Log #215 - The Sparks That Still Burn

If you are near my age and grew up watching BBC's Top Of The Pops in the '70s chances are you will only know Sparks from their weird appearance singing This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us. This song, most memorable for hyperactive singer Russell Mael's high pitched falsetto and older brother Ron Mael's deadpan keyboard playing and sinister looks to camera, was a #2 UK hit in early 1974.

[That song] was written in A, and by God it'll be sung in A. And no singer is gonna get in my way.

Songwriter Ron Mael  

And that was it? Actually no. Unbelievably this band of brothers was formed in LA in 1967 and are still going today. Their most recent album A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip, released this year, was their 24th! That's pretty impressive for apparent "one hit wonders". Were they actually "one hit wonders" Ed.?

No, they actually had several hit singles and well charting albums (including some recent ones). The band have achieved 6 Top 20 singles in the UK charts (all in the '70s). Ed.

Hearing the band in an album context for the first time I was expecting a series of similarly quirky keyboard songs along the lines of their big hit. Indeed there are a few that recall this vaudeville entertainment, but actually Sparks were more a glam rock band with a drummer and guitarist, than a novelty pop duo, and were fairly close to Sweet or T-Rex, or even Queen or David Bowie at the time. Not surprising considering this album, their 4th, also came out in 1974. 

With the times they moved to more electronic disco sounds later in the decade with songs like Tryouts For The Human Race and The No.1 Song In Heaven.

The Comet Is Coming - Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery

Miles Davis - Jack Johnson

Sparks - Propaganda

King Crimson - The Construkction Of Light

The Mahavishnu Orchestra - Inner Mounting Flame

Return To Forever - Romantic Warrior

Further new entries in the player this week extend my recent interest in jazz, or specifically jazz fusion, inspired by Return To Forever and, especially, The Mahavishnu Orchestra.

I continue to struggle a bit to "get" the The Comet Is Coming album which came near the top of my local record store's Top Albums Of The Year last year. It's extremely busy and the brass is pretty grating. I prefer Miles Davis' Jack Johnson which is much closer to heavy rock with John McLaughlin's gritty guitar to the fore - definitely one of Davis' heaviest albums. 

The Construkction Of Light is also one of the, or the, heaviest King Crimson album(s). I think it's brilliant and it has actually become my favourite out of the band's last 3 albums I reviewed back in log #208, and actually pretty close to one of my favourites overall. Oddly the reviews weren't great at the time and it was certainly considered weaker than the albums that surrounded it, Thrak and The Power To Believe, but for me it has strength in its individual tracks and in its overall "albumness" (a new word Ed. which I've just made up to describe the overall aesthetic of an album where the wholeness does not necessarily equate to the summation of the parts). I'm still working on my King Crimson album ranking and Construkction has potentially moved up two or three places this week.

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Log #200 - Keep On Trekking For The People

It took 200 blog posts to reach REM. I think they were the sort of band that suffered a bit from over familiarity, like U2 or Coldplay. They were also, allegedly, quite middle of the road and mainstream, certainly in their mid to latter period. I don't know much about them to be fair but know they hit the mainstream big around the time of this album (their 8th released in 1992), and the predecessor Out Of Time (1991). Prior to that they were more indie in that '80s guitar mumble rock sort of way.

In an aside I once went trekking in Nepal on my "gap year" (1992) as you do, with a Canadian gentlemen called Ray. He had 3 cassettes in his rucksack (and some speakers which he'd hook up each night at a guesthouse on the trail). One was Jimmy Buffett, one was Neil Young's Harvest Moon, and the third was Automatic For The People. We all got very familiar with those three records after a fortnight of repeat plays.

Will REM receive a reassessment at Bamyasi HQ, rather like post OK Computer Radiohead did? It is unlikely. Despite being moved to dig out this album after seeing an impressive Glastonbury rerun (like I did with Radiohead actually) I haven't got any other of their CDs as far as I know (I used to have Monster, and Out Of Time on cassette but they are long gone) and despite the top tunes on Automatic For The People, which most likely represent their peak, I'm not moved to delve further. Good on them for retiring early whilst still relatively near the top.

Matthew E White - Fresh Blood

War On Drugs - A Deeper Understanding

Cocteau Twins - Treasure

Nick Cave - Abattoir Blues

REM - Automatic For The People
The Comet Is Coming - Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Great Mystery

Abattoir Blues is a very powerful and most excellent Nick Cave album. It may actually be my favourite. I'll give the sister album The Lyre Of Orpheus a spin too next time.

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Log #174 - Uncovering A Psych-Folk Classic

Johnny Flynn A Larum
Trees On The Shore

Harmonia Tracks And Traces

The Comet Is Coming Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery 
Nick Cave Skeleton Tree

Nick Cave Ghosteen

I've enjoyed all these albums this week. Johnny Flynn's debut A Larum is brilliant - great songs delivered with a great voice. What differentiates this from the middle of the road? - what's that band? - I can't even remember their name but you must know them - folk stomp stuff with waistcoats. Something brothers is it? I honestly can't remember their name but often think of them. Must have blanked it again. It will come to me. 

It's hard to put your finger on it (or in your ear) but I think it is simply the songs and the voice. Flynn sounds authentic - he has a great range with just the right amount of gravel. He reminds me of Dave Swarbrick. Most the songs are great folk but this one really stands out as a rock song:

Coming as an after the event collection of extras (with Brian Eno) the Harmonia Tracks And Traces album is generally overlooked in preference for their two mainstream albums Music Von and Deluxe. It is indeed quite different but in its own right a classic ambient collection which I expanded upon in my Log #154.

Good honking enjoyment to be had from modern electronic jazz trio The Comet Is Coming. It's relatively exciting as jazz goes, I guess. I'm a bit indifferent to it so far, as I was to the similar sounding (as far as I know) Kamasi Washington. There's a rap number with Kate Tempest (an artist, or genre to be honest, I've not got into yet).

More absorption of the two Nick Cave albums. Both growers. Still prefer the Skeleton Tree, marginally more accessible.

If you are about to listen to On The Shore for the first time, then you are to be envied. In an era of mass communication and commercial misappropriation, there are few genuinely lost treasures to be discovered.

I couldn't agree more and my highlight this week has undoubtedly been the brilliant Trees album. This has become a bit of an underground classic over the years. I first heard it a few years ago and unaccountably only just got round to purchasing a copy. This issue comes with a bonus disc of demos and alternative versions but to be honest that is superfluous to the original (the differences are even spelt out in the sleeve notes which may be a sign one might not notice otherwise).

On The Shore sits with Fairport Convention's best Sandy Denny fronted folk rock albums (Unhalfbricking and Liege and Lief). Half the tracks are traditional reinterpretations, half originals. All are delivered with the emphasis on rock with searing electric guitar and crystal clear high vocals from ex-opera singer Celia Humphris. Apart from the guitar-centric Richard Thompson influenced Fairport Convention the other band they remind me of actually is Free: there's a track The Streets Of Derry that extends into a guitar solo over rising bass which sounds just like Free's classic Mr. Big. Then the centrepiece of the album, the 10 minute Sally Free And Easy is a response to Fairport Convention's groundbreaking A Sailor's Life. But what the album is most remembered for, like the Fairport's Liege And Lief, are the brave reinterpretations of traditional folk songs in a rock format as with Geordie below:

The haunting cover which matches the psych-folk music within was shot in the grounds of Inverforth House in Hampstead. The young girl photographed on the front swinging a bottle of water (which I thought was a skipping rope before looking closely) was a musician friend's daughter.

Nothing else happened for Trees after their only two albums - this from 1971 and the debut, The Garden Of Jane Delaney (1970). The original members are still around I believe, which makes it odd they've never had a reunion - I'm sure a tour of On The Shore supplemented with the debut album and a few more covers and traditionals would be very popular but I guess they're all doing other things and perhaps don't want to spoil the mystery. Bizarrely Celia Humphris' voice can now be heard on the pre-recorded London Underground announcements.

Nice simple website here.

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