This looks like it will be very cool:
2021 Sparks Documentary
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Jim the Oldbie
My right elbow hurts.
Excellent!!
timothyemerson
1K Club - QQ Shooting Star
Are their sources correct?
WTH? I've never, ever heard of them.
You’re joking, right? This town ain’t big enough for the both of us, has been etched into my brain since I was a little kid and is probably the first song I ever really recall hearing and loving. It probably made me the prog/experimental music lover that I am today. Looking forward to seeing this.
No, absolutely never heard of them.
timothyemerson
1K Club - QQ Shooting Star
They've managed to fly well under the radar around the world - I only heard of them a few years ago via YouTube. Some fun, catchy tunes though.
jefe1
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
I love those early albums particularly Propaganda and Kimono my House. Those two have great album covers. Saw them in concert back then.
So yes I have heard of them.
So yes I have heard of them.
I discovered them back in the late 1970s thanks to a VERY cheap Island cassette of "Indiscreet". I played it once and was puzzled, then let it sit for a couple years before trying it again. It clicked then and I've been a fan ever since.
Anyone who could open an album with "Some day we'll have one extra coastline, we'll tire of the Atlantic" is OK with me.
Anyone who could open an album with "Some day we'll have one extra coastline, we'll tire of the Atlantic" is OK with me.
I barely remember them from the late 70s. They were like a bunch of weird experimental bands that came and went without too much notice. We also consumed media different back when.
At the time, late 70s, I saw them on TV once, didn’t think much of them either way. And then, never heard of them again.
But there were a lot of bands like this. Some made it really big, like Cheap Trick, or Talking Heads. I really liked DEVO from day one, when I bought their first single at Rather Ripped Records in Berkeley. Probably the only place in the whole San Francisco Bay Area where it was sold. I had no idea they would become huge hit maker’s. Certainly DEVO was too strange for mainstream audiences back then? But they simply had great songs.
Such was the late 70s when so called “Punk” and “New Wave” music was being invented, along with other bands that didn’t fit into any category. Anyway, that was my impression back then.
At the time, late 70s, I saw them on TV once, didn’t think much of them either way. And then, never heard of them again.
But there were a lot of bands like this. Some made it really big, like Cheap Trick, or Talking Heads. I really liked DEVO from day one, when I bought their first single at Rather Ripped Records in Berkeley. Probably the only place in the whole San Francisco Bay Area where it was sold. I had no idea they would become huge hit maker’s. Certainly DEVO was too strange for mainstream audiences back then? But they simply had great songs.
Such was the late 70s when so called “Punk” and “New Wave” music was being invented, along with other bands that didn’t fit into any category. Anyway, that was my impression back then.
Doug G.
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
"...and it ain't me who's gonna leave!"
Doug
Doug
They were pretty big in the UK in the 70s, and their critical acclaim here has grown over the years. Quite a unique band.
The girls at school in '74 all seemed to have the album "Kimono In My House", us boys thought it weird pop and not proper rock music. I bought the album on CD a few years ago in a discount shop, not that bad, its still a bit weird though!
Cyber 1
701 Club - QQ All-Star
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The band was called Half Nelson for the first album produced by Todd Rudgren and on Bearsville label. and it is really very unique, the first track is Wonder Girl, great song.
Also the album "Introducing Sparks":
In 2014, a fan posted online that they had inadvertently discovered a 1/4" 4-track 7-inch 7.5ips reel to reel tape of a quadraphonic mix of 'Introducing Sparks' which revealed a possible early incarnation of the album. The tape contained 8 songs, including two fully produced unreleased songs ('Kidnap'[8] and 'Keep Me'[9]), but excluded three songs from the final album release ('Forever Young', 'Girls On The Brain' and 'Over The Summer'). All songs had countdown intros and cold stops instead of fade outs. This version also appeared to be an early mix, as some sounds were either missing from the songs or mixed differently. In particular there is the addition of background conversation opening, closing, and running throughout the song, 'Goofing Off'.
If you don't have it you should, great quad
Also the album "Introducing Sparks":
In 2014, a fan posted online that they had inadvertently discovered a 1/4" 4-track 7-inch 7.5ips reel to reel tape of a quadraphonic mix of 'Introducing Sparks' which revealed a possible early incarnation of the album. The tape contained 8 songs, including two fully produced unreleased songs ('Kidnap'[8] and 'Keep Me'[9]), but excluded three songs from the final album release ('Forever Young', 'Girls On The Brain' and 'Over The Summer'). All songs had countdown intros and cold stops instead of fade outs. This version also appeared to be an early mix, as some sounds were either missing from the songs or mixed differently. In particular there is the addition of background conversation opening, closing, and running throughout the song, 'Goofing Off'.
If you don't have it you should, great quad
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We used to bring albums to art class to play; there was a lot of typical rock like Bad Company, UFO, Rolling Stones you'd expect. I'd bring Kimono My House and the jocks would get amped about it. Some clay might have been lobbed towards the record player but me and my buddy loved that one so much!
Ah yes, Sparks, featuring Ron and Russell Mael. Saw them once on Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert back in the 70’s. As I recall, Russell, the lead singer, looked like a RnR heartthrob, and brother Ron, on keyboards, looked like a weird take on Adolf Hitler, moustache and all(I’m not kidding!). Probably didn’t help with sales and bookings. I found their music to be wonderfully weird but never bought any of their albums(though I came ever so close to pulling the trigger on Kimono My House).
And Devo! Post-Devo, Mark Mothersbaugh reinvented himself as a soundtrack composer for Nickelodeon cartoons.
And Devo! Post-Devo, Mark Mothersbaugh reinvented himself as a soundtrack composer for Nickelodeon cartoons.
Jim the Oldbie
My right elbow hurts.
Mark's brother Jim, besides being one of the drummers for the band, also worked at Roland Corp. back in the '80s. It was fun talking with him when he was manning the tech support lines, back when I was working at a local music store as a keyboard tech.
I know! The first album of theirs I ever heard (when I was 10 or 11 years old) was Big Beat. My brother had it. When I saw the cover my first thought was "why did Roger Daltrey form a band with a Hitler look-alike?!?!"
Their biggest hit may have been "Cool Places", which featured Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Go's on vocal. Fun song.
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