Introducing Sparks, originally released in 1977, is the seventh album by Sparks and the only one of their 20 long-players not available on CD. Until now-- the duo's own label, Lil' Beethoven Records, are putting it out. Finally, you can hear the much-discussed but rarely heard transitional album from Ron and Russell Mael's near-40-year career.

CD $14.99

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On their incomparable new album, Sparks protest predictability, obliterate the ordinary and demand utmost respect. Hello Young Lovers is cinematic, bold, and lyrically liberal, with moments of sheer beauty, dissonance and harmony. It may not win a Grammy, but an Oscar's not out of the question. Never, never, has there been an auditory assault of such magnitude presented in the realm of pop music. When Sparks' last album Lil'Beethoven hit the streets critics lauded and applauded, fans smiled sm   [ read more ]

CD $13.99

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Anybody looking for Sparks to return to the timeless lushness of "Under the Table With Her" or the sonic indiscretions of "Change," the disconcerting dynamics of "Equator," or the pulsing repetition of Number One Song in Heaven is going to recognize Lil' Beethoven almost immediately. But anybody holding any of those ideals so dear that they cannot see past their superficial tensions is going to be left in disarray. Lil' Beethoven is the (or, more appropriately, a) summation of ev   [ read more ]

CD $14.23

VINYL FORMAT. "Dick Around" is the first US single from Sparks' latest album Hello Young Lovers The brothers Mael insisted from the get-go that the track was their choice for a single and In The Red are honoring their wishes, releasing a radio edit that pares down the seven-minute album version to a three-and-a-half-minute bombastic rocker. The track is featured on a seven-inch vinyl edition -- backed by a live version of "Hospitality On Parade" recorded May 20 at The Avalon in Hollywood   [ read more ]

7" $4.56

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VINYL FORMAT. On their incomparable new album, Sparks protest predictability, obliterate the ordinary and demand utmost respect. Hello Young Lovers is cinematic, bold, and lyrically liberal, with moments of sheer beauty, dissonance and harmony. It may not win a Grammy, but an Oscar's not out of the question. Never, never, has there been an auditory assault of such magnitude presented in the realm of pop music. When Sparks' last album Lil'Beethoven hit the streets critics lauded and applauded,    [ read more ]

LP $10.99

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It may not have been the most natural match in music history, but the marriage of Sparks' focus on oddball pop songs to the driving disco-trance of Giorgio Moroder produced the duo's best album in years. From the chart hits "Number One Song in Heaven" and "Beat the Clock" to solid album tracks like "La Dolce Vita," No. 1 in Heaven surprises by succeeding on an artistic and commercial level despite the fact that neither the Mael brothers nor Moroder tempered their respective idiosyncr   [ read more ]

CD $15.18

Brothers Ron and Russell Mael have carved out a unique niche in the annals of pop music. Their ambitious brand of deviant candy has always straddled the line between sophistication and sleaze, reveling in its own cleverness while simultaneously infecting the listener with nihilistic bliss. Repertoire's The Best of Sparks, like the title suggests, is a career retrospective of the duo's work, albeit through 1984 -- this little tidbit should have been revealed somewhere on the outside packaging    [ read more ]

CD $15.18

The third and mercifully last of Sparks' mid-'80s dance pop albums, the frankly disappointing Music That You Can Dance To delivered just two standouts: a remake of Russell Mael's European "Modesty Blaise" 45 and the epic 1985 single "Change" (replaced on British pressings by "Armies of the Night"). Indeed, "Change" isn't merely the album's most provocative number; it ranks among the duo's finest performances of all time, a shifting soundscape of sonics and moods through which {$Russe   [ read more ]

CD $5.68

By calling this 1977 release Introducing Sparks, the Mael siblings were being ironic -- this was their seventh album, and they were famous in England even though they only had a small following in their own country. The second of two albums that Sparks recorded for Columbia, Introducing Sparks gained a reputation for being its least essential album of the 1970s. To be sure, this LP isn't in a class with either Big Beat (Sparks' previous Columbia release) or Island gems such as {^P   [ read more ]

CD $15.18

Within the first track of their debut album -- the crisp, minimal pounder "Wonder Girl," featuring Russell Mael's falsetto already engaged in swooping acrobatics and Ron Mael's sparkling piano work to the fore, singing ever-so-slightly-weird lyrics about love that couldn't quite be taken at face value -- Sparks established themselves so perfectly that arguably the rest of the brothers' long career has been a continual refinement from that basic formula. Even more striking is realizing how astoun   [ read more ]

CD $15.18

Woofer... starts with another killer opening track, musically and lyrically, with "Girl From Germany," a chugging number detailing the problems the narrator has with his parents over his girlfriend, given their lingering wartime attitudes. The album builds upon the strengths of the debut to create an even better experience all around. The same five-person lineup offers more sharp performances. Album engineering veteran James Lowe takes over production reins from Rundgren, with, happily, no audib   [ read more ]

CD $15.18

"Tips for Teens" kicks off Sparks' first post-Moroder album (though it was produced by his longtime associate Mack) with a blast; as a rocking power-pop/new wave number, it slotted into everything around it at the time perfectly, but the sense was of the world catching up to Sparks rather than the band chasing the train (and only Sparks could come up with lines like "Don't eat that burger/Has it got mayonnaise/Give it to me"). The equally sharp and catchy "Funny Face" follows with a tru   [ read more ]

CD $20.88