Sparks Overview [updated 2/12/09]

Discography

1971 Sparks/Halfnelson

This self-titled debut is very experimental, very studio-friendly, and a demonstration of Sparks pretty much undistilled. Produced by Todd Rundgren, who gave them every freedom, subject matter includes washed-up opera divas, sibling incest, big bands and genetic biology. The other members of Halfnelson were two other brothers, Earle and Jim Mankey on guitar and bass respectively, and Harley Feinstein on drums. Both the Mankeys get a finger in the songwriting pie, and Russell himself independently pens two of the tunes.

1972 A Woofer in Tweeter’s Clothing

Coming after a renaming to Sparks, this album retains the lineup of the last album, and is a much more coherent affair, despite disparate musical styles and song ideas. James Lowe produces, but it still feels like the band doing pretty much their own thing. They feel more like a rock band doing weird tunes than a studio-based experimental group. There is even a cover, a very rare beast for Sparks all through their career, a take on the classic Do-Re-Mi that rocks harder than I thought anything from the Sound of Music ever could.

1974 Kimono My House

The band ships over to England. The Mankeys and Feinstein are dropped, replaced by Adrian Fisher (guitar), Martin Gordon (bass) and Norman Diamond (drums), Muff Winwood takes over production. Ron becomes the songwriter, writing tunes high in wit, pitch and wordcount. The album is a classic: kind of glam, kind of not, perfectly suited to Russell’s manic energy, full of high-octane guitars, madcap piano and sizzling pop hooks. Though seeming to come out of nowhere, it is only a small step up from their work in America.

1974 Propaganda

Adds Trevor White as another guitarist, retains Winwood as producer. Recorded in the same year as Kimono My House and extremely similar in tone and style. Again, Russell only occasionally co-writes, but Ron is in the form of his life and doesn’t really need that much help. Propaganda might be missing a tiny bit of that out-of-the-blue energy that Kimono had by the ton, but it also has a slightly firmer hold on its strengths, and a song like Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth shows that they don’t rely on the jokes when making masterpieces.

1975 Indiscreet

Ian Hampton takes over on bass and Tony Visconti (!) produces. If anything, Indiscreet is one step back to the spirit of the experimental early days, and one step forward in terms of profile, experience and songwriting. This is the most European-sounding of their albums, careering from jaunty piano ditty to big swing band to straight-up glam pop to string-based vignette, all full of witticisms and subtle-to-blatant innuendo. This album marks the end of the early Sparks genius, and a little patience is needed until they find it again.