UK press quotes

some Sparks 2006 UK press quotes NME Suppose Lloyd Webber decided to collaborate with Justin Hawkins. Now imagine if both of them were great. 9/10 Uncut Impressively sharp. Infectious yet audacious, avant-garde yet commercial. On Dick Around Sparks close down the competition . A towering hybrid of choral splendour and metal thunder. Q Definitely pop, but not as we know it. A sweetly brain-scrambling experience. Mojo Magazine Dramatic, operatic, almost as priapic as the title suggests, Sparks’ forthcoming single made our production editor literally sob with laughter. The Darkness take note Classic Rock A real alternative to what’s expected from contemporary music. 8/10 Classic Rock Put this [the live show] on in the West End and it’ll never close Word (Stuart Maconie) Dick Around is like a steelier – and to be honest superior – take on the wry vaudeville of Van Dyke Parks. It is defiantly, refreshingly musical, rejoicing in arpeggiated flourishes and gavotte time signatures. Plan B Astounding, gripping, frightening and exhilarating, this album shows up most currently vaulted new acts for the uninspired trad-rock fossils that they are Play Music Magazine It’s huge, warm, funny, downright bizarre and in places near perfect Record Collector There is no-one else in pop making music like this. 5 stars Future Music Hello Young Lovers is packed full of the kind of ambition and attention to detail that hipper, trendier, younger bands out to be taught at rock school Music Week They still have the magic, some 35 years after their debut Daily Telegraph Sensational. Right now no one else in the world is making music liked this Guardian Unique and cherishable The Times (Times 2) A record that stands should to shoulder with its creators’ best work. 4 stars The Times (Knowledge) It’s take-no-prisoners stuff 4 stars Independent (Information) To be influential is one thing, but to remain full of eccentric vigour in your fourth decade is another thing altogether. And Sparks are definitely that. Independent (Information) Packed with pop-operatic mischief. 4 stars Independent on Sunday Revel in the Maels’ mix of wit, drama and music you can dance to. A glorious mélange Independent on Sunday Surely the most underrated and enduringly excellent band of the last 35 years. A special kind of genius. 4.5 stars Guardian As innovative as ever Mail On Sunday Hello Young Lovers fizzes with ingenuity The Sun The good news is that Sparks are still flying 4 stars Sunday Express The Mael brothers spin pop around again. Leaves you waiting with bated breath for the next turn. 4 stars Daily Record Superb. A sparkling performance Metro A showstopper. Time Out You can rely on Sparks to put the fun into pop. 4 stars TNT They still sound daisy-fresh. Inspired. 8/10 What’s On In London Hello Young Lovers is crammed with ideas, a dirty word in modern music today. An aural tapestry of pop, avant-garde and opera all mixed together. 5 stars Nuts Fantastic, strange comeback from Morrissey’s favourites Gay Times A truly unusual, witty work…genius. 4 stars Boyz The music that Beethoven would be making were he alive today. Sparks rock. 5 stars Bizarre The most original music you’ll hear all year Maxim We made tea, just so we could spit it out