Thursday 15 August 2013

Sparks: 'Kimono My House'

"Heartbeat, increasing heartbeat." Sparks put the fear of God into pre-teens in 1974 with their debut Top Of The Pops appearance. As pretty boy Russell Mael flashed his eyes and the agitated, almost oriental glam of This Town Ain't Big Enough rang out, the whole nation wanted to shout "Watch out! Hitler's sitting behind you! And he's playing the piano!" You had to laugh or you'd be terrified.

Ron And Russell Mael were child models, and later ice cream salesmen, born and raised in southern California. They formed a band called Halfnelson in 1968 and were soon taken under the aegis of eccentric rabbit-boy Todd Rundgren. After two low-selling albums and a name change - to something midway between the Marx Brothers and pure electricity - someone smart suggested they try their luck in England. "It was a fantasy" says Russell, "we were real Anglophiles. And we were too naive to be paralysed by thoughts of failure."

It was 1973. Initially they were holed up in Beckenham, Kent. It may have a proud musical tradition (Bowie, Siouxsie, Haircut 100) but it held little allure for our Hollywood exiles. "We got tired of catching the 10.49 from Victoria every night. So we moved to South Kensington, to the basement flat of Kenneth Tynan's house."

Impressively, Sparks earnt themselves a month's residency at the Marquee Club straight away, which led to an Old Grey Whistle Test performance. "In the US we'd played to six people at the Whiskey A Gogo; in London there were queues around the block. We started a new life." With the rest of the original band heading home, the Maels placed ads and found Adrian Fisher, Martin Gordon, and drummer Dinky Diamond. Island Records signed them and very soon they had recorded a blinding third album.

Even compared to the quickfire pop of the previous records, Kimono My House was hyperactive. There's a theory that British bands play higher, tighter and faster than American counterparts (think Beatles vs Byrds, Sex Pistols vs Nirvana) because it's the best way to keep warm in a damp, cold rehearsal room. Ron Mael claims the faster pace was purely down to the classical music he was listening to - but maybe, thirty years on, they've forgotten the biting reality of the English climate. Their first UK-honed single in April '74, This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us, was an astonishing blend of old Hollywood, Roxy Music, and Monty Python which fulfilled pop's primal needs by getting ever louder, faster, and shriller over its three and a half minutes. With the greatest of ease, it hit the Top Three within a month.

Kimono My House - released in June - was no letdown, a hypoid, Dada-ist stream of potential 45s: Amateur Hour was also eatern-guitar-flavoured (plucked to become their second top tenner), and a tribute to adolescent dancefloor hell; Here In Heaven was sung by a dead lover to his girlfriend on earth who had chickened out of a suicide pact; the dense, superloud Thank God It's Not Christmas was a straightforward thumbs-up for the 364-days-a-year party life. "Their music is so obviously and totally different from anything we've heard before" said Todd Rundgren. So clever and sharp, so quirky and immediate, such intense fun. Anita Loos would have adored them.

"We had the screaming girls and other fans who thought there was a deeper side to what we were doing. They didn't like the screaming girls." Ron and Russell soon settled into London life. Once they went to a cinema and a rat ran over Russell's feet - "that didn't really happen in southern California. Or stores closing on Sundays. Reality hit us after living in England a while. But we got to see Roxy Music and the Sweet, who were really good, and we were fans of Indian food. So that was on our positive checklist. Tandoori chicken... sorry, Morrissey. We've since cleared up our act. There are very few chickens in our lives now."

As a bona fide pin-up Russell was asked to contribute a weekly column to girls' magazine Mirabelle. "Heady stuff. Favourite sweets. The pro's and cons of pies. Colours - do you like them?" Moustachioed Ron, unsurprisingly, was spared the ordeal - it is likely that no feature was written on Sparks in 1974 that didn't mention Hitler, or child molesters, at least once.

By the year's end the band started to fragment with the acrimonious departure of bassist Martin Gorman, but - barely pausing for breath - they released another fine album, Propaganda, in November. Melody Maker voted them brightest hope for 1975 as the utterly beautiful Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth graced the Christmas Top 20. Guitarist Fisher was next to go, ahead of the Indiscreet album which delved into Gilbert and Sullivan and flapper ditties, maybe a little too deeply. The kids didn't need their own Hinge And Brackett, and 1976 saw Sparks disappear from the charts completely. For a while it had all fitted just so - the shock, the ambiguity, the thrill of the falsetto - and by the dawn of punk it was all used up. The Maels returned to the States in '77 to lick their wounds and await the first of several rebirths.

The sauce and cheek of Kimono My House ("You mentioned Kant and I was shocked, because where I come from none of the girls have such foul tongues") had a strong effect on the young Morrissey. As a neighbour in LA, he was invited chez Mael to hear the premiere of 2002's Li'l Beethoven, a beat-free album which bore no resemblance to any previous Sparks album, or anything else in pop for that matter. Russell considers it "unique and bold" and it's hard to disagree.

The Maels' bravery was rewarded with international praise and an invite to play Morrissey's Meltdown. "We're both kind of detached from the real world" reckons Russell. They settled on Kimono for the first set, the whole of Li'l Beethoven for the second.

"Kimono My House was an important album in Morrissey's formative years. We had mixed feelings about doing it - we were really flattered, but we've re-established our group as a current creative force. We didn't know how we could justify doing it to ourselves, but doing both albums made it an interesting and conceptual show. Li'l Beethoven" concludes Russell, "is a modern equivalent of what Kimono My House represented."

He sounds a little fidgety and unsure, like he took a lot of persuading. Ron, a silent and slightly eerie presence up until now (as if you would expect anything less), finally speaks. "It took me a lot more. But people grabbed me by the shoulders, and they shook me. Physical force always works on me. Eventually."


33 comments:

  1. I was only born in 1973, so the impact of This Town... was retrospective for me.
    What did make a massive impression just a couple of days after my 6th birthday was them doing Tryouts For The Human Race on TOTP. I still think it's one of the best TOTP 'performances' ever, great presentation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjKTxrtitgc

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love the end bit, when they say they see themselves as a "current creative unit" and couldn't see themselves recreating a work from the past. I really respect that, as opposed to so many others who keep feeding the nostalgia market. Very interesting interview!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love their performance of "TTABE" on German television. The audience really didn't know what to expect.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAzESJ62irI

    My first "exposure" to Sparks was a parody of Russell Mael on an old rerun of "The Benny Hill Show" I saw late at night on a local TV station here in the States.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Mael Brothers collaboration with Finitribe on "National Crime Awareness Week" must rank alongside their finest work. Hard to find but well worth tracking down.
    I also like how in some promo clips Ron's keyboard is spelt "Ronald" not "Roland". They are very good!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm just about old enough to remember Sparks' 1st appearance on TOTP - I was more startled by my dad's chuckling appreciation of them than the apparent presence of Hitler in their line-up, I think? Prior to that, I only ever remember him getting excited about The Stones or Dylan, oddly enough...

    ReplyDelete
  6. I still vividly remember being sat on the floor having eaten (Birds Eye) Fish Fingers and crinkle cut chips, a glass of Coke and a Milky Way at my friend Paul's house on a Thursday night to watch Top of the Pops. I was 9. When Sparks came on we were both dumbfounded. Alternately falling around with laughter but also absolutely mesmerised by them. A 2 year infatuation resulted especially with Russ who seemed almost angelic to my eyes. Something else came along (Indiscreet didn't help) and then Punk. Still my most formative musical memory!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey Aric! I am came back from London & also I am sharing with you the Best site regarding Counseling .I would like to asking Important content with you .

    ReplyDelete


  8. You have discussed an interesting topic that everybody should know. Very well explained with examples.
    I have found a similar website Pure Gelato Sydney visit the site to know more about pure gelato.

    ReplyDelete
  9. you are incredibly in amped observable all around for profiting Services that are simply given by the strategies administering ludhiana goes with, you can without a colossal extent of a stretch pick this specific Service at our office.
    Follow us:-

    Vip Call Girls In ludhiana
    ludhiana Escorts
    Escorts Service in Ludhiana
    ludhiana Escorts
    Vip Call Girls In ludhiana
    Call Girls In ludhiana
    Ludhiana Escorts Service
    Escort Service In ludhiana
    Call Girls In ludhiana
    ludhiana Escorts

    ReplyDelete
  10. Vip Girls In Mcleodganj in case you are a cool individual and need to appreciate with hot youngsters by then go to our Escort organization in Mcleodganj
    Follow us:-
    Escort service In Mcleodganj
    Vip Girls In Mcleodganj
    Mcleodganj Escorts Service
    Call Girls In Mcleodganj
    Mcleodganj escorts

    ReplyDelete
  11. There are various things that you ought to foresee setting off to our VIP Hyderabad Escorts Girls and be certain while having organization because our escort youngster acknowledges how to scrutinize non-verbal correspondence.
    Follow us:-
    Hyderabad Escorts
    Hyderabad Escorts Service

    ReplyDelete
  12. I am really enjoying your site.It’s simple, yet effective, thank you for this article.Now I have to share some information about How To Fix “mcafee Antivirus” problem. If you have any problem rearding Mcafee so click on this site:mcafee antivirus nummer belgie

    ReplyDelete

  13. hi, your post is very helpful for me. Finally, I found exactly what i want. If need information regarding printers then you can visit our site Xerox Printer telefoonnummer for help.

    ReplyDelete
  14. hi, Your post is very helpful for me, If you want to know more about antivirus then you can visit our site Canon Printer ondersteuning belgie for help.

    ReplyDelete
  15. hi, Your post is very helpful for me,finally i got exactly what I want. If you want to know more about antivirus then you can visit our site Bitdefender technische ondersteuning nummerhelp.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Nice blog, thanks for sharing such type of information, read more post related to KLM Reservations.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Nice post, thanks for sharing, you can also check my post about.

    Frontier Airlines Reservations

    ReplyDelete
  18. I am impressed by the content quality and also by the skills of the writer.
    Are you looking for book flight than follow Frontier Airlines Flight Reservations with reasonable prices

    ReplyDelete
  19. It’s really a great and useful piece of information. I’m glad that you just shared this helpful information with us
    follow Frontier Ticket Booking for booking

    ReplyDelete
  20. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Thankyou for sharing the wonderful post and all the best for your future. I hope to see more post from you. I am satisfied with the arrangement of your

    post.

    aol mail login|
    aol mail login|
    aol mail login|
    netgearrouterlogin|
    facebooksignin|
    gmail not working|
    comcastemaillogin|

    ReplyDelete
  22. I prefer your write up by which you made this article juicy and informative. Thanks for sharing! LogisticGuru.PVT is a leading service provider of Car Transport In Pune. If you hire then for getting the best service of Vehicle Transport then you will be experiencing some of the significant advantages. To get the complete overview about the company, click on link mention here.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Struggling to write and create your assignment? Take the Assignment Helper from Qualified assignment writing experts and finish your assignments without any delay in the delivery date.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Really I'm very happy to find such a great post today. People are always looking for informative and creative ideas on the internet and I think you have covered both in this post. how to check data balance in airtel postpaid

    ReplyDelete
  25. This is a great feature for sharing this informative message. I am impressed by the knowledge. Also, Check Get paid to shop

    ReplyDelete
  26. I see this as well touching and interesting life story that one may like to learn from. Is a welcome feeling and a value creative force that derives you guys. I like and cherish the zeal and ideas from you all. Its a nice one, keep it up. I will checking soon for next updates from you guys. Thanks for sharing this experience. uniabuja post utme past question and answer

    ReplyDelete
  27. Keep up the good work! You know, many people are looking round for this info, am sure it will be of great help to them. Checkout this: Have a Great Weekend as Well

    ReplyDelete
  28. Every post on this blog is excellent and informative. I like the way you wrote it! Great job! Read also amazon hacks 

    ReplyDelete
  29. Nice article I was really impressed seeing this article, it was very interesting and it is very useful for me. You might want to check out funeral messages examples

    ReplyDelete
  30. डिजिटल मार्केटिंग क्या है, डेफिनिशन, कोर्स, करियर, फायदे (Digital Marketing Kya Hai, Kaise Kare, Sikhe, Benefits, Business, Types in Hindi). आज के समय में इंटरनेट का कितना उपयोग किया जा रहा है यह बात जान पाना कोई मुश्किल काम नहीं.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I think this is a great blog. You really nail this one. Thank you for posting. You might want to know about What Is The Best Car Insurance

    ReplyDelete
  32. Thanks for sharing this amazing content. Your information is really very outstanding to read. Keep it up and best of luck with your future updates. man cheats credit score 217 points

    ReplyDelete

 
Site Meter