1974 - Sparks are the next big thing

For the average teenage record buyer in 1974, turning on the radio to hear Ron Mael's electric keyboard ushering in the falsetto tones of brother Russell singing "Zoo time is she and you time, the lions are your favourite kind and you want her tonight....."  - was a moment of pure delight.

With 'This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us', Sparks provided one of those wonderful eureka moments, when a record gets you off your feet and down to the record shop, because you have to own that record right now.

It was new and exciting in a pop world of second-rate groups jumping on the glam rock gravy train. "This Town...' harked back to the excitement we felt when we first saw and heard David Bowie and Roxy Music in 1972. It was exotic and dramatic and not only that, it rocked.

In the new documentary, called The Sparks Brothers, the Mael brothers made it very clear that without Todd Rundgren they may not have had a career at all. They had already made two albums in the US for Bearsville Records, produced by Rundgren. He was the only one who saw their potential, said the Maels.

It was a move to London for their third album 'Kimono My House' and a new band where the whole thing came together, built around Ron's intriguing lyrics and Russell's camp falsetto.

Their quirkiness was probably better suited to the UK pop charts anyway. The first single from Kimono My House made an immediate impact and the following week they were on Top of the Pops.

Their appearance on TV showed they had a visual quirkiness to match the oddball lyrics and quasi-operatic delivery. Ron Mael with his Hitler moustache and mild smirk; curly-haired flamboyant Russell taunting his brother for a reaction. These guys knew how to put on a show.

Kimono My House kickstarted a career that has seen them rediscovered every 10 years by a new generation of pop fans. They have enjoyed three or four distinct periods of success, right up to the present time, surprising everyone with the enduring quality of their music. The Mael's unique take on pop music has remained consistent over their entire career. Above all, there's a distinctively dark humour at the heart of their songs. 

As Sparks have proved over their entire career, they have a knack for unusual song themes, or at least songs it would be hard to imagine other bands coming up with. 

On Kimono My House, their dark humour was evident on tracks such as 'Here in Heaven', about a suicide pact where the girlfriend didn't honour the agreement. And 'Amateur Hour' which delves into the subject of how to please a woman sexually - "when you turn pro, you'll know, she'll tell you so". 

Another of the showpiece songs on the album is 'Thank God It's Not Christmas' - performed here by the original band on French TV in 1974.

The NME's Ian MacDonald was full of praise for this new pop phenomenon in his review (see below) of Kimono My House - "this exhilarating and unnerving record" - in May 1974.

"Ron Mael has set the whole lop-sided wobbly man of technique and 'tradition' spinning again. Melody lines spiral up and down through intervals and over chords that seem to echo from somewhere in the classics..."

The Sparks Brothers film has several key moments that convey why Sparks are so revered by fans and musicians alike. Mike Myers says his favourite line comes from the early song Girl From Germany, about a guy who takes his German girlfriend home to meet his parents, who "can't forget that war".

"My word, she's from Germany
Well, it's the same old country
But the people have changed."

The author Neil Gaiman and Portlandia's Fred Armisen were both inspired by Sparks' skewed view of life. Jonathan Ross is another who zoned in on their oddball humour. Even Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones got something out of their music. He is just one of the very funny contributors to the film.

Earl Mankey and other members of the original band Halfnelson show no bitterness at missing out on the big time. Bass player Ian Hampton (who was drafted in after Kimono bassist Martin Gordon was rather cruelly fired just as they were hitting the big time) is only slightly disgruntled at how his moment of stardom was cut short. Drummer Dinky Diamond and guitarist Adrian Fisher have both passed away, which just leaves Ron and Russell to relate how Kimono My House changed the band’s fortunes. It boils down to those essential ingredients - great compositions and that uniquely Sparks humour.