TABITHA BOOKS
Sparks.
BY-------Graham Sclater
Sparks is an American pop and rock duo formed by brothers Ron (keyboards) and
Russell Mael (vocals) in Los Angeles. The duo is noted for their quirky approach to
songwriting; their music is often accompanied by sophisticated and acerbic
lyrics—often about women, and sometimes containing literary or cinematic
references-- and an idiosyncratic, theatrical stage presence, typified by the contrast
between Russell's animated, hyperactive frontman antics and Ron's deadpan scowling.
Russell Mael has a distinctive wide-ranging voice, while Ron Mael plays keyboards in
an intricate and rhythmic style. They have been much more successful in Europe than
in their native U.S., though they maintain a loyal cult following in the States.
Career highlights include "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us", which reached
No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart in 1974; the disco hit "The Number One Song in Heaven"
in 1979, resulting from a collaboration with Giorgio Moroder and marking a stylistic
shift towards new wave/synth-pop; "When I'm With You", which made the Australian
and French Singles Charts in 1980; the single "I Predict", which provided Sparks' first
appearance on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching No. 60 in May 1982; the 1983 single
"Cool Places" with the Go-Go's rhythm guitarist and vocalist Jane Wiedlin, and "When
Do I Get to Sing 'My Way'", which was the top airplay record in Germany for 1994.
Their frequently changing styles and visual presentations have kept the band at the forefront of modern, artful pop music. The 2002 release of Lil' Beethoven, the duo's self-proclaimed "genre-defining opus", fused repetitive song structures with orchestral arrangements, and brought them renewed critical success. In 2015, the band released an album with Scottish indie rock band Franz Ferdinand, as the supergroup FFS, titled FFS. In 2017, returning to a rock-group format, Sparks released Hippopotamus, which entered the UK Albums Chart at no. 7, as did their next album, A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip, released in 2020, bringing their tally of UK Top 10 albums to four. In 2021, Sparks were involved in two films: the Leos Carax musical film Annette for which they wrote all songs (winning the César Award for Best Original Music), and the Edgar Wright documentary.
Inception;
Brothers Ron and Russell Mael grew up in Pacific Palisades, in west Los Angeles County, California,[10] during the "Golden Age" of the LA club scene, when the Doors, the Standells, and Love played the Whisky a Go Go on Sunset Strip[11] and the Beach Boys played in the late afternoon at Teen-Age Fair at Pickwick Recreation Center[12] in Burbank, California.
Both Ron and Russell Mael are seen in the audience during the Ronettes' section of the concert film The Big T.N.T. Show, filmed in 1966. Both attended UCLA, Ron studying cinema and graphic art and Russell, theatre arts and film-making. Detesting the folk music scene, which they considered "cerebral and sedate and we had no time for that", they developed a particular taste in English bands of the time such as the Who, Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd, the Kinks and the Move, which led to their description of themselves as "Anglophiles".
Their very first recordings were made under the name of "Urban Renewal Project", on January 14, 1967, at the Fidelity Recording Studios in Hollywood. Four tracks were recorded with married couple Fred and Ronna Frank, who were close friends of the Maels at the time. The songs were pressed on two acetates and have never been released, apart from the track "Computer Girl", which was featured on a CD included with the Japanese semi-biography from 2006 and more widely released on the Past Tense greatest hits album in 2019. The other three tracks were entitled "The Windmill", "A Quick Thought" and "As You Like It". Of all four songs, "Computer Girl" was the least traditional.
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