Sparks
 Record Collector described these kooky Californian
anglophile brothers as "the musical version of Marmite",
and indeed no group seems to split the audience in quite the way
that Sparks do.
They specialise in keyboard-based pop songs, with clever,
ironic lyrics (by Ron Mael) sung in a near-operatic falsetto voice
by Russell Mael.
Those who love them are quick to identify the rapture, mystery
and humour in their music. Those who loathe them hear only a lot
of screeching.
Sparks crashed into the UK pop scene in 1974 with Kimono My
House (produced by Muff Winwood), which provided the number
two hit This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us. That
they became a teenybopper band is one of the greatest ironies of
70s popular music.
In the late 70s they turned to disco
producer Giorgio Moroder and scored three UK hits with Tryouts
For The Human Race, Beat The Clock and The
Number 1 Song In Heaven - All in an aggressive electro-dance
style.
For 1982's Angst In My Pants album the duo turned to powerpop
and scored their first US singles chart entry with the hilarious I
Predict. The album also included Eaten By The Monster Of
Love which appeared in the soundtrack to the cult classic
movie Valley Girl,
starring Nicholas Cage.
Sparks In Outer Space (1983) was perhaps their biggest
selling LP in the US, and contained Cool Places - a
duet with Jane Wiedlin, formerly of The
Go-Go's.
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