I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: March 29, 2022] Sparks

Sparks is, without question, a weird band.  I got into them back in 1997 when they released an album of re-recorded versions of their best songs and called it Plagiarism.  Since then they have released eight albums.  Before  that the had release sixteen albums dating all the way back to 1971.  And yet despite the occasional hit, they remained largely unknown in the States.  They are from the States even though many people assume they are from Europe.  Sparks are Russel Mael (vocals) and Ron Mael (everything else).

And they remained at a certain level of obscurity until 2021 when a documentary called The Sparks Brothers was released (and did very well) and when they created a musical movie called Annette which won the Cannes Soundtrack award.

The time seemed ripe to do a (limited) tour of the States.  Sparks last played toured American back in 2013, they played at Le Poisson Rouge in 2017, but that was just two shows in New York and two in California–not much of a tour.  Normally I hate going into New York and will only do it for special occasions.

Sparks was certainly special.  And when I saw that there was no opening act and that the shows tended to end a little after ten, it seemed worth taking the Path in, and parking in Jersey City to save a few bucks.

The Jersey City part was great.  Except I picked the Path train that went to Hoboken first (and the Hoboken to 33rd St. train had just pulled out as we pulled in).  This messed with my plan of grabbing a bite before the show.  But whatever.

I walked up to Town Hall and sat down behind the tallest most massive man I have ever seen.  The seat next to me was open (the man’s wife couldn’t make it) so at least I could look around him.  But as soon as the band came out, everyone stood up.  And I had to look around this behemoth.  The worst part was that he clearly didn’t enjoy the show and was obviously dragged there by his lady friends (who was very short and sat in front of the other guy next to me).    The best times were when he sat down–I’m not sure why he didn’t sit more often, he kept turning his head longingly at the chair trying to see if he could sneak in a seat.

But enough about him.  Ron sat in front of a keyboard, the letters of Roland rearranged to spell Ronald.  And then Russel came out in a yellow sleeveless suit.  And they began, as they should, with the song “So May We Start” from Annette.

I know a lot of the older songs from Plagiarism (and I’ve listened to the older discs as well).  But i assumed there’d be a lot of songs from their 2000 outout and then then big hits from the early days.

They jumped into the older songs with “Angst in My Pants” (such fun to hear this old chestnut.  And then came the somewhat big hit from 1981 “Tips for Teens.”  Having seen The Sparks Brothers recently, I was a bit more familiar with their rise and fall and rise and fall and mostly fall but some rise.  I recalled them talking about “Under the Table with Her” a very funny song that I wasn’t familiar with before the film.  I also didn’t really know “Get in the Swing” (clearly Indiscreet is an album I don’t know).

Then came “I Married Myself,” in which Russel sang to a mirror.  This was one of four songs from L’il Beethoven and album I love.  It seems weird that they played four songs from this.  It is 20 years old this year, but they played more from this than from their most recent album.

They went back to their debut album (when they were called Halfnelson–Russell made a joke about how the record company felt the name held them back, so they changed the name to Sparks…which did nothing for them).  Interestingly, the couple behind me were talking (a lot) before the show about music and were raving about this first album which someone near them didn’t know at all.

Introducing the bizarre and wonderful “Stravinsky’s Only Hit” Russell said that Stravinsky himself was on that very stage in 1959–I can’t believe he was around then (indeed, he only died in 1971!).  Also, I found out that the 1980’s “orchestral hit” sound that is in every 1980s song from New Order to Peter Gabriel to every single pop song is from a recording of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite.

I didn’t know the song “Shopping Mall of Love” at all, but it featured a vocal appearance from Ron!  He recited a love song to his beloved in hilarious deadpan (which is what he does on the record, I have just found out).  They followed that with a song from their collaboration with Franz Ferdinand (FFS), which rocked appropriately.

They played a song from Annette, a rather mellow song, which made much of the audience sit (but not me because i could finally see the whole stage at once!).

After “Edith Piaf” (the only song from 2017’s Hippopotamus), they played the second song from their newest album, the wonderfully oddball “Lawnmower.”  After “Music that You Can Dance To,” they played the ever more peculiar “The Rhythm Thief” a drum-free song which features the backing singers screaming “Oh no! Where did the groove go?”  It’s so weird and was bizarrely excellent to hear live.

I was surprised to hear the very sincere “Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth,” but I was utterly thrilled when the unmistakable strains of “When Do I Get to Sing “My Way”” came in.  This was one of the three songs that I was absolutely blown away from when I heard Plagiarism.  I was thrilled to hear it live and to hear Russell sing it so well.

They followed that with the Beethoven track “My Baby’s Taking me Home.”  I had read a review of this live track somewhere in which they talked about how a song which had only those five words repeated over and over (with a spoken word section near the end) could be so powerful because of the way the music changed over the nearly five minutes.  And it worked really well.  Very cool.

But I had barely a moment to appreciate it because they jumped into the unmistakable strains of “The Number One Song in Heaven.”  Boy I was hoping they’d play this and it was simply magnificent.  There was even an extended middle section in which Ron came up to center stage and did a shuffle dance.  Wow.

They ended the set with my favorite Sparks song “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us.”  It’s audacious musically and vocally.  And amazingly, the 73 year old Russell could hit those high notes like he was still in his twenties.  It was spectacular.

The guys came up for a bow and a few minutes later were back for an encore.

There were about a dozen songs I would have loved to hear, and they chose a song that I was thrilled to hear but which I never would have guessed they’d play.  The delightfully droll “Suburban Homeboy.”  Ron even did a verse in this song.  So much fun.

They ended with an anthemic song from their newest album.  This song could be huge and could be used in just about any kind of sweeping, we love you all, kind of moment in a movie or otherwise:

All that we’ve done
We’ve lost, we’ve won
All that, all that and more
All that we’ve seen
We’ve heard, we’ve dreamed
All that, all that and more.

It was a suitable ending for a lovely night of an audience appreciating a band that’s been around for over fifty years and their appreciation that anybody still wants to come to their shows after all this time.

They had some very kind words for everyone at the end of the show, including Ron’s deadpan appreciation for Russell for hitting all the notes.  Ron said that he refuses to change the keys when he writes the songs so Russell has to manage to hit them.  A perfect snapshot of the two brother making amazingly weird and catchy music for all this time.

Incidentally on the way home, I wound up getting off at the wrong exit in Jersey City, walked around a bit realized I had no idea where I was and hopped back on the Path to get to the correct exit–after waiting 17 minutes for the next train.  By the time I got home it was 1:30 AM (I assumed I might get home as early as 11:45).  Good grief.  But it was worth it.

1. So May We Start ∇
2. Angst in My Pants Π
3. Tips for Teens ϖ
4. Under the Table With Her ‰
5. Get in the Swing ‰
6. I Married Myself ≡
7. I Predict Π
8. Wonder Girl ⊄
9. Stravinsky’s Only Hit §
10. Shopping Mall of Love ø
11. Johnny Delusional ƒƒ
12. We Love Each Other So Much ∇
13. Edith Piaf (Said It Better Than Me) ∑
14. Lawnmower §
15. Music That You Can Dance To ø
16. The Rhythm Thief ≡
17. Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth ¶
18. When Do I Get to Sing “My Way” ¥
19. My Baby’s Taking Me Home ≡
20. The Number One Song in Heaven #
21. This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us λ
    encore
22. Suburban Homeboy ≡
23. All That §

∇ Annette (Cannes Edition – Selections From the Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021)
§ A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip (2020)
∑ Hippopotamus (2017)
ƒƒ FFS (Franz Ferdinand & Sparks) (2015)
≡ Lil’ Beethoven (2002)
¥ Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins (1994)
ø Music That You Can Dance To (1986)
Π Angst in My Pants (1982)
ϖ Whomp That Sucker (1981)
# No. 1 in Heaven (1979)
‰ Indiscreet (1975)
¶ Propaganda (1974)
λ Kimono My House (1974)
⊄ Halfnelson (1971)