Album Review: Sparks - "A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip"

 

There's no doubt that Sparks have definitely enjoyed something of a career renaissance in recent years. Their previous album, 2017's excellent Hippopotamus saw them enjoying their first UK Top 10 album for well over 30 years and it was deserved as it was one of their strongest efforts in recent memory.

The Mael brothers have always been experts at constructing slightly warped and wonderful pop music and the Beatles-y opener All That is a good example - the sort of song that would have easily been a chart hit if the singles chart still meant anything these days. Likewise the demented glam stomp of I'm Toast which starts off with a great typical Sparks lyric "Started at the top/Then I had a drop/Then a further drop..." And let's face it, any band which can rhyme Lawnmower with Andover definitely deserve your attention. But then I guess song titles like Stravinsky's Only Hit (as gloriously demented as its title suggests you'll be pleased to know) and Sainthood Is Not In Your Future probably gave that game away a bit to begin with. Elsewhere, Iphone includes the immortal couplet "Friends of Mrs Jobs often heard her sobs..."

As you'd expect, it's an enjoyably varied album as well with the almost samba style rhythms of Left Out In The Cold contrasting nicely with the pure pop of Self-Effacting and the warped almost music hall style Onomato Pia while the nervy panic attack set to music of Existential Threat is another highlight on here.

By the time the lush orchestration (including a kids' choir) of the plaintive Please Don't Fuck Up My World brings things to a close, you're in no doubt that Sparks have definitely kept their recent vein of form ticking over quite nicely here. A Steady Drip Drip Drip should have plenty to keep their existing fans happy while those who are unlucky enough to not have explored their vast back catalogue yet should find plenty here to draw them in as well. Good stuff.

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑 (8/10)

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