LA Times’ music editor Robert Hilburn has chosen Sparks ‘ “Lil’ Beethoven” in his October $50 guide (Oct. 26, 2003). This monthly feature recommends albums to buy on only a budget of $50 for the month. Incidentally, his picks consist only of 3 albums for October, one being the number one album in America, Outkast, and the other, the commercially successful Shelby Lynne! “It’s been almost 30 years since this left-field L.A. duo came up with “Kimono My House,” an album that dealt in fresh, smart and downright irresistible pop-rock sensibilities that were as much Gilbert & Sullivan as Lennon and McCartney. Brothers Ron and Russell Mael have been stuck in the shadows of the pop mainstream ever since, but they might break out with the most ambitious album of their career, a song cycle (complete with lots of sweeping orchestral touches) that casts a wary eye on pop fads (“What Are All These Bands So Angry About?” and pop tyrants (“Your Call’s Very Importan to Us, Please Hold”). It’s at once funny and deadly serious, penetrating and a total goof.” Robert Hilburn Sunday LA Times October 26, 2003

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