Sparks • Introduction / Girl from Germany • Live 1975, Szene '75 Program / Restored 

Thanks! :D

@@joeblow578 you're welcome :) i like doing stuff like this lol

Awesome!

Thanks!!! 😊 👍

Hey cool I got "California brothers" and "Ron plays" something. Good to know my high school intro to German class was worth something! LOL.

When this came out I was a tot and I had the same coat lol my mother liked glam rock so this may have inspired her ❤️

Love Dinky

dinky was great

Ron has a contagious smile!!! 😁 Warm, heartily, genuine.

@@annabackman3028 he has a beautiful smile! ❤️

So cute

Ron is actually handsome as well. He just preferred to be stern and intense on stage and in photo stills, which made him appear not as handsome as he is.

​@ToyKingWonder, there is a short video of Ron shaving off his mustache, and he looks a lot like Russell, just a bit lanky.

They are even not mentioned in books about Glam...

Too eccentric for either genre although they shared some similar attributes...not really different from Roxy Music...both disowned from either mentioned genre...not glam not punk...new wavy I guess...thats why today they get the last laugh 😊

The Move from Birmingham were pioneers of Punk Rock in the 1960's, they were sued by the then Prime Minister, Harold Wilson in 1967 over a post card that their manager sent to selected V.I.P's to promote their single "Flowers in the Rain". They chained themselves a dummy hydrogen bomb and carried it around Manchester city centre, they smashed up cars and television sets on stage and the attacked effigies of important people of the day with an axe. The Move never did get the recognition that they deserved, Roy Wood lost all his royalties to this day from sales and radio plays of "Flowers in the Rain", it amounts to millions of pounds that Woody has lost.

Sparks were "punk"? That's laughable beyond words 🤣 Have you lost your mind 🤣

No, Sparks didn't really fit into a particular genre - they had the guts to be themselves in a hard nosed business and are reaping the rewards for such inventiveness at last.

The best, his story is sad

Смотрел концерт. Круто.

They have many serious songs, it's only camouflaged with a comical line somewhere, and as Ron has said something like: "We write serious lyrics, with a jolly melody." Mostly about lonely guys, a bit of loser types. Two obvious ones are 'Good Morning' and 'I've Never Been High', both from the 'Exotic Creatures of the Deep', 2008. 'Good Morning' about a guy without self-esteem, who wishes he had a girlfriend to love and care about, hopefully loving him back. His imagination starts spinning after a one night stand, who is she? Is she taken good care of? Does she have someone who really loves her? Does he even say "Good morning" to her? Does "Dasvedonya" really mean "Good morning"? A line like "I hope it's just your laugh that is infectious" is just perfect for bringing up a laughter, at least a smile, from the listener. 'Likeable' on the same album isn't exactly joyful. Accepting your faith. 'I've Never Been High' is very much like 'Edith Piaf (Said It Better Than Me', an old man, regretting everything exiting he never did, and now it's too late. 'Sherlock Holmes' ('Angst In My Pants') and 'Lighten Up, Morrissey' ('Exotic Creatures of the Deep') have same theme, a guy who feels he's not enough, he can't measure up to his girlfriend's standards, however they co-op differently, one is trying to act like someone else, but sadly admits, he can't BE like that, only like himself. The other guy blames Morrissey's emotional and sensitive appearance, voice and I guess lyrics (never been a fan myself!), that Morrissey does all that to twist girls' heads, they all, including this guy's girlfriend, wish to comfort Morrissey. The guy pleads that Morrissey would lighten up and stop being a chick magnet (like James Dean, looking sad and sensitive), so his girlfriend would see that HE is at least as good as Morrissey. (In my opinion, 'Sherlock Holmes' is the best, and with protocol in hand concerning Morrissey... Sherlock it is. A short little bagatelle, 'Probably Nothing' ('Hippopotamus') is very serious, when you reach the age when the memory starts to fail. And age feels very heavy, for the moment anyway. 'All That' (A Steady Drip Drip Drip') is serious. Warm, loving and serious. 'Im Toast' is what you want it to be every single time you listen to it. "Left Out In The Cold", a little like a rewritten 'Ride 'em Cowboy' ('Balls'), you're up there, among the big guys, and something happens, and you find yourself at the bottom, out in the cold, all you can do is "get back up on the horse" and ride 'em. Again, and again. Giving up ain't an option. (Like the life of the Mark brothers, themselves.) And several more. 'Toughest Girl On Town' ('Interior Design'), '(Baby Baby) Can I Invade Your Country?', the only song Ron has admitted is political. About another country, another leaders, highly current, sadly. I'll stop here, or this will be a full novel.

I think they are not so stupid that they systematically associate this style of mustache with Adolf Hitler. I could have understood the mistake if Ron had also had the wick on his forehead, but this was not the case. The expressions of his face are typical to Silent films and famous characters like Charlie Chaplin. In addition, you need to have a little interest in film culture (Charlie Chaplin, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Toshiro Mifune, Katherine Hepburn etc ...) and a sense of derision to understand the lyrics of the Sparks' songs (White women, Family, etc) ... Fortunately real Sparks' fans have both of these skills. Without this kind of broad-mindedness, you cannot be a real Sparks' fan anyway. As for Germany, the book "Er ist wieder da" (about a fictitious Adolf Hitlers' return to Germany more than sixty years after WWII was a bestseller in this country which was then followed by a film.Most of today's German people today take a suitable step back from the Nazi period of their history ... Anyway the Sparks have always been successful in Germany, and they still have. That's my opinion of French person who 's totally fluent in German and has been living in a German town at the German-Polish border.

@@WahldoK I believe the song 'White Women' is a parody of songs in favor for black women in seventies, when disco music was popular. A lot of soul artist were making dance music and they sang of course about the beautiful black girls. Black women were suddenly seen as extra beautiful and exotic in some groups of white people. So Sparks turned it the other way around, as a reflection on the phenomenon. And as the political climate has turned I think I'll add: a couple of brothers that embrace diversity are neither racists per se, nor have any negative opinion about anybody because of a ridiculous reason like skin color.

@@annabackman3028 Interesting point of view. But some words are very hard, if I am not mistaken, there is something like "the colour does not matter as long as it is white". I don't know them by heart. I really think this song is deeper and against racism. I wish I had been a rock n' roll music journalist and could asked directly this question to Ron.

@@WahldoK The political environment was kinda different at that time...

You are right Anna. But I cannot help thinking it was narrow-mindedness to associate Ron's moustache to Hitler in a wrong way even if in the early seventies. At that time Charlie Chaplin were still alive and regarded as famous. Like you I was a little teen-age girl, when Russel stared at us with his big eyes and sang "this town, etc...I must admit that I also associated Ron's moustache to Hitler but I thought his purpose was to make a fool of him and found it very funny and I was right. Moreover I also had other associations like Charlie Chaplin of course..If I am not mistaken, he still have this style of moustache, when in following album-sleeves he was thrown cream-tarts in the face, or dressed in a female wedding dress.The criticism about his moustache style was all the more nonsensical as their parents are both Jewish.

Was auch wunderbar ist, dass Russel und Ron 45 Jahre später immer noch in der Rockszene da sind.

@@WahldoK Ron looks almost identical but Russell has changed a bit, especially that long curly hair. To the latter I'm greatful, it looks ridiculous when old pop/rock musicians still tries to look "back in the old days" as some of them do. On the other side, neither oversized wigs aren't the best of choices.

@@annabackman3028 You are right... Anyway Russell is still very good-looking but in a different way, maybe more good-looking than in his youth. I like his red-framed glasses and I am very fond of his irresistible smiling and his wrinkles round his eyes... ....More seriously speaking, Russell's voice and Ron's song and music writing are the most important for all of us.

@@WahldoK I couldn't agree more!! Every word! To tell the truth 😂, as a teenager I couldn't stand Russell's huge eyes, I found Russell's eyes more scary than Ron's 😂😂! Now, 40 years later, looking at photos and videos of him, in his late twenties - thirties, I think they were, and are!, beautiful. He was a pretty boy and a handsome man through the years! (Have you seen the picture of him as a kid, published on his latest birthday? What a sweet boy!! So cute ❤️ IF you missed it I think it's on their RU-vid channel, 'community', probably you will find it at FB etc too.) Also, never praise only one sibling of two 😉😆, Ron was also (and I mean that!) a very cute boy. He looked very much as my half sister's son, who's father was a musician... Hm... The boy's name not so far from Ronald; Robert...🤔🤔🤔 He was a guitarist, though 😆. (Photo at the same places as the one of Russell) He is so stylish when he dresses up in his outfits! 😍 Not saying that Russell can't dress up cool! I love his shoes especially. 🥰 💖💖💖💖💖😘

I think that the Germans media of that time were clever enough not to stupidly associate this moustache's style to adolf hitler. This type of moustache is absolutely not typical for adolf hitler... Among others Charlie Chaplin, a worldwide star of the silent film wore it before him... Ron just wanted to follow this generation slapstick's character. Honestly that suited him very well... I wish today's people could have said "Sparks' moustache" instead of adolf hitler's.

@@WahldoK Idk if you watch The Office (US) or not. But, there's an episode where Pam dresses as Charlie Chaplin for Halloween. Turns out she was the only one that did. And, to make matters worse for her when she takes off her hat people think that she's supposed to be hitler. ...As you said, fans and German tv were smart enough to know the difference. However, for as much of a star as Charlie Chaplin was, that moustache style will unfortunately be associated with the worst guy to ever wear it. ...At least we know Ron was just being himself and not going for shock value. ...Also, fedoras and pork pies used to just be plain hats until hipsters got the hands on them. 🤷‍♂️

@@Dick_Valparaiso: You are right, we can't prevent some people from thinking the wrong way....Ironically speaking, Ron wouldn't have coped with that kind of stupid misunderstandings in Western Europe, if he had purposedly chosen to wear a Staline-like moustache :(

The speaker's way of pronouncing was not that bad, he just had a cute German accent... Spelling mistakes are worse. From the other side I really like Russell's American accent when he pronounced French or German names.... He speaks very good French with a lovely American accent and strives to speak German too... That's the point!!!!

@@WahldoK Well, I don't like a German accent in English, most times it sounds horrible 😖 But I'm allowed to say that, I'm German myself. 😄 And the speaker's pronunciation of Russell sounds like "Rassel" which means "rattle" in English. But Russell's American accent in German is really nice, yeah. In fact I love it 😊 He's very talented in languages.

Lady Vampiria: You seem to be very cool, I think we have already met in a very interesting forum, haven't we. I do understand what you mean . I don't like the French accent both in German and in English, maybe because I am French and I like the German accent, maybe because I live in Germany (in a town at the polish border, so I am fluent in German and polish) ... A French presenter would have called them "Reuseul'" und "Rone". German people generally strive to respect foreign pronunciation whereas French people pronounced foreign words like those of French In fact I like all the accents except that of the French people and my favourite one is that of Russell...Have a nice day.

The signature 'Phil' posted a comment, starting "Translation" or alike.

They should have kept Dinky. Big mistake. He could play Sparks music like no other has ever achieved. His drums on KMH...wow. RIP Dinky. Some of us still remember you.

I was just thinking the same thing.

No. I saw the Sparks Brothers documentary a few months ago. If I remember correctly, the Hitler looking guy, Ron Mael, was supposedly trying to look like Charlie Chaplin, or was paying tribute to Chaplin with that moustache. Something like that.

@@thehighllama8101 The silent movie style exaggerated facial expressions should indicate it's Chaplin.

@@deaddoll1361 Also Hitler had a different hairstyle. Yes, more like Chaplin with the eyeliner.