353) Sparks - Mad!

I have a female friend who is same age as me and we do the same job, when you work that close together on Teams you end up singing the odd line from a song whilst waiting on the other. I never know what she is singing, this is for two reasons, one she is terrible (says tone deaf man) and two it’s usually something she has listened to on the radio and Shazamed.

I haven’t listened to music on the radio for about twenty years because why would I want to listen to adverts, the news, the weather and the latest one from Ed Sheerin when I could listen to The Fall for the millionth time.

She argues that I know what I like and don’t embrace new music, she is right to a certain extent but as I have never told anybody I write these reviews she is also wrong as I have been introduced to many artists I have never listened to before.

There are many people who appear on my X feed every day, and they all have similar tastes in music to myself, but all seem to be united on their love for Sparks. My vast knowledge of Sparks is its that guy with the tache and This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us is a great song, so in theory I know bugger all.

Very quickly we have two brothers, Ron (the tache one) and Russ and they have been making music since 1971 and have released twenty-six studio records to varying degrees of chart success but have certainly been on the up in recent years with their last four albums making the UK top ten.

Mad was released in June this year and hit number two in the charts and is twelve tight songs delivered in forty-five minutes, perfect album length.

Yet again I need to state I am an idiot. Why am I just listening to this band now, vocalist Russ has a ridiculously great voice for a man of seventy six and the music is imaginative, evocative with synths, guitars and beats, they seem to know the perfect moment to add minimal effects to a song or add something that hooks you in, yep they might know what they are doing.

There isn’t a dud in the twelve songs, nothing to skip here, opener Do Things My Own Way has a nagging background swagger with repeated vocals behind Russ and surely anyone with a passing interest in music will want to listen to a song called Running Up A Tab At The Hotel For The Fab, I did and still do.

My Devotion worries me as seems to be about someone devoted to the other and this is not reciprocated, they mention getting a tattoo, guess in my relationship which one of us has the tattoo and the other doesn’t! I-405 Rules is grand and dramatic and an enjoyable strong record ends superbly with Drowned In a Sea Of Tears, A Little Bit of Light Banter (intelligent, catchy, and intriguing from start to finish) and the emotional finish of Lord Have Mercy.

Two brothers have recently sold-out stadiums across the UK, sadly its not the Mael brothers. Now I need to go and listen to these other twenty-five records.

8/10

GIVE IT A STREAM: A Little Bit of Light Banter