SPARKS

[waterloosunset]

I have enjoyed reading what everyone has said about No. 1 in Heaven, and I have dragged my feet on assessing it. I would love to love it, but I don’t. The positive things written here are true – it’s innovative, complex, clever, fresh…but it’s not me. I don’t dislike the album by any means, but it might have ended my Sparks addiction if I had been listening to them from the get-go and then this appeared. I love the video for Beat The Clock. Oscar and I have the exact opposite feelings about the songs on the album, unless I've misread his entry. My favorite song, one I truly like a lot, is Academy Award Performance. I find it very haunting. I love the major-minor-major-minor changes as well as the rhythmic play in the middle of the song. As for the lyrics, yes, they can be considered misogynistic, but we don’t know the perspective of the singer; it could be a jilted lover or an envious actor. Then again, it could just be Ron. I’ve often listened to the whole album because I will go through stretches when I play all the albums in a row, and I never skip any songs EXCEPT for My Other Voice. The autotune-esque thing makes my stomach uncomfortable.

Favorite Track: Academy Award Performance
Least Favorite Track: My Other Voice
Score: 6/10 (all the positive points are for the artistry and not how it makes me feel)
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better drop the requirement that everything be great

[highersynth]

Welcome to Week 9 of Album Club - w/c 3rd September - Terminal Jive

You can find a link to the album on Spotify here:
https://open.spotify.com/album/4VLxLHCbKBhtsM09X9gMMj?si=-tnjUpqNREiD2DguMeUp-A

Prompts for discussion, if needed, and scores for previous albums, at the top of the thread.
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Tomorrow I'll find out all I should know...

[Andy M]

Heck, first up again!

“. . . the greatest show on Earth, tonight and every night.”

A phrase, alas, that could not be ascribed to Terminal Jive. A few years back, R&R were interviewed on Jonathan Ross’s radio show, where he pressed them to name their worst album. They (reluctantly) named TJ, and at the time of the interview took place – alas, I don’t remember the year - it was difficult to argue against this. (For me there’s been at least one worse; we’ll come to that in due course, no doubt.)

For all its bombast it’s a drab, unadventurous album, devoid of the wit and originality we come to expect from Sparks. Only The Greatest Show has any verve. In spite of its quietly humorous take on a relationship, it’s bewildering that R&R had their best-selling song with When I’m with You, whilst if it had a voice the instrumental version would scream “Filler!” at you. Young Girls caused a few eyebrows to be raised by critics even in that relatively unenlightened age (but not enough to prevent Virgin releasing it as a single, complete with picture sleeve). The remaining songs are unremarkable at best.

The cover isn’t quite as bad as the album, but it’s not the best either.

3/10. Happily, things were going to get much better.

[waterloosunset]

[highersynth]

I'll share at this point that I can hardly bring myself to listen to this one. I owned it, and it marked the (massive) pause in a beautiful relationship with Sparks.

Limbering up... I WILL do my homework. I WILL do my homework. I WILL do my homework. I WILL do my homework. I WILL do my homework. I WILL do my homework. I WILL do my homework. I WILL do my homework. I WILL do my homework. I WILL do my homework. I WILL do my homework. I WILL do my homework. I WILL do my homework. I WILL do my homework. I WILL do my homework. ....
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Tomorrow I'll find out all I should know...

[Alex Robertson]

Strange thing about this album....I don't remember the circumstances when I bought it...can't remember where from, don't remember any publicity about it, i might be wrong but something about Mack going on about his hair transplant taking more precedence than the production, rings a bell..but I did buy it.
It gets a lot of flack, but going through a lot of changes already with Sparks...a continental European sound didn't come as any shock. Not as punchy as I'd come to expect, however I think the condemnation it gets is rather unfair, and recently, I've heard people say trite things like..." It's okay to dislike this one because Sparks dislike it!" On the strength of an interview? Remember these are the same guys who claimed Doris Day was their mother in an interview....and that was held by many as true. Maybe their hearts or heads weren't in a good place whilst "going through the motions"...which makes it even more remarkable that this album is still a credible addition to any collection.
As you can guess I kind of like this album....the Keaton/Chaplin cover pictures are quite funny...look at them again.
I've never been a skip a track to get to a preferred one type of person ...so I always listen all the way through ( on any album) can't pick a track I really dislike but Greatest Show and Rock and Roll People are my personal favourites.
A comfy 7.5/10

[leslie hanagan]

Mack didn't produce this album Alex, it was Moroder and Harold Faltermeyer. Or rather, just Faltermeyer apparently.

[waterloosunset]

[Alex Robertson]

[leslie hanagan]

Found it Alex. It was in 'Smash Hits' issue dated 24th January 1980, interview titled 'Tryouts For The Human Race (Part Two)'

Russell: 'Giorgio is crazy. He spent about a week in the studio with us asking every five minutes what we thought of his hair transplant'

https://www.fanmael.nl/selected-articles/selected-articles-1980-s

[PeterE]

one of the most boring albums Sparks did ...but
When I`m With was a huge hit in France

[Alex Robertson]

[Toughest Girl In Town]

[Oscar]

Yeah, count me among those who think this is one of Sparks' worst albums. One thing I will say about it is that I actually DO like the production -- it's crisp and energetic and dated in the best possible way. Like they took the trendy sounds of the day and realized the most perfect versions of them anyone could. The problem is just that the songs aren't there. With only seven real songs on the album, you would hope that most of them would be at least good, if not great, but instead nearly all of them are fairly generic and forgettable. I think Ron and Russell have said they didn't have much say in the song selection process, and maybe even that some of the actual songwriting was out of their hands? That would make sense. Coming between No. 1 in Heaven and Whomp, you just wouldn't expect such a lack of personality within these songs.

The two exceptions for me are "When I'm with You" and "Young Girls." The former is a very successful attempt at writing a sincere love song that isn't corny. "I almost feel normal when I'm with you" is such a perfectly Sparks line. And "Young Girls": writing from the perspective of a "dirty old man" is high hurdle to get over in terms making me want to listen to a song, but this one gets by on catchiness, bouncy synths, a bridge that's actually pretty, and Ron's sense of humor ("I like their lips, their widening hips, their RADIOS").

3/10 on the strength of the production and those two songs.

[phdave that afternoon]

I rate TJ 3/10 for many of the same reasons mentioned here. Certainly the lowest rated album so far. I only heard When I'm With You before this thread. I thought it was fine on Past Tense, but far down on the list of songs I enjoyed. A few lines make me chuckle, like "I never feel like garbage when I'm with you". It as fun seeing them do it live, so that is my live performance pick.

The other songs do not stand out much. Most of the songs have the same beat if feels like. The lyrics are only briefly interesting and have no typical Sparks twists. The instrumental of WIWY is not bad but seems like album filler.

Young Girls is the only song that seems to be an attempt at a typical Sparks lyric, but it is too straightforward with the cringe and none of the fun/humor to counterbalance the cringe. I assume it was an attempt at a parody of something but it did not hit the mark. It endes up being just the thoughts/words of a pedophile. Makes the beat hard to enjoy as much as I would if I was also enjoying a laugh or two at a funny turn of phrase.

I enjoyed Stereo the most this week, but again nothing in the lyrics is sustaining the enjoyment. I also enjoy The Greatest Show on Earth a bit but will not go out of my way to listen to it in the future.

I don't think the songs on the album are bad, they just do not have elements of what I have enjoyed about Sparks.
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I don’t have time to fill out questionnaires.

[waterloosunset]

[Eric Murray]

I think TJ was undoubtedly when Sparks were at a very big cross road - I did struggle trying to like the album - but do admire what they were trying to do.
When Im With You is for me still an all time classic ( and Thank You France )

[Buckeye Randy]

I never heard this at the time of the release, I don't even remember seeing it in stores. I heard it for the first time through Spotify several years ago and I'm certain I did not listen start to finish. As part of our listening project, I gave this an honest assessment by letting it play as background music several times before listening track by track.

The sound and mix seem tolerable and even good in places. The beginning of "Just Because You Love Me" starts out promising before sinking into forgettable new wave/dance.
"Rock n Roll People In A Disco World" Is similar with an anthem type start but comes up flat. Not everything on this release sounds 80's west coast but these particular tracks sound very 1980 west coast to me.

I'm a melody first, lyric second kinda guy. "Young Girls" has a decent melody but I won't give the repeated listenings to let the lyrics (which I've been warned about) annoy me. "Stereo" is physically uncomfortable, I feel my insides twisting. I can't make it all the way through any of the tracks.

Terminal Jive, even if I heard it upon release, is not what I would have listened to in 1980. I'm much more open to beat music now than then and yet I still struggle to enjoy this.

I doubt I'll ever revisit this release. At best, background music at a party that I wouldn't be at.

The only thing saving it from a lower score is the mix/production does capture a certain sound at times.

2/10
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Billy, Don't Be A Porter

[PeterE]

btw "Young Girls" is an adaption of Supertramp
style... i do not like Supertramp anyway...

the album is 2/10

[dinky]