Sparks Sparks Sparks

(Well you said "preferably")

http://tralfaz-archives.com/coverart/S/sparks_kimonob.jpg

Can't wait for February.

Lamp my ex made for me:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/philschiavoni/sparks.jpg

So excited about February!

Hahah, nice. Yeah, there's going to be a mael-list get-together beforehand, all welcome.

Been listening to Kimono and Propaganda tonite (i give these two a lot of spin particularly in the depths of winter, for some reason) and was shocked to find so little discussion on them. HOW CAN THESE TWO TITLES NOT BE IN EVERY HOUSEHOLD??!!

I've got them! Also Angst In My Pants is my favorite smart new wave record ever.

I bought kimono a few days ago + then when I got it home it had the wrong record inside :(

I recently got pretty addicted to Whomp That Sucker. Just a really stupid and fun album. "They call it the WIIIIILLLYYYYYS!!" *bwwooooomp*

April 24 - Philadelphia, Trocadero Theatre
April 25 - New York City, Highline Ballroom

YES

VERY exciting !
Looks like Boston is maybe out of the question, but if I wait for them to come here, I'll never see em.

Can't wait.

just got tix for nyc. SO stoked.

oh fuck

this live album

They're just that good!

LA standalone show a week from tonight...

...and Portland on the 21st

That is quite a tracklist.

Isn't it time we had an actual new Sparks album? Almost five years since Exotic Creatures now. I know they've done that soundtrack inbetween but I'm ready for a new album now.

me too! on the live album russell says that theyre planning on developing the bergman thing yet further, and much as I love it I really wanna see where they go next

best fucking band

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2013/04/sparks_interview_the_chapel_sa.php

next album to be "unorthodox musical"

only a couple weeks til nyc!

One of those "Gutted the BBC wiped the performance" was "Looks Looks Looks" on Top of the Pops.

I mean, as far as I can tell all the others survive.

Going to see them in Philly in a few weeks! Literally can't remember the last time I was this excited about anything.

Yeah, can't wait for the LA shows next week! The live album is lovely -- I wonder if there'll be many changes to the setlist. Would be surprised if they didn't throw in an extra LA-era number or two.

There's an interview with Russell late in this Sparks special where he mentions that they're hard at work on the next project (not many additional details though):
http://www.eastvillageradio.com/content/content.php?id=5923

seeing them tonight! can't wait

And if you can't make any of the shows, webcast from Coachella tonight! 7:35 Pacific Time, Mojave Stage

http://www.youtube.com/coachella

Any reviews of the shows? They are in NY soon. I have never seen them, very curious.

Coachella show OOOOOOOMMMMMMGGGGGGGG!!!!! That was so fun!

I got the Halfnelson pressing of the first album today. haven't seen that one before.

Loved Ron's "dance" but I think I prefer them w/ full band.

I got the Halfnelson album somewhere back in the late 70s, there was actually a mini-glut of them in a cutout bin.

Yeah, while a full band show would be my preference too, in terms of doing something off-the-wall and unusual, I thought it was full of surprises. The overture! Russell's knickers! Ron looking like Burgess Meredith in the Twilight Zone "Time Enough At Last" episode! The Rhythm Thief! Sherlock Holmes! (of all the obscurities to pull out...) I actually got chills when they hit the intro to "Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth."

Sherlock Holmes! (of all the obscurities to pull out...)

oh man for REAL? I love that song, it's top of the mark on an album of classics. I wondered if running through their entire back catalog in concert those few years ago intrigued them to add a smattering of forgotten gems into rotation.

Yeah that's a great treasure of a song. If they had done "Nicotina," holy shit.

I actually held off on watching (similarly from picking up the live album) so I can be totally fresh for the standalone Tuesday show, which I can already tell will be INSANE.

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/35027_10151500786466865_1682280846_n.jpg

Sweet! That's evidently the pic Ron snapped right at the end of the performance. The show seems to me to be more for longtime fans than to win over the young Coachella crowd, many of whom were probably just waiting for Modest Mouse.

And as true professionals they did their thing!

Meantime:

http://trinikitti.deviantart.com/art/The-quot-Mael-quot-ection-157130321

"But the power of Mega man is on -my- side, Ron!" Russell shouted and jumped up and down

nailed russell

Chilling in the Masonic Hall and all well.

great show in Portland tonight! them imitating each other was classic, and the duo lineup is really interesting - songs stripped down to the core.

"But the power of Mega man is on -my- side, Ron!" Russell shouted and jumped up and down

"I've got the knobs on my side, Russell" Albert Steptoe Ron.

omfg did loads of sparks just disappear off spotify?!

less urgently: does anyone know if there are any plans to release the 21 london concerts from a few years back? They were recorded, right/

Recorded, yes. Released...who knows. Thank goodness I saw the basic netstream of the whole thing.

man can't we kickstart this

also does anyone know what's up with the spotify thing?

oh actually nm, the stuff is disappeared unless you click on the album name

Philly show was so great! A couple pleasant surprises in the setlist, and the duo lineup really works. Russell's voice has held up surprisingly well! They announced that they will be at Cannes this year attempting to procure backing to make The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman into a film!

The Portland show was incredible, but I think I walked in a little late. Does anybody have the setlist for that show? I see people talking about Sherlock Holmes being played and I'm really hoping I didn't miss that.

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/sparks/2013/aladdin-theater-portland-or-13d835b9.html

Linked this on the other thread

http://thequietus.com/articles/12088-sparks-masonic-hall-hollywood-forever-cemetery

thank you for that setlist! xp

I've been repeatedly playing the Two Hands One Mouth versions of Beat the Clock and No. 1 Song in Heaven very loudly...this is exactly the kind of thing I try to do on my synthesizer, but obviously like 100x better. Do these guys rule or what?

Yes, hearing those versions live last week was something else. Was so glad I'd held off on getting the album until I'd seen the show.

Yeah, thanks for the setlist...but, crap, I missed too many songs that I love. xp

No problem! Yeah, when I saw where "Sherlock Holmes" fell in the set that night I felt bad. :(

Also, on a side note: Ron's keyboard having "Ronald" instead of "Roland" stamped on it was a nice subtle touch of genius.

Ha, he's been doing that since the 80s! Very much a stage trademark now.

Proof. Also, one of the greatest moments in SNL history

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOtvmlfxseE

This is the other greatest moment, of course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mq3F328Cc0

OMG, "Under The Table With Her" in the Portland setlist?! Looooooooooove! (way xposts)

More Ron/Russell only dates in fall:

As a thank you to Sparks fans for your overwhelming support of the Two Hands One Mouth tour and album, Ron and Russell announce THE REVENGE OF TWO HANDS ONE MOUTH TOUR.

In FALL 2013 the tour will visit new cities in the USA and Europe (as well as some old favorites), and will feature a selection of previously unperformed songs given the THOM treatment. Dates will be announced shortly!

As the guys bid adieu to the THOM format and get ready for their next album and new adventures in film and beyond, these tour dates will be the final ones of this era. So if you missed seeing them the first go-round or want to see new interpretations of more songs, catch them now before it becomes another memorable page in Sparks' history.

I've never looked at their website before now. Fun design!

Holy crap, they played The Neptune Theater in Seattle recently?!?! Never saw it used as a music venue.

Still can't get over what a great Beatles cover this is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlRJn2YQN1o

In a way I think that lush, orchestrated sound feels like a direction they could(and maybe should) have pursued further, but they never did anything quite like it again. I guess the Maels have never exactly gone for the obvious.

They didn't go for it even then, the single got withdrawn as all the Beatles singles got reissued

http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/music/444355/Kanye-West-Velvet-Underground-and-Glenn-Gould-Sparks-Ron-Mael-on-his-six-best-albums

Franz!

Had completely forgotten I'm seeing these guys tonight! On the train to London now, wishing I weren't so hungover.

Apparently Thurston Moore joined them onstage at the last London show to play guitar on This Town!

!

So jazzed for this. I'm listening to Real Extended, the comp of 12-inch mixes and holy fucking shit

the extended mixes of the moroder tunes

are

EVERYTHING

This is happening
20 mins
You guys

SO FUCKIN GOOD

opened with "your call is v important to us" and I was p much hooked throughout. Popularity, tryouts, heaven, my way: I think the thing that will stick most from the 2h1m project is the reimagining of their fun ones as kinda drive soundtrack torch songs

And they are great for that! Glad you had a good time. Pity I had to miss the LA date for this version of the tour but it couldn't be helped!

Really hoping for a sequel album, setlist was kinda perfect imo. I used "heaven" as shorthand above assuming ppl would know I meant #1 but it could also refer to "here in heaven", which they did along with falling in love with myself, bc, Carnegie, I mean this is about as precision-targeted winsbait as is possible without throwing in whomp & balls faves

i had never seen this thanks to dumb SNL music performance sharing/licensing/whatever but it's pretty great. Sparks playing "Mickey Mouse" on SNL, introduced by Danny DeVito and then Ron Mael giving a short speech about mice. https://my.mail.ru/mail/legych6621/video/3502/6358.html

http://allsparks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Cookie-for-website.jpg

http://allsparks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Soup-for-Website.jpg

&c

I'm listening to the reviled "Puling Rabbits Out of A Hat" while working, and it's...kind of going down easy? The songs are certainly peppier than the midtempo plod of some of their other lesser albums. Ned called me mad for finding "Angst in My Pants" tough to get through, and I guess I'm mad for kind of liking "Rabbits".

Chaos reigns etc