The Sparks Brothers turned up on my streaming services options a few days ago. I watched it immediately, revelled in it, might watch it again fairly shortly and certainly will do again at some point.
It's great to see Sparks finally getting something like their due, fifty years into their career. Although you can obviously make comparisons, and I will make them in a minute, they're really like no one else, like all the very best bands.
So, lets get those comparisons out of the way. Beatles, Bowie and erm Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Queen before Queen. Kraftwerk before Kraftwerk. DEVO before DEVO
The only band apart from Bee Gees, I can think of composed of brothers and I'd much rather listen to Sparks, though Bee Gees have their devotees and I can understand why.
Russell, the one with the impossible, exraordinary, falsetto. Eternally boyish. Ron, the one with the Hitler moustache. Eternally enigmatic. A perfect team for a comic, careering, rollercoaster trip through life.
Over the years Sparks have put out over 25 albums and The Sparks Brothers dutifully details every one of them without making it seem like a slog for a moment. I'm sure I'd love many of them but I'm not a completist. Of any band or artist really. Except perhaps for Television possibly, and that wasn't a particular onerous task.
I have four Sparks albums. Kimono My House, Propaganda No. 1 in Heaven and a Greatest Hits. That's enough for me though I can fully understand those who wished to go further.
Propaganda is their Glam stompathon. Having smashed the doors down with This Town Ain't Big Enough and Kimono in 1974,they relased this later on in the same year, (bands did that then). They're having the time of their lives, staying in the casino and piling up their chips by the roulette wheel 'til dawn.
It's full on hedonism excess of the kind that was rarely ever had in the Rock & Roll world, (and that whole ball game is really all about excess), apart perhaps from Bowie, Queen and Associates during their brief, wonderful Sulk period.
But Sparks do this whole Weimar Republic decadence thing as well as anyone ever did ever and on Propaganda they do it as well as they ever did.
From the cover to each and every note they ask questions in the way that only Sparks do. Why are they tied together in the back of that speedboat on the sleeve? What's going to happen? How does Russell sing so impossibly high. Why does Ron have a Hitler moustache? What are these songs about? What are these ridiculous but utterly wonderful songs about.
You're not going to get any answers to these questions but you're going to have one glorious fairground ride while you struggle in vain to puzzle them out. With Sparks, Propaganda is as good a place as any to start. In some ways it tells the whole story but joy of joys there are plenty of other records from them to listen to next.
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