Mojo Magazine Raves! Feb. 2006

[b]FIRST CLASS MAEL[/b] [i]The incomparable and enigmatic brothers are back with more “music for smart people.”[/i] HELLO YOUNG LOVERS **** by David Buckley In glam 1974, there was no more thrilling moment than Sparks Top of the Pops debut. Russell’s falsetto and gunshot alongside Ron’s Chaplin-meets – Hitler ‘tache and unblinking stare made for 3 minutes of madness which few have ever matched. Thirty-two years on , Sparks are not only still together but still making astonishing music. As torchbearers for that almost-lost tradition of theatricality and artifice in pop , they appear adrift from todays music scene – and all the better for it. The bands 20th album “Hello Young Lovers “delights in the absurd , the grand , theatrical gesture , and the knowing , witty aside. It begins where 2002’s “Lil’ Beethoven” ends. There the Maels jettisoned dance beats and ready-identifiable song structures . The result was music that seems to have choruses in the wrong place, beginnings in the middle , long sections of repetition and dialogue sequences. Hello Young Lovers is a direct , but more open extrapolation of that blueprint . The repetitive refrains and orchestral interventions of Lil’Beethoven are developed with the judicious use of rock guitar into something bigger , yet just as beguiling. The lead off single “Dick around” , sets the tone of mild dementia which runs through the whole set. It’s an operatic tour-de-force , part whitehall farce , part pop song . But two other cuts , Perfume and Waterproof , have better singles credentials. The first is possessed of a wonderfully slinky piano refrain , the second is a sing-along show tune , it’s narrators good mood impervious to inclement weather . Rock , Rock , Rock takes as it’s main theme the fact that “soft passages”, those more tender moments in pop songs “lead you into trouble”, because it’s always safer to rock out.And the theme of writing songs about writing songs reaches it’s apogee in Metaphor, in which Sparks sing about how a bad metaphor can ruin art. Not only are we several light years away from – traditional song structures, but,in their determination to discuss the odd and the absurd in pop , Sparks introduce a whole range of unusual subject matter. When more common themes such as sex and lust do make an appearance , they are treated in such an oblique fashion as to be rendered almost unrecognisable. The closing track “As I sit down to play the organ at the Notre Dame cathedral”, tells the story of the organist who on the surface must subjugate any thoughts of a more carnal nature in service of “him”,but who in reality is looking for the one member of the congregation with sex, not God , on her mind. Yet despite the levels of irony and distance, Sparks ,being Sparks never short-change us when it comes to winning melodies and soaring vocals. We know next to nothing about Ron and Russell Mael as people , and this has the effect of making their music all the more enthralling and absorbing. In an era when even the loftiest of Rock Gods have been demystified by the internet , Sparks retain a mythic corona which few other than Morrissey continue to possess. Sparks remain a puzzle, and how refreshing is that ? ” THERE ARE ALSO SEVERAL OTHER GREAT FEATURETTES OF SPARKS THROUGHOUT THE ISSUE, INCLUDING SELF-PORTRAITS OF BOTH RON AND RUSSELL. THANKS TO DAVID BUCKLEY AND MOJO!!