Virgin.net Album review

Sparks – Hello Young Lovers review Love them or hate them, it’s impossible not to be intrigued by Sparks. Given that much of their musical output has been something akin to the lyrics of Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy, on top of some fairly sparse keyboard playing and other instrumentation, you can certainly say that they’re a triumph of musical function over form – they’re almost the diametric opposite from the faddy posturing which propels most bands to the top of the charts, anti-fashionable in a way which even the startling appearance of the band’s members suggests, and they rely on a fairly rabid fanbase to ensure their consistent success. However, they provide an uneasy influence for many of today’s most forward-thinking bands, and their refusal to conform to trends and expectations makes them more punk than most of the modern scene’s pretenders in the same way as, say, Suicide or The Damned were – in-your-face and utterly modern without having to resort to squalling guitars or obnoxious posturing. This new album sees brothers Ron and Russel Mael, the latter of who looks like the kind of supervillian you see in horror films directed by Roger Corman and normally called something like Dr Death – is more of the same, but frankly we didn’t expect anything different. The moment they ditch the music-hall theatrics and release, say, a hip-hop album is the day we hang up our reviewing hats for good. Anyway, this collection of musings on consumerism, war (the catchily-titled (Baby, Baby) Can I Invade Your Country?) the act of songwriting itself (Rock, Rock Rock and Metaphor) and, well, dicking around (Dick Around) is uplifting, clever, and not particularly brilliant. It’s new Sparks material that sounds just like old Sparks material. And if you like Sparks – which we do – then this is good news, but this album is sadly unlikely to make many new converts. It’s heartening, however, to see the spirit which drove the Maels to release music in the first place still fiery enough to get them releases in this fickle modern environment, and for this reason we continue to give them our lasting support. Rating: 3 stars Released: 6th February 2006 Label: Gut