SPARKS

[Oscar]

I always think of them as a trilogy too. Even though Exotic Creatures is already moving towards poppier songs and more traditional song structures, the general vibe feels closer to LB and HYL. There's kind of a darker edge to those albums, with more serious-sounding music and more of an epic feel. I think the reprised intro sections go a long way towards giving the album that quality.

[Buckeye Randy]

I guess all bands with creative juices have eras defined by styles or members. Bowie was defined by styles with his glam years plus the more experimental Berlin Trilogy though a case could be made Ronno influenced the glam years. Fleetwood Mac was defined by personnel with Peter Green, Bob Welch and Nicks/Buckingham line-ups.

Topic for another thread.
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Billy, Don't Be A Porter

[waterloosunset]

Hello Young Lovers is a confident continuation of its predecessor, with clever lyrics, catchy melodies, and complex structures, however repetitive at times. With the exception of two songs that have never grabbed me, I am very smitten by Hello Young Lovers, and I tend to listen to it from start to finish with regularity. My favorites are the very long and marvelously intricate Dick Around and As I Sit Down to Play the organ, as well as Metaphor, The Very Next Fight (probably mostly for the ironic lyrics, especially the clever double meaning of “open displays of affection”), and the brilliant Waterproof. My middle group comprises Perfume, Rock, Rock, Rock, and There’s No Such Thing as Aliens. The two that I’ve tried unsuccessfully to like are Can I Invade Your Country and Here Kitty. The former is clever but goes on too long. The latter has that annoying meowing and jazzy scat, both of which leave me cold.

Waterproof is certainly the standout. The melody is lilting and infectious; the lyrics are both beautiful and painful.

An observation: I don’t think Ron intended it this way, but I sense a connection between How Do I Get to Carnegie Hall and As I Sit Down to Play the Organ, as if they were somehow bookends. In Carnegie Hall, we hear a tortured young man who has reached the heights but is not overjoyed with the accolades because the only one who matters is not there. In AISDTPTOATNDC (that’s long), I see the same man, years later and past his prime, possibly a drinker with little ambition, still playing for the one, the contrast being that the one is different every night. And unlike in Carnegie Hall, he knows he will find her in the crowd and that he will feel done with her the next day.

Question: In Waterproof, Russell sings the W in ‘waterproof’ quite clearly at the beginning, but after a while, it sounds something like ‘awtaproof’. Does anyone else hear this?

I got HYL at around the same time as I got Dee Vee Dee, and I was very positively affected by the generally flawless performance in the concert. Certain lines from the concert just grab me, like “look at me, look at me“ in Dick Around, “a lack of decisiveness” in RRR, and “screw the past” in Perfume. Those are just a few. Sooooo…

Favorite Track: Waterproof
Least Favorite Track: Here Kitty
Score: 9/10
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better drop the requirement that everything be great

[dinky]

Question: In Waterproof, Russell sings the W in ‘waterproof’ quite clearly at the beginning, but after a while, it sounds something like ‘awtaproof’. Does anyone else hear this?

I thought it sounds like 'orderproof' or 'autoproof'

[waterloosunset]

[dinky]

Absolutely, he's playing with the lyric

Whether we'll ever work out why or to what end, I doubt we'll ever find out

[phdave that afternoon]

I don't have too much unique to add to the discussion of HYL. Another great album that has some new wrinkles to elements that have been part of other albums. Dick Around is my favorite, but I listened to that over and over before getting into the full album. It is quite a ride. I love how the rock opera vibe shows up throughout the album. Notre Dame is another epic song that I had not heard before recently. Those two are on the top for me. I love Perfume, RRR, Metaphor, Waterproof. I'm less interested in Here Kitty and Aliens. They are fine additions to the album though and I enjoy them when they come on.
I just probably won't go out of my way to play them on their own.

The one I feel like skipping is Can I Invade. I like the alternate lyrics better than listening to the national anthem lyrics one. Does anyone know the story why the album version has the Star Spangled Banner lyrics? Is it a sarcastic response to censorship? I was very confused until I got the alternate version one. Those lyrics make a lot more sense as Sparks lyrics. The song is long and I don't really get into it that much. The song seems to start over again a couple of times. I think they were trying hard to make another epic song and it did not work for me. I do appreciate wanting to make a satiric song about the Iraq invasion in 2006, though. I like the guitar and it is an OK song, but it goes on very long and I feel like it is a distraction from the other songs.

I did not like The Very Next Fight that much at first, but it has grown on me. I find it a haunting insight into the thinking of a violent man and his dynamic with his partner. Certainly more serious content than the usual Sparks song, but appropriate for the subject matter.

I guess I like this slightly less than LB, but it is one of their best albums. I give it 9/10.
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I don’t have time to fill out questionnaires.

[Oscar]

[Oscar]

My guess on the Star-Spangled Banner lyrics in "Can I Invade" is that they just felt like it was important for them to address the Iraq situation in some way, and that was most Sparks way they could think of to do it. Maybe they were feeling some guilt over not addressing political topics in their music up to that point and felt they needed to make up for that.

[waterloosunset]

[highersynth]

This album has been an interesting journey for me. At the start of the week, I was really struggling to get into it at all - everything felt too long and too much like hard work.
With repeated listens, I've come to enjoy most of it, but not in the easy, relaxed fashion in which I enjoy its predecessor. HYL requires me to pay attention and notice the composition, the call-backs, and the instrumentation - which is fine, but I doubt it will ever become a go-to album for me, as a result.

I love the development of Russell's spoken-voice work on this album, as well as the overlaid harmonies, that just get better and better as he ages, as does that glorious falsetto. I also love the idea of this being an actual symphony (for the most part) with the full-on orchestral composition incorporating hard guitar. I heard on a pod-cast about Indiscreet that Tony Visconti thought it tragic that Ron had not learned to write an orchestral score (all the orchestral work on that album was scored from his demos); I've no idea whether he has since learned or whether he builds his compositions by ear using synths - I suspect the latter. Either way, that over-used word "genius" is coming out again!

Favourite tracks probably Dick Around and The Very Next Fight, closely followed by Waterproof and Perfume.
Least favourite would be Metaphor. Despite how clever the lyrics are, I just can't seem to get into it. I'm also not crazy about "can I invade"; the Star Spangled version I just skip through. The irony of the pairing of this lyric with the song of that title isn't lost on me, but I find myself impatient with it. The alternative version is only marginally less meh. There are some odd, hooky musical phrases in it that I enjoy, but as a whole, no.

All the rest are middle ground for me. Here Kitty took a while!

HYL feels to me like R&R really delving into the new direction introduced by Lil' Beethoven, and fully exploring all the angles. I would prefer the poppy tracks to be somehow segregated from the classically influenced ones, and to hear the latter all of a piece. Which I guess streaming would allow me to do...

Overall, my personal taste determines this as 8/10.
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Tomorrow I'll find out all I should know...

[highersynth]

Welcome to Week 20 of Album Club - w/c 19th November - Exotic Creatures of the Deep

You can find a link to the album on Spotify here:

https://open.spotify.com/album/7cOyJQVez4CEPr2xdlq3xr?si=m6IqFBT4RYqMYpGGzj9Rww


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]

“I’m just likeable, night and day”

On reflection, I don’t play Exotic Creatures very often, and I can’t quite put my finger on why. It’s a perfectly good LP; it’s a similar style and length to HYL but with more songs, so they don’t tend to outstay their welcome. There are some very good tracks on here too, particularly in the second half: I’ve Never Been High; (She Got Me) Pregnant; Lighten Up Morrissey (a more innocent take on SM given his later much-voiced political stance); Photoshop (one of the most powerful “relationship” songs Ron has ever produced); Likeable.

There’s also a greater emphasis on humour than the previous effort, represented visually by the juxtaposition of the title and album cover. A mention of weird: I still can’t figure out Strange Animal.

A lovely stage show at the end of the 21x21 tour, I seem to recall.

Best physical version? One which includes the Japanese bonus track, the earworm Brenda is Always in the Way.

7/10

[dinky]

[Andy M]

Thanks for that, dinky - it does indeed make sense now!

[Spyke]

Not for the first time, I share a similar view to Andy M. The trio of INBH, SGMP and LUM stands out as the album's best part, along with ICBTYWFFATCITS. I didn't appreciate the lyrics to Strange Animal before watching that video, so thanks for the link, dinky. I haven't warmed to some of the other tracks, although they're still solid enough. The 21x21 live show had a group of dancers pushing shopping trolleys on the stage and dressing up like Ron, from what I remember?
7/10
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"but we can hear what others can't hear..."

[waterloosunset]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvo-vjW8gn0

On the recommendation that some of you gave, I listened to the above analysis of Strange Animal and found it pretty brilliant. What I want to know is this: what ARE the backing lyrics that Russell is singing? Has anyone figured it out? I try to concentrate on the chest voice words but keep ending up in the falsetto.

More on the album later. It's not one that I readily listen to, but when I do listen, I really like most of it a lot.
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better drop the requirement that everything be great

[Alex Robertson]

I think this album, as much as I like it as an aural delight, was really brought to a level of brilliance as a live show...brought to life as it were.
I would say my favourite track is Pregnant, the funniest song i can think of...
I think this is an album of considerable strength with the brothers, having cut their directional teeth on previous albums, now testing their biting power...and finding maybe to their own surprise that they are confident to delve deeper.
I'd award a decent 8.5/10 for this album only because I have favourite tracks on other albums.

I missed out on getting one of the "Smile on a stick" props by a whisker. I only wanted it as an auction item for a Sparks convention. I was pipped at the proverbial post on getting it, but as with all Sparks souvenirs they go to good homes...

[Oscar]

My take on "Strange Animal" has always been that the Strange Animal in the song is an enemy to Ron and Russell. When the Strange Animal says "Entertainment or art / One should know from the start," that strikes me as being totally opposed to what Sparks are trying to do: they want to make music that is both entertainment AND art. The Strange Animal actually sounds a lot like the unnamed "they" in "It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way." In "Strange Animal," the Maels don't really say whether they side with this character or not, but the latter song is directly saying, "oh by the way, we disagree with these kinds of sentiments."

I'll write more about the album later!

[Toughest Girl In Town]

Another great album, I love all the songs from it. Even those bonus tracks from the deluxe edition, especially "Islington N1", are awesome. I wish I saw it live, unfortunately I was nothing but a lost sheep who had never heard of Sparks at the time... Which is frustrating because my postcode was an N1 too when they did their 21 x 21 gigs. I was so close and I had no idea!!!

These bonus songs are such a nice and consistent addition to the original release.
I'm just a bit annoyed with "Mr. Hulot", because I can't figure out all the lyrics in French. I only get that bit "Jour de fête, les vacances de Monsieur Hulot" (which are actually movie titles from French filmmaker Jacques Tati), but I don't understand what Russell says next. If anyone can help me with this... :)

I love all the energy bursting from that album, makes me want to dance each time I listen to most of its songs. And, as always, they're brilliantly written and the voice is just divine.

Choosing just one favourite song is impossible, I love "Good Morning", "Photoshop" and "Let the monkey drive" equally. And I think all the other songs are great too.
My least favourite one would probably be "I can't believe that you would fall for all the crap in this song" because it's a bit repetitive, even though I know it's probably done on a purpose.

Still, once again this album deserves a 10/10.