Sparks has entertained generations of music fans for decades and for those who are wanting to know what the music of Sparks is all about, then definitely give “Past Tense: The Best of Sparks” a chance! For the insane price the digital version is sold for, this best album is highly recommended!
Click here to purchase Sparks – “Past Tense: The Best of Sparks” on Amazon
GROUP: Sparks
ALBUM: Past Tense: The Best of Sparks
DURATION: 58 Songs (3 Hours, 49 Minutes)
RELEASE DATE: September 4, 2019
Disc: 1
1 Computer Girl
2 Wonder Girl
3 (No More) Mr. Nice Guys
4 Girl from Germany
5 Beaver O’Lindy
6 This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us
7 Amateur Hour
8 Here in Heaven
9 Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth
10 Something for the Girl with Everything
11 Achoo
12 Get in the Swing
13 In the Future
14 Looks, Looks, Looks
15 I Want to Hold Your Hand
16 Big Boy
17 I Bought the Mississippi River
18 Occupation
19 Those Mysteries
20 Tryouts for the Human Race
21 Beat the Clock
Disc: 2
1 The Number One Song in Heaven
2 When I’m With You
3 Tips for Teens
4 Funny Face
5 Angst in My Pants
6 I Predict
7 Sherlock Holmes
8 Cool Places (with Jane Wiedlin)
9 Popularity
10 I Wish I Looked a Little Better
11 With All My Might
12 Change
13 Music That You Can Dance To
14 So Important
15 Singing in the Shower (with Sparks) – By Les Rita Mitsouko
16 National Crime Awareness Week (Psycho Cut)
17 When Do I Get to Sing “My Way”
18 (When I Kiss You) I Hear Charlie Parker Playing [Radio Edit]
19 Let’s Go Surfing
Disc: 3
1 Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat
2 The Calm Before the Storm
3 It’s a Knockoff
4 The Rhythm Thief
5 My Baby’s Taking Me Home
6 Suburban Homeboy
7 Dick Around
8 Perfume
9 Islington N1
10 Good Morning
11 Lighten Up, Morrissey
12 Two Hands, One Mouth
13 Piss Off (Demo)
14 Johnny Delusional – By FFS
15 Missionary Position
16 Edith Piaf (Said It Better Than Me)
17 I Wish You Were Fun
18 Check Out Time 11am
One of the most quirkiest pop/rock groups to emerge in the ’70s and continues to release music to this day, are brothers Ron (keyboards) and Russell Mael (vocals), best known as Sparks.
Their music is called “art pop” and they are one of the few music groups that continue to make music since they started back in the mid-60’s, as the Sparks in the early ’70s up to their latest critically acclaimed album released in 2020.
Both men are in their mid-70s but show no signs of waning. They are a beloved music group that inspired many music artists and entertained generation of music fans.
Self-described as Anglophiles, the duo loved English bands such as The Who, The Kings, Syd Barrett’s Pink Floyd and The Move, the band’s first foray in music was in 1967 under the name Urban Renewal Project which they recorded with their friends, a married couple Fred and Ronna Frank. And later forming another group called Halfnelson in 1968.
But by 1972, the duo would name themselves Sparks, which was a play on the Marx Brothers. And the duo would have their first hit with “Wonder Girl”.
But wanting to go bigger, they brought in bass player Martin Gordon, guitarist Adrian Fisher and drummer Norman “Dinky” Diamond and in 1974, the band would achieve their first major hit with “This Town Ain’t Big Enough of Us” which reached no. 2 on the UK Charts. The band’s biggest hit in the UK.
While the band would go through many musicians throughout the years, one thing that was common to see is Russel Mael on vocals with his long hair and Ron with his Charlie Chaplin style ala short moustache his stoic look while performing live.
Watching the old ’70s “Top of the Pops” songs are always very intriguing to watch. To watch the Maels to perform but to also see the audience reaction and see how their music would change especially through the late ’70s.
Needless to say, because of their quirky nature on stage, the band became a hit.
And the band would release 49 singles, 25 studio albums, 12 compilations and many more, that goes to show you how long the band has been around and how long they have been creating music.
My first Sparks album was their 1983 album “In Outer Space”, which featured the song “Cool Places” featuring a collaboration with The Go-Go’s rhythm guitarist, Jane Wiedlin.
The song which reached no. 49 on the Billboard Hot 100 and no. 13 on the US Dance Charts. The song was actually their second single to reach the top 100, the other would be their 1982 song “I Predict”.
The group would have more songs that would do well in the US Dance Charts and also the UK charts in the ’90s as the group would have a synth pop sound such as “When Do I Get to Sing My Way”. The song reached no. 9 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart and no. 32 on the UK charts.
But 1994-1005 would be an amazing year for Sparks with the release of their 1994 album “Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins”. Which was a major comeback for the group after six years of being absent from music.
The band was focused during their hiatus on focusing on filmmaking and hoping to get the Japanese manga series “Mai, The Psychic Girl” by Kudo Kazuya into a live action film.
When the song was released, I actually thought it was Pet Shop Boys or a band that sounded like Erasure. But it was Sparks. And it was a cool song and also a much different, modern look for Russel Mael.
And the group would continue this sound with “(When I Kiss You) I Hear Charlie Parker Playing”, but for those who loved that Pet Shop Boys type of style, if there is one thing I noticed about the Sparks, they will continue their pursuit of different music.
They would change their sound in the 2000s such as their 2002 song, “The Rhythm Thief” with an orchestral sound or their experimental track “My Baby’s Taking Me Home”. Or even their humorous Queen-esque 2006 track, “Dick Around”.
And even created a song about Morrissey (who grew up listening to the Sparks) titled “Lighten Up, Morrissey” which features many cardboard cutout heads of Morrissey.
And you get different songs later in their career such as their 2017 songs “Edith Piaf (Sait it Better Than Me)” and “I Wish You Were Fun”.
Needless to say Sparks “Past Tense: The Best of Sparks” is probably one of the coolest albums to be released. For one, you get 58 songs (almost four hours of music) for under $12 (now this is for the digital version)!
I don’t think I have ever come with a super deluxe edition or deluxe edition or anything with that number of songs for under $12.
But you get their Urban Renewal Project 1967 song “Computer Girl”, you get their Halfnelson song “Wonder Girl” and of course their major hits such as “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for us” and dozens more including “Cool Places” and “When Do I Get to Sing ‘My Way'”.
But for the value you get for this album and the enormous number of tracks included, of most of their songs from five decades. That’s pretty impressive!
And the band continues to perform in their mid-70s and even released an album titled “The Existential Threat” during the Covid-19 pandemic and charted at No. 8 in the UK iTunes Charts and no. 13 in the UK Album Download Chart Top 100. Which entered the Billboard Hot 100, their first since “In Outer Space” in 1983.
Needless to say, Sparks has entertained generations of music fans for decades and for those who are wanting to know what the music of Sparks is all about, then definitely give “Past Tense: The Best of Sparks” a chance! For the insane price the digital version is sold for, this best album is highly recommended!
Click here to purchase Sparks – “Past Tense: The Best of Sparks” on Amazon
