sounds so odd, and I have to check to song name to remind myself what it is actually called. It's a bit like how I used to think Radar Love by Golden Earring is called Red Eye Love. I love mis-hearing lyrics.

Yeaah, I'd love to hear Strange Animal and Likeable for the first time FUCKEN LIVE. And Lighten Up, Morrissey would be brilliant live. It sounds so much more lively and energetic than it does in the studio.

Haha, yes, me too. It's amazing. I love all of the guitar parts from Hello Young Lovers. The guitar from The Very Next Fight (I bum this song soooo much. It's one of the best things I've ever heard) just makes me want to die with joy, even though its presence is pretty subtle and brief. I can't put into words just how much I love it. The combination of that and everything else that is going on never ceases to amaze me. They need to add a third show and play Hello Young Lovers again. Ah, they just need to do 21x21 again, ffs.

Home, my baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home
My baby's taking me home

That's how you write a song!

Ah, the tapdancing is awesome. It's not as good as his striptease, but nothing is. Ron kind of tried to reprise the No. 1 in Heaven hairstyle back in May, so maybe Bowie could somehow once again get his magic '80s hair, or the ridiculously long hair he had in the very early '70s. And he can dress as he did on TMSTW's sleeve once again. All I really want is to hear the entire Berlin trilogy live, with Eno, Fripp AND Belew joining him.

Standing at gigs always makes me worry. When I saw Muse in 2006, me and my friend both decided to surf out and go near the back, where there was so much free space to just do whatever the hell we wanted. I'd much rather do that than allow myself to get squashed amongst dozens of sweaty people at the front! It becomes fucking annoying when you have to make a conscious effort to breath properly. And it is a shame that Sparks don't seem to sell out quickly (I think these shows will be pretty much filled, though, because Kimono and No. 1 are easily their two most popular albums and both sold fantastically last year), but they must make more than enough, since they keep coming back for more! The good thing is that they stick to small venues, which is always better.

I don't have any other gigs arranged at all this year. I rarely go to them, actually. I did want to see David Byrne this year, but the fucker sold out too quickly. The only other thing I have planned is a jolly old threatre trip to see Gandalf and Picard starring in Waiting for Godot (OMG I CAN'T WAIT). I will wait outside the stage door all night in the vain hope that I can see Patrick Stewart's bald head up close. Maybe if I meet him, I can ask him to do a facepalm.

Ah, when I was watching the webcast for the very last show in London last yaer, I had to let out some tears at the end. It was phenomenal, even just from watching it on the internet. I don't think I would cry at any concert except My Bloody Valentine, who would make me cry because they are apparently so loud that they steal your hearing forever.

Hahahha, that is amazing. I want to get the lyrics printed onto a t-shirt and wear it to school every day. I don't care if people think I'm a tramp for it. They just need to know those lyrics fluently, or their lives will never be complete.
I think Tits is one of the best. Ahhh. I SO can't do the top ten thing but if I could that'd probably be on it. YAY STRANGE ANIMAL. It rawks so hard. And I've Never Been High is going to be massive live! And Photoshop... AAAHHHIUGIGKFG. EEEE. The Very Next Fight is just beautimaful. I love the chords. They're my kinda chords, haha. Open displaaays of affeeeection. I wanna see Ron fighting himself. :chuckle: So metal. AHHH. Rock, rock, rock so much. My Baby's Taking Me Home. Is also METAL. GUITAR FFS. I love it SO. MUCH. I do hope my Lil' Beethoven shows up today. I NEED IT. I'm just devouring Sparks albums, it's lolarious. Nom nom.

Awww, I bet that was emotional, the last show. I wish I could've gone, darnit! I cried at Radiohead. Tom started singing and I just... waaahhh :'(. I had waited ten years for it though, haha. I've cried at too many gigs. I'm a noob. And I always stand at the back these days tbh 'cause I need space to shake it. Haha. I do hope the shows will be filled - I bet whatever happens the atmosphere's going to be immense. Loads of people singing along, haha.

AND OMG. Waiting for Godot is awesome! I saw that when I was doing AS level drama and I didn't get bored at all (a lot of people did! Some of my class sneaked out, hahaha). And with Patrick and Gandalf, that's just amazing!

I love Bowie with long hair. I loved his look around the 2000 when he played Glastonbury, it was sorta like a reprise of his MWSTW look. And lo, it was awesome. I think the Berlin Trilogy live would be too much. I think my branes would asplode! As long as they didn't do so until the end of the final note of Red Money I wouldn't even care. But if my branes were okay I'd then want Scary Monsters. Lolz. With Belew adding guitarular (?) meows all the way through it.

I want a poster of the cover of Angst in my Pants. NOW.

[pubicmage]

The superawesome live version of Strange Animal. (http://www.4shared.com/file/87418323/8d846966/Strange_Animal.html)

Top ten lists are far too difficult. I can't even do top ten albums, never mind songs. Whenever I look back at lists I've tried to made, I get annoyed at how wrong they are. My Sparks opinions change all the time! All I know for sure is that I HATE the second song from Terminal Jive. It is complete garbage, and I always skip it. Seriously. Everything else on the album is great, so it really stands out for being shit. Besides, even without it (it's an obvious filler!), the album is still longer than No. 1 in Heaven! :LOL:

I dunno. I never cry at gigs, but it's rare that I don't cry after watching a film. They almost always get to me, for some reason! Even ones that aren't particularly moving. I want to hear people singing along to Equator and Here in Heaven. haha.

yessss, I bought the text a few months ago to get familiar with it before going to see the production. It turned me into a bona fide Samuel Beckett fan. DAMN HE'S AWESOME. When I said I don't read any fiction on that LJ entry, plays are also exempt. I read them all the time. I love dodgy plays like Beckett's. David Bowie and Brian Eno should co-star in Godot. I can just imagine Bowie as Estragon.

But but but Belew cannot be the guitar boy for Scary Monsters! It's mean to be Sir Frippuccino! Maybe they can work together, and turn it into a King Crimson special. Yes, King Crimson can be Bowie's "backing group", and they can be the supporting act as KC. It would be phenomenal.

Aww, the Angst cover is beautiful. I love it too much. That album is made of complete and utter win. The Decline and Fall of Me is one of the best songs they've ever done. I really wish I could've stayed in London a bit longer last year to see that album (and my beloved but much-lauded Terminal Jive, even if I couldn't skip the second song or had to watch it on a screen!).

You should take the question mark out of the thread title!

[pubicmage]

No more question mark! Beautiful sight.

Entirely unrelated to the thread, Ziggy Stardust is so fucking great. I love glam rock, damnit. I love love love it.

[Gemsy]

AWWW THANK YOU. Live <3. I need to buy the DVD! Maybe I will, after I've seen them. Haha. I'm dying to watch all the videos from 21x21 on the 'Tube but I'm resisting, I want to be a little bit surprised. Not that it's going to be exactly the same, but you know. Ahhh I just got a little shiver again. I'M GOING TO SEE THEM FFS.

Here in Heaven is the cutest song. Awww. I wish/hope there was/is a heaven, with lots of things to do, and a panoramic view of the universe completely surrounding you. And that Sparks were No. 1 there all the time. Aaah. I can't wait to hear Equator. I hope Russell does the ending in its entirety. Heehee!

OH YES Fripples would have to be there too! Belew could make additional noises like actual scary monsters. Immense times for all. Yeah I think Waiting for Godot is the only Beckett I actually studied, but still. It was awesome. I haven't been to a proper theatre production in donkey's. I'd love to get back into it.

Those two albums are next on my list then... Await the explosion of LJ entries. LOL. Lil' Beethoven has completely taken over my ability to write about my mundane life, which is probably a good thing. HOME! my baby's taking me HOME! my baby's taking me HOME! my baby's taking me HOME! Did you see that one live? Which ones did you actually see?
No more question mark! Beautiful sight.

Entirely unrelated to the thread, Ziggy Stardust is so fucking great. I love glam rock, damnit. I love love love it.
Haha yep I thought an exclamation point would be more appropriate :LOL:
AND YESSSSSSSSS. Number one on my list! Which also changes every day... I can't make permanent lists at all. At the moment my top ten albums would all be by Sparks. Hmm okay maybe about 50%. Nah.

[pubicmage]

AWWW THANK YOU. Live <3. I need to buy the DVD! Maybe I will, after I've seen them. Haha. I'm dying to watch all the videos from 21x21 on the 'Tube but I'm resisting, I want to be a little bit surprised. Not that it's going to be exactly the same, but you know. Ahhh I just got a little shiver again. I'M GOING TO SEE THEM FFS.

Here in Heaven is the cutest song. Awww. I wish/hope there was/is a heaven, with lots of things to do, and a panoramic view of the universe completely surrounding you. And that Sparks were No. 1 there all the time. Aaah. I can't wait to hear Equator. I hope Russell does the ending in its entirety. Heehee!

OH YES Fripples would have to be there too! Belew could make additional noises like actual scary monsters. Immense times for all. Yeah I think Waiting for Godot is the only Beckett I actually studied, but still. It was awesome. I haven't been to a proper theatre production in donkey's. I'd love to get back into it.

Those two albums are next on my list then... Await the explosion of LJ entries. LOL. Lil' Beethoven has completely taken over my ability to write about my mundane life, which is probably a good thing. HOME! my baby's taking me HOME! my baby's taking me HOME! my baby's taking me HOME! Did you see that one live? Which ones did you actually see?

Haha yep I thought an exclamation point would be more appropriate :LOL:
AND YESSSSSSSSS. Number one on my list! Which also changes every day... I can't make permanent lists at all. At the moment my top ten albums would all be by Sparks. Hmm okay maybe about 50%. Nah.

I'm going to reply backwards this time.

They should add an exclamation mark to their name in order to take the piss out of bands who change their name by facetiously moving an exclamation mark from the end to the middle, or something equally stupid (I can think of at least two examples! Or should that be: "I can think of! at least two examples"?).

Number one is an impossibility. But I think Indiscreet might be my number one right now, just because I'm listening to Under the Table. I love the multi-tracked voices in the chorus. Riiiiiiice aaaaaand teeeeeeea. I also love the bonus tracks on the CD versions of the three full-on 'glam' albums. Profile is one of my favourites. The backing vocals make me think of Velvet Goldmine, for some reason. And Marry Me is ingenious.

Ahh, I know the feeling. When I went through my first huge Sparks phase (I don't like to say 'phase' because it didn't end), all I really cared about was listening to their albums all the time. Haha. They are ridiculously addictive. It's even quite distressing when an album ends too soon! Many hours have been spent simply listening to No. 1 in Heaven over and over. La Dolca Vita is my favourite.

I cannot remember what they played when I first saw them. I was still a Sparks n00b at the time, and the only ones I can clearly recall are Amateur Hour, This Town and The Rhythm Thief (even though I didn't know the latter, it is incredibly poignant!). I think they might have done At Home, At Work, At Play, because it sounded familiar the first time I listened to Propaganda. Other than that, it's all quite vague. At the No. 1 show, they only played one song for the encore (Dancing is Dangerous). I think that's because they had so many songs to remember that it would be foolish to keep playing the same things instead of focusing on what they still have to do. None of the Islington shows had more than one song in their encores (ECOTD was at Shepherd's Bush, and did have two long sets).

Yay, that would be ideal. Fripp does actually look like a Scary Monster at his age, so he would be perfect onstage. Or maybe Bowie could get rid of them all and play the guitar solos himself. If he did his version of the discography extravaganza, Diamond Dogs would be AWESOME. OMG. I would have to see that. Better yet, he could do twenty-one shows covering all of Sparks' albums. That would freak people out. If Bowie doesn't put a new album out soon, he can do a theatrical tour in the UK. He can play the Dane (any mention of Hamlet and I desperately want to watch Withnail and I...haha).

Here in Heaven is hilarious. I cannot listen to it without at least sniggering, which probably annoys people on buses. haha. And it's so catchy. They are absolutely brilliant at writing vocal hooks. Even their b-sides sound like they could be hits with good promotion! The other musicians will probably be pressurised into doing backing vocals for the acappella ending. The drummer (Tammy Glover, I think she's called) is usually good at that because she doesn't have to do falsetto, which takes off a bit of pressure for the guitarists! "Falsetto or die!" It would be interesting to see them playing the title track from Propaganda live. There is a version of it from the BBC session with that version of Strange Animal. I'll upload it later, because AHAWAP sounds wonderful live. And now I want to say 'Wunderbar' whenever I start typing 'wonderful'.

Just watch all of the non-Kimono/ECOTD videos! I'd do anything to see HYL live again, now that I'm more familiar with the album. The best thing would be a show with Lil' Beethoven first then HYL. Their last three albums parallel their 'classic trilogy' from the '70s, I think. The first two were both quite similar, with the third branching out into new directions, developing ideas from the first two and mixing them with new things. Which means they will either go for something different next or do something crazy. Ahh, it's exciting, even though they haven't started recording (or writing, as far as we know) anything! That reminds me: the date they announced the Islington residency was my 18th birthday! That was just the best birthday present ever. ahh. The comparatively short space between the release of HYL and ECOTD next to Beethoven and HYL is quite promising. We might not have to wait all that long for the next LP, hopefully. But I don't mind waiting. 21 albums is more than enough to keep me occupied with Sparks until the twenty-second is done! And I won't download the leak next time.

[Gemsy]

I just showed my housemates the amount of text on this screen. They were like, ":stunned: What the HELL do you guys talk about?!"

Sparks, that is all. Spa!rks!

I am absolutely in love with Under the Table With Her. Awww. It's just the sweetest little tune. Awww. I love Indiscreet and Propaganda so much! SO SO MUCH. I love Marry Me. Haha! Not heard Profile though. I think out of the two albums Indiscreet is my favourite. In fact I'd probably say it was my mostest favouritest. There's nothing on there I'd skip. Propaganda is also amazing, but Who Don't Like Kids & Achoo are a bit... skippable (not that I skip very often, especially with Sparks - even if it's not a strong song imo there's always something in there somewhere that'll make it great!) Haha. I keep playing Reinforcements. I love that song. And like, Don't Leave Me Alone With Her + Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth and Something For The Girl With Everything HAS TO BE the greatest threesome of songs on any album ever.

I know what you mean about the catchy vocal hooks. Man. I had Kimono on in the car today and was singing Here in Heaven at the top of my voice, and these white van men were laughing at me. Ahhh, I am well past caring. I need to be silly or I'll go nuts. Do I qualify as dearly departed or am I that sucker in the sky? SO cool. I walked around Tesco singing My Baby's Taking Me Home. It put me in such a good mood that I told the dude behind the counter that he was awesome. He was though. I could sing that all day every day and never get bored.

The other night I jumped around the house to No. 1 in Heaven. I was all angry so I whacked up the volume and just got down to loving it. Mentalist. I am SO organising a houseparty so I can just play that album to everyone. That is the only reason. "What's this party in aid of?" "No. 1 in Heaven." Haha. RULES. Laaaa dolce viiita. THE BASS when My Other Voice kicks in! AAAH. I could not love that album more.

I almost died at "she's one freak bitch, ain't no lie." :LOL:
JUST WHY has it taken me this long to really get into them?! FFS. I feel like I've missed some really lovely times. How many times have you seen them in total? You might've answered that already, I've had a few beers. Wotwot.

Bowie could blates play all the guitars himself. He's had long enough to bleedin' practise. The noob. Diamond Dogs style. neeeyooow... What about Bowie and Sparks doing another Plagiarism? I would actually die.

Bowie could play Withnail on stage!
:LOL: I'm actually lol'ing.

Falsetto or die! would be a great album title. Hahaha. WUNDERBAR! I really am hoping for that acapella ending. I can't stop watching their videos. Especially the old ones. And commenting. Kitty said she was looking for some of their videos and saw my comments. Oh man. I love this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beAbFjDER3Q

:chuckle:

Aaargh I always accidentally put a 'p' at the end when I imbed YouTubes. Damn it for being next to the [.

I love Sparks.
bye bye bye my baby now it's time time time for me to go to work work work so you might want to make your way from here

this interview (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_0pYQw4Pv8) is so cute.

[pubicmage]

I just showed my housemates the amount of text on this screen. They were like, ":stunned: What the HELL do you guys talk about?!"

Sparks, that is all. Spa!rks!

I am absolutely in love with Under the Table With Her. Awww. It's just the sweetest little tune. Awww. I love Indiscreet and Propaganda so much! SO SO MUCH. I love Marry Me. Haha! Not heard Profile though. I think out of the two albums Indiscreet is my favourite. In fact I'd probably say it was my mostest favouritest. There's nothing on there I'd skip. Propaganda is also amazing, but Who Don't Like Kids & Achoo are a bit... skippable (not that I skip very often, especially with Sparks - even if it's not a strong song imo there's always something in there somewhere that'll make it great!) Haha. I keep playing Reinforcements. I love that song. And like, Don't Leave Me Alone With Her + Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth and Something For The Girl With Everything HAS TO BE the greatest threesome of songs on any album ever.

I know what you mean about the catchy vocal hooks. Man. I had Kimono on in the car today and was singing Here in Heaven at the top of my voice, and these white van men were laughing at me. Ahhh, I am well past caring. I need to be silly or I'll go nuts. Do I qualify as dearly departed or am I that sucker in the sky? SO cool. I walked around Tesco singing My Baby's Taking Me Home. It put me in such a good mood that I told the dude behind the counter that he was awesome. He was though. I could sing that all day every day and never get bored.

The other night I jumped around the house to No. 1 in Heaven. I was all angry so I whacked up the volume and just got down to loving it. Mentalist. I am SO organising a houseparty so I can just play that album to everyone. That is the only reason. "What's this party in aid of?" "No. 1 in Heaven." Haha. RULES. Laaaa dolce viiita. THE BASS when My Other Voice kicks in! AAAH. I could not love that album more.

I almost died at "she's one freak bitch, ain't no lie." :LOL:
JUST WHY has it taken me this long to really get into them?! FFS. I feel like I've missed some really lovely times. How many times have you seen them in total? You might've answered that already, I've had a few beers. Wotwot.

Bowie could blates play all the guitars himself. He's had long enough to bleedin' practise. The noob. Diamond Dogs style. neeeyooow... What about Bowie and Sparks doing another Plagiarism? I would actually die.

Bowie could play Withnail on stage!
:LOL: I'm actually lol'ing.

Falsetto or die! would be a great album title. Hahaha. WUNDERBAR! I really am hoping for that acapella ending. I can't stop watching their videos. Especially the old ones. And commenting. Kitty said she was looking for some of their videos and saw my comments. Oh man. I love this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beAbFjDER3Q

:chuckle:

Aaargh I always accidentally put a 'p' at the end when I imbed YouTubes. Damn it for being next to the [.

I love Sparks.
bye bye bye my baby now it's time time time for me to go to work work work so you might want to make your way from here

this interview (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_0pYQw4Pv8) is so cute.

Haha, I was just looking through some of the old posts in this thread (no idea why, but it's fun!) and some of the ones from the second page onwards were also very long. It seems that every Sparks conversation on here is obliged to be lengthy. There is just so much to be said about them! Even talking about talking about Sparks can lead to lengthy conversations.

Ah, it took me a long time to get used to Who Don't Like Kids, but now I really like it. It would be much better without that one horrid version of the title that is shouted out by a bunch of kids, but that is just a minor bit of crap. Achoo, however, is one of my favourites! I love it. The magic and ever-popular '70s trick of fading a song out is particularly poignant on that song, I think, because it fades out a bit too soon for my liking, but I still love it. It's hilarious.

Never Turn You Back is beautiful. Martin L. Gore did a good cover of it, but it obviously has nothing on the original version. I hope they play that live at the Kimono show. Don't Leave Me Alone With Her could easily have been a popular single. The chorus has such an infectious melody, and some of Russell's best falsetto vocals are in the verse.

They are great for that. I can randomly just think of a song and it'll be stuck in my head for hours afterwards. I'll use that to keep me occupied during my summer exams, since I invariably manage to finish writing way before the allocated time ends. Hah. I want to do an exam on Sparks. An undergraduate degree in 'Mael Studies'.

YES. I love it so much. Everything about it is awesome. Some people seem to complain about the length of the album, but the fact that it only goes on for 30 minutes is, to me, an indicator of how concise and filler-free the whole album is. It doesn't have any excessive baggage, and the band obviously only included the songs they thought were worthy of being heard. It's focused and perfect. "Life isn't much, but there's nothing else to do." I'd love to see that phrase graffiti'd onto a wall. It sounds like the sort of thing that would be befitting of graffiti. Academy Award Performance is also a masterpiece. The lyrics are superb.

Suburban Homeboy is pure genius. "I say 'yo dog' to my pool cleaning guy." LOLOLOL. I've only actually seen them twice. The first was at the beginning of 2006, when they played two proper sets, then the No. 1 show last year. It feels like more, for some reason! haha. Maybe it's because of the amount of Sparks anecdotes I've heard over the years.

Bowie and Sparks together would be amazing. There was a rumour a few years ago that Sparks and Franz Ferdinand were going to do some collaborations (as far as I recall, members of both bands were talking about it), but their schedules have both been clashing too frequently for it to happen. It would be great if they got around to it eventually, even if only for a few songs.

I love going through videos from the '70s. Quite a few times, I've been watching videos on youtube and actually recognised the username of the uploader from the official Sparks forum! Haha. The problem with official boards for specific bands is that they've usually been around for years, and every discussion you could think of has happened in the past, so you can't really talk about the same things without boring the old users. I guess that's why Main Muse is generally so boring! Other Bands is a great antidote to that.

agh, my brother and his shit friends keep pissing around downstairs trying to steal my parents' alcohol (what the fuck, is this what 14 year olds do now? I wouldn't give a shit if they managed to buy their own), so I'll stop rambling for now in case they manage to get something.

[pubicmage]

DAMNIT I FOUND IT.

I saw this video so long ago, and I've been looking for it on YouTube for so long but it never showed up in my search results. I just love the hilarious gaps between the verses:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoA1oQZyjUI

This song is awesome.

[pubicmage]

LA gig setlist:

EXOTIC CREATURES OF THE DEEP
Intro
Good Morning
Strange Animal
I Can't Believe That You Would Fall for All the Crap in This Song
Let the Monkey Drive
I've Never Been High
(She Got Me) Pregnant
Lighten Up, Morrissey
This is the Renaissance
The Director Never Yelled 'Cut'
Photoshop
Likeable

KIMONO MY HOUSE
This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us
Amateur Hour
Falling In Love With Myself Again
Here In Heaven
Thank God It's Not Christmas
Hasta Mañana Monsieur
Talent Is An Asset
Complaints
In My Family
Equator

ENCORE
Propaganda
At Home, At Work, At Play
B.C.
No. 1 Song In Heaven
Mickey Mouse
When Do I Get To Sing My Way
Dick Around
Suburban Homeboy

Taken from Outpost Gallifrey (lol). The encore is quite yummy, with every decade getting some representation. I would've gone for something other than Mickey Mouse if I was choosing an '80s song, but it's still great. I really want them to play Goofing Off.

[Gemsy]

WOAH MY GOD, that's an incredible set list!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No Barbecutie or Lost & Found then I see. Ahhh but those encore songs! DICK AROUND! AAAAHHHHH why does it have to be such a long time away?!

I AM GOING TO DIE of yay.

So tonight I told my dad I was going to see Sparks. He was all, "What, THE Sparks? The old Sparks?"
"Yep, twice."
The OLD Sparks? Bloody hell! What was that song they did?"
*singing* "This town ain't big enough for the both of us!"
"Yeah, that's it! With that scary keyboard bloke who was like this *does an awesome Ron-mime*"
"YES OMG HE'S AWESOME!"
"What was his name... Ron...?"
"YES! Ron Mael."
"That's it! Bloody hell..."

HAHA.

Then my mum chipped in. "What's this? Who are you going to see in March?... What, the OLD Sparks?"

:LOL:
Fucking win omg.

[pubicmage]

hahaha, I want to form a band called The NEW Sparks now.

[Gemsy]

So funny that video. Hahaha. I woke up singing that today too. Ah they're so funny.

I looked through this thread last night too, it's full of essays indeed. I love it! I know what you mean about coming onto band forums and being wary about repeating yourself. I don't get involved in a lot of other forums apart from this one tbh. I have no idea how to even go about it these days and like you say, usually everything's been covered already! I could probably still talk about Muse in this much depth but it'd involve a lot of thread bumping that would probably just get ignored. Maybe we should delete it all and start again! Haha. This thread usually 's not very repetitive though. It's usually better just having one thread on a subject I s'pose.

I would SO sign up for Mael Studies. Even if I couldn't get a bursary :chuckle:

Did you sort your naughty bro out in the end? :chuckle:

[EvanMael]

Thirty one songs...wow.

[Feed the Hex]

So tonight I told my dad I was going to see Sparks. He was all, "What, THE Sparks? The old Sparks?"
"Yep, twice."
The OLD Sparks? Bloody hell! What was that song they did?"
*singing* "This town ain't big enough for the both of us!"
"Yeah, that's it! With that scary keyboard bloke who was like this *does an awesome Ron-mime*"
"YES OMG HE'S AWESOME!"
"What was his name... Ron...?"
"YES! Ron Mael."
"That's it! Bloody hell..."

HAHA.

Then my mum chipped in. "What's this? Who are you going to see in March?... What, the OLD Sparks?"

:LOL:
Fucking win omg.



that's class! :LOL:


and that setlist ...*jealoussss*

[Gemsy]

FUCKINAWESOME I vaguely remembered the Maels being on Never Mind The Buzzcocks so I looked on YouTube and it's all there. :LOL:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYWTX8KR7ig
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJrOeQpskRM

The close-ups of Ron :LOL:

[pubicmage]

I was looking for that last year but I just couldn't find it anywhere! It was added in October, so maybe that explains it. I can't wait to see it. I love hearing them talk. There's a great interview with Mark Lamarr from last year, but I only have it in FLAC, so it'll take forever to upload unless it is converted.

[Gemsy]

They don't say much unfortunately, Russell's almost as quiet as Ron. :LOL: They're both so hilarious though omg love. Have you seen that backstage with Sparks video on YouTube too? I laughed so much.

[pubicmage]

I've never seen it, but the title alone makes it sound amazing. I only tend to watch live videos and nonsense from television shows, so there must be a lot of interview-y/spoken-word stuff that I haven't seen yet. But watching it means I have to stop listening to music, which pains me!

[Gemsy]

I haven't seen many interviewy things on there tbh! Here's the one though, it's so funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdcx6eZjPEI

I can't watching their live videos. I Bought the Mississippi River is awesome live! It's mine ALL mine! IT'S YOURS ALL YOURS!

[Gemsy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMMJbzQ02cI

:LOL: :LOL:
:LOL: :LOL:
:LOL: :LOL:

*ded*

[pubicmage]

I'm listening to Lil' Beethoven and I'd feel like a whore if I paused it, so the videos will have to wait a bit.

At first she said
Your call is very important to us!
and then she said
Please hold, please hold!
At first she said
Your call is very important to us!
and then she said
Please hold, please hold!
At first she said
Your call is very important to us!
and then she said
Please hold, please hold!
At first she said
Your call is very important to us!
and then she said
Please hold, please hold!
At first she said
Your call is very important to us!
and then she said
Please hold, please hold!
At first she said
Your call is very important to us!
and then she said
Please hold, please hold!

I love that so much. It goes particularly well after the endless repetition of My Baby's Taking Me Home, and the two songs that follow it are amazing. I need the Lil' Beethoven DVD to see what all of the songs looked like live.

[pubicmage]

Also, lol at the 'Similar Threads'.

[Gemsy]

:LOL: bicycle sexings

Listened to Lil' Beethoven 3 times in the car today, then bought it into the house and played it thrice more.

I cannae stop!

green green light
RED light
green green light
RED light

I love the fact that the whole premise of the album is that there's no 'beats', the Rhythm-the-rhythm-the-rhythm Thief, yet it's the most rhythmy grooviest mo'fuckin' album I've heard this decade.

NEEDS MORE TAGS.

[pubicmage]

:LOL: bicycle sexings

Listened to Lil' Beethoven 3 times in the car today, then bought it into the house and played it thrice more.

I cannae stop!

green green light
RED light
green green light
RED light

I love the fact that the whole premise of the album is that there's no 'beats', the Rhythm-the-rhythm-the-rhythm Thief, yet it's the most rhythmy grooviest mo'fuckin' album I've heard this decade.

NEEDS MORE TAGS.

It's so addictive, although I've been a bit more addicted to No. 1 in Heaven recently, which annoys the hell out of me since that is the one I'm not able to go to see live! Ahha, oh well, I can still love the album until I die.

The 'beatless pop' (I want to form a band called The Beatless now) idea is just brilliant, and it's one of the most original concepts in recent pop music. I cannot think of anything like it, except other recent Sparks LPs. I want a vinyl copy. The artwork isn't exactly stunning, but I just imagine it looking much better at vinyl-size, for some unknown reason!

I want them to do another electric album. Without drums.

[Gemsy]

OHYES. Lots of dreamy floaty synths and pads, without drums. Get a bit of Eno on the go. I love it with LB though, 'cause you're rocking out already, and when it brings the drums in, you really go for it! Like My Baby's Taking Me Home - my God. When that kicks in! "We can hear the sound of a chorus... SINGING!" BAM it's METAL. I spaz out every time. And the guitar licks are just delicious over the end of that song. Unf.

I'm SO ANNOYED, there's some funky video/multimedia thing on my copy of LB and I can't play it 'cause my stupid CD drive decided to bugger up.

You definitely can't come to No. 1? :( Awww. I don't know if I'll be able to make it through both gigs. I will explode. Ah I love it I love it I love it. I'm going to listen to it now. Haha. So much for an early night!

[pubicmage]

OHYES. Lots of dreamy floaty synths and pads, without drums. Get a bit of Eno on the go. I love it with LB though, 'cause you're rocking out already, and when it brings the drums in, you really go for it! Like My Baby's Taking Me Home - my God. When that kicks in! "We can hear the sound of a chorus... SINGING!" BAM it's METAL. I spaz out every time. And the guitar licks are just delicious over the end of that song. Unf.

I'm SO ANNOYED, there's some funky video/multimedia thing on my copy of LB and I can't play it 'cause my stupid CD drive decided to bugger up.

You definitely can't come to No. 1? :( Awww. I don't know if I'll be able to make it through both gigs. I will explode. Ah I love it I love it I love it. I'm going to listen to it now. Haha. So much for an early night!

It would be a good change in direction, because I think they've done pretty much all they can with the ideas they started to explore on LB. Or maybe they could do drums with no other instruments! Haha. That would make it a bit boring for Ron, though, so it might not work. Unless he takes up drum lessons.

The buildups to the guitar/drum/bass entry always makes it so damn good. Those instruments add so much to it when it really gets going. I wish My Baby's Taking Me Home went on just a bit long with the drums and distorted guitars at the end, because it comes and goes so so quickly! I'd probably be saying that even if it went on for 20 minutes, though.

I think the video is just The Rhythm Thief. I've got a copy of the disc somewhere around here, and I don't remember much being on it except for a short music video for the Rhythm Thief, which is on YouTube.

Nope, I have no way of getting enough money for it, and if I don't book a hotel soon, I'll probably be left with nowhere to stay (it's actually more expensive to get a train ticket to Brighton to stay with my friend than it is to get a return to Lunnun and a hotel! ridiculous. Anyway, I think some of the people I know who are going to the gig will be staying at the same hotel, so there'll be a Sparks party on the Tube that night, ahaha), so I have to categorically rule it out or wander the streets of London all night between the shows. haha.

[Gemsy]

Ron could just dance the whole time, sorted. I wouldn't complain, ahaha. Ron with glowsticks would be good.

I can't complain about anything right now. I'm half asleep and No. 1 in Heaven just makes me so HAPPY. I need to play it to somebody soon. The whole world needs to hear this music. I'm so glad I have this thread as an outlet for my bleatings. Hahaha.

Oh well if it's just the Rhythm Thief I'm not bothered. I've watched that thousands of times. hahaha. Haha yes I often think, "Awww no don't finish yeeet!" Especially the ones that fade out! Damn, fading out should be banned. I can't describe my disappointment when I first got the first Darkness album and heard a couple of songs on there fading out! NOOO! :LOL: I want big rock endings!

Understandable. It's a hell of a mission for you! Haha, it'll just me and my hetero life partner (myself) for the second night... :D A Sparks party on a train would be totally amazing though - combining my two favourite things! Aaargh I might have to drive all the way home to Southampton and back again after stupid work the next day. :facepalm: I know that if I go into work I'm just going to be clock watching the whole day. Well I might've quit by then, I might not... need to make up my mind and sort it out. Would be nice to keep both days empty and have a full-on Sparks weekend without being brought back down to Earth in between! But then I'd have to find a hotel or somezing. Although God knows what I'm going to do all day. :LOL: Things to do to kill time...