Would you believe its over twenty years since the grim countenance of Ron Mael stared out of the screen from an appearance on Top Of The Pops and scared a generation of children with his combined Chaplin-esque moustache and the thousand yard stare that could freeze the blood in your veins. Twenty years since his brother shared that very same stage and hit the audience with a somewhat fey charm, big hair and a raging falsetto.
Yet here we are twenty albums down the line with their latest release “Hello Young Lovers”. It’s not what you could call a comeback album because in truth Sparks never really went away. Although we might have witnessed what appear to be lulls and absences from the charts along the way, it seems that throughout their career success was always in the offing in at least one location. Often regarded as trendsetters they have recently been name checked as an influence for the likes of Franz Ferdinand and their ilk. This makes the arrival of this album all the more timely.
“Hello Young Lovers” is a collection of ten songs which combine elements of Sparks trademark lunacy intermingled with elements of a contemporary sound. As a pop album the promise came in the form of the lead single “Perfume”. A slightly moody dedication to the multitude of fragrances and scents that adorn the fairer sex.
However these moments are few and far between, the opening track “ Dick Around” comes across as a piss take successor to “Bohemian Rhapsody” with its overblown pop rock pretensions and its tongue wedged firmly in its cheek. Thankfully it does work.
Other tracks such “Can I Invade Your Country” and “The Very Next Fight” (about a man who can’t stop beating up people who look at his girlfriend’s legs) shifts into more complex musical territory and take some perseverance to get along with (and that’s pretty much my only gripe with the album). The vocal and musical arrangements might be something of a mammoth undertaking for anyone else in the field but the Mael brothers do make it sound easy.
Lyrically the content of the album is as left field as you would expect but Russell Mael’s voice remains as impressive as ever (although the falsetto is brought out to bat less now) and the vocal arrangements are one of the high points of the album. Essentially “Hello Young Lovers” is a collection you need to spend some time with for best effect. The absence of obvious singles might put some people off, but the chance to get a look at the popular music model through a very skewed lens could very well be the saving grace for the rest of you.
