Thursday, June 26, 2008

Sparks - Exotic Creatures Of The Deep

Sparks - "Exotic Creatures Of The Deep"
It's not often that you find a band that's been around for 37 years, sold over 10 million albums worldwide and there are still heaps of people (especially in Australia) who still don't have a clue as to who they are.
Legendary L.A. brothers Ron & Russell Mael have recently delivered their 21st album exquisitiely titled "Exotic Creatures Of The Deep" on their own label Li'l Beethoven, which they celebrated the release of by playing a 21 day gig in London at Carling Academy in Islington with a history lesson of all their back albums from "Wonder Girl" to "Likeable", along with some curio tracks that are damned hard to find.
Upon first listening to this album (as indeed with many other Sparks albums) the tracks didn't make much impact on me until around the third or fourth play before I decided how much I liked it. That is usually the case with Sparks albums for even the most experienced of listeners. Ron & Russell vehemently refuse to let themselves conform to one singular musical genre that you can feel comfortable in. Their purpose in the music world is to confound and to educate as with many other acts that changed the face of pop music in their time like T. Rex, The Goodies, New York Dolls, and The Sex Pistols. They are one of the few acts that understood punk and got it right the first time.
This album is only punk in the manner of it's musical rather than it's fashion anarchy. Fusing Manhattan Transfer-like nostalgia harmony vocals with lush orchestras, squelching 70's Chicory Tip-ish synths, and some good thrashy guitars and drums this is one album that you can't afford to miss.
The track listing is thus:
1) Intro - opens up with some beautiful wordless vocals interspersed with chants of "like me" with some poignant piano playing which goes straight to
2) Good Morning - available only as a download single in the UK, it got heavy airplay on BBC Radio 2. It's a nice piece of reggae-pop with Russell's trademark falsetto in fine form, nice harmony vocals and a theme about a guy who gets drunk whilst on the tiles and wakes up to find a beautiful woman in bed with him and has no idea as to how she got there. Nice coda to the song which has some nods to the Human League's kaleidoscope keyboard playing.
3) Strange Animal - fusing dainty ragtime piano playing and a whole choir of Russell's vocals, underneath the beautiful arrangements is a nightmarish story of the dangerous sexual quirks of humankind. The song intersperses ragtime with some galloping thrash rock. It could have been a contender for a single, but some fans were put off by the duration of the track (it is almost 6 minutes in legnth).
4) I Can't Believe That You Would Fall For All The Crap In This Song - Going back 35 years in time, this is a great glitter rock stomper with barbershop vocals completing Dean Mentas snarling guitars and Tammy Glover's thundering drums and all the while they make fun of the ballad singers (a la American Idol stars). This is the most catchiest track on the album which should be the next single, but alas I fear that it might be boycotted by the BBC due to the use of the "c" word in the title (their other masterpiece single "Dick Around" suffered the same fate two years ago).
5) Let The Monkey Drive - sounding similar to "Here Comes Bob" from their second album, it once again tells the story about arrogant drivers and how most guys get in touch with their primal selves once they get behind the wheel in their automobiles.
6) Intro (Reprise) - the vocals for the first track truncated into 24 seconds.
7) I've Never Been High - Ranks up as one of Sparks' finest ballads along with "Those Mysteries", "The Angels", and "I Married Myself" IMHO. It's about a guy who has never experienced any enjoyment in life whether it be from sex, drugs, music, or any of life's other symplicities. Gentle piano playing gives way to a big orchestral production with tympani, organ, guitars and some sweet backing vocals.
8) She Got Me Pregnant - sounding similar to "Here Kitty", it is an old oompah jazzy inspired track. I will admit that I didn't really like this song when I first heard it, but it's definitely a grower.
9) Lighten Up, Morrissey - Should be released as a double A-sided single with "The Crap In This Song". Sparks biggest celebrity fan and best buddy Morrissey gets a look over in this song about a lovesick guy whose self-esteem is taking a bashing because a girl he fancies is constantly comparing him to Morrissey. A great glam rock stomper which starts out sounding a bit like "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" with the marching grungey bass and guitar but goes into a heavier sounding track sounding rather similar to Morrissey's recent efforts.
10) This Is The Renaissance - From here, the album delves more into classical/Romantic mode. Sounding like the intro for ABBA's "Mama Mia", this is a pleasant sounding track.
11) The Director Never Yelled 'Cut!' - Simple message to this song: Russell tells the story about a female movie director seducing him, and not giving up her prowess until she's finished with him and only then does she yell 'Cut!'
12) Photoshop - Ingenius use of the photography software to eradicate a lover out of one's life after the relationship has gone awry.
13) Likeable - A nice closer to the album, it speaks quite a bit about myself wishing that I could be liked a bit more than just loved by the people that know me in person. The track closes with the "Intro" vocals.
The album is not yet available in Australia, although in the UK their label is partially distributed by Universal, so I hope that a label like Modular Records with release it here after I wrote to them.