Introducing Sparks

Performer: Sparks
Engineer: Lenny Roberts; Lenny Roberts; Betsy Banghart; Randy Tomanaga
Producer: Terry Powell; Ron Mael; Russell Mael; Terry Powell; Ron Mael; Russell Mael
Distributor: Revolver USA Distribution

Notes: Sparks: Ron Mael (vocals, keyboards); Russell Mael (vocals). Personnel: Jim Haas, Marc Piscitelli, Nick Uhrig, Al Capps, Stan Farber, Tom Bahler, Ron Hicklin (background vocals). Recording information: Larrabee Sound, Los Angeles, CA. Photographer: Bob Seidemann. Unknown Contributor Roles: Reinie Press; David Paich; Ed Greene; Alan Broadbent; Lee Ritenour ; Mike Porcaro; Thom Rotella; Ben Benay; David Foster. Arrangers: Al Capps; Ron Mael. With over 20 albums to their name, Sparks are certainly entitled to having cut the occasional clinker, although it is hard to visualize any album ever being more disappointing than this one. Recorded in 1976, shortly after the brothers' decision to abandon their adopted U.K. homeland and return to America, it is the sound of Sparks driving straight for the Stateside jugular, an album of almost quintessential mid-'70s slickness, recorded with sessionmen and -- if you want to compare it, song for song, to any past album they had made -- written with the same depth of commitment. The occasional number does snag your attention for a moment, and the closing "Over the Summer" is one of the greatest Beach Boys pastiches ever recorded. But we don't look to Sparks for pastiche, we look to them for manic originality, madcap commerciality, and blistering brilliance, and there's just one song here that steps far enough out of the groove to even hint at the brothers' true genius. "Goofing Off" rides a frenetic violin through a lunatic paean to the joys of, indeed, goofing off, and you can't help wondering if it's also a confession of sorts. Because the rest of the album was almost certainly recorded with Ron and Russell wishing they were doing something else instead and, no matter how complete your Sparks collection is, if you don't own this record, you really won't miss it. Oh, and it has a ghastly cover as well. ~ Dave Thompson By calling this 1977 release Introducing Sparks, the Mael siblings were being ironic -- this was their seventh album, and they were famous in England even though they only had a small following in their own country. The second of two albums that Sparks recorded for Columbia, Introducing Sparks gained a reputation for being its least essential album of the 1970s. To be sure, this LP isn't in a class with either Big Beat (Sparks' previous Columbia release) or Island gems such as Propaganda and Kimono My House. But it isn't a bad album either -- uneven and imperfect, yes, but generally decent. Some of the album's more memorable songs range from the opener "A Big Surprise" and the Beach Boys-minded "Over The Summer" (a '60s-like ode to summer love) to the Greek-influenced "Goofing Off." On the hilarious "Occupation," Sparks outlines various career options and has fun lampooning all of them -- for example, Russell Mael says of athletes: "We athletes run around and round/We moan and groan and hit the ground/And when we get to 35/We sell cosmetics and survive." Although not recommended to casual listeners, Introducing Sparks has more plusses than minuses and is worth hearing if you're a hardcore Sparks aficionado. ~ Alex Henderson

From the very beginning Sparks was at odds with the conventional rock & roll archetype. Based around brothers Ron and Russell Mael, the band had an unusual sound and image, with Russell's freakishly high voice and Ron's glam-meets-cabaret keyboards and provocative Hitler moustache. After a few albums of quirky art rock that prefigured New Wave, Sparks hooked up with disco producer Giorgio Moroder in the late '70s for a danceable, synth-driven sound that proved well ahead of its time. Always more popular abroad than at home, the CA-born Maels were destined to remain beloved cult figures in America, but continued recording into the 21st century.

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