I first saw Sparks on THIS show in '74. I couldn't get their music out of my head for weeks...finally bought Indiscreet, then Kimono My House.....I was hooked! 40 years later....I still am !!!!! My favorite band of all time!!!!!!
They took over from the Beatles in a humble opinion. Mum & Step Dad were into alternative music in the 70's. We had a wall of Lp's.. We went hungry in the 80's so he started selling the albums ;( I'd pull them out just to look at the covers! ;(
Imagine being in a band with two brothers being in charge - think of it through that lens. Nothing against our beloved Sparks, but Sparks has always been an uphill battle, and I don't mean fame. Their tenacity should be defined as the very description of it, in all dictionary's on the planet, period. In fact, I'm surprised that they kept members as long as they did. I did like this more 'rock era' version of them however. Yes, it's my fav as well. Punky... before punk.
I first saw them on telly New Years Eve 1974, and my 12 year old mind was blown away. Ron used to come into the shop I worked at in Beverly Centre, L.A. in 1987, and he was so quiet and polite.
Looks could kill: Russell hovering between Norman Bates and Jim Morrison, while Ron veers between Clark Gable and Chaplin with a touch of ol' Schicklgruber thrown in for good measure.
Brilliant, saw them in Bristol Hippodrome in the 70's such great performers (I swear Ron Mael smiled at me!...well that's what I let myself believe!) My all time favourite "Never turn your back on Mother Earth"
Have listened to the odd Sparks track here and there over the years but I’ve been binging on their videos this week. Wow, there’s a lot to wrap your head around. I’m digging it 😃👍🏻🎼
The Mael brothers have been brilliant for many decades, beneath the extravagant style were songs and arrangements with superb time structures and great musicianship. This 74 lineup really did rock!
Love this music, A friend tern me on to one of there albums in 77 it blow me away, 72 though late 70's was my favorite, watching them live for the first time in 2013, well I'm glad I have a good since of humor and I still love the pictures especially where both are holding paper grocery sacks in the parking lot in black and white photo. True hippies of my generation.
I was really happy to see they are still performing, music still has shelf life. The guitar work is my favorite, it cuts hard. Songs are very catchy and memorable, I LOVE SPARKS!!!!!!
I just saw them this past weekend, and they still sound great. So does their current backing band… although they definitely can’t hold a candle to these three guys, who were the best backing band they ever had. That’s the cool thing about Sparks’ early-to-mid 70’s stuff: the guitarist, bass player and drummer were full- fledged members of Sparks and not just backing musicians (and that goes for the guys who played on their first two albums as well).
I'd not be able to describe a certain effect it causes either because it is as you seem to infer, so unreal yet 'real'. I get goose bumps watching many bands back in the day, but the 70's sparks act has a way of making it stronger. I think i get dragged in more by them & have to feel more disappointment that 'now' is now or something. Everyone knows like just is what it is & whats gone is gone etc etc. But still - its almost like going slightly under self hypnosis due to Sparks can momentarily make a person think they are still there during the odd split second ?
I have watched these guys for years and have been a fan all the time. I was 8 years old when I heard them the first time. I used to have the Woofer in Tweeters Album
I'll never forget hearing THIS TOWN AIN'T BIG ENOUGH FOR THE BOTH OF US in 1974. Loved it. Sadly, I never realized these guys went any further than that one hit wonder. Now, nearly 35 years later I come full circle only to understand I missed out big time. Wow and How.
One of the most original bands ever. Thanx for uploading! I remember someone said at the time «Sparks is not a real rock band». Well, the energy here says it all...
Glad the second part of this got to be uploaded. Several years ahead of its time and influential on British musicians (far too weird and androgynous for the Americans). In 1978 this would be considered the height of New Wave in the UK. Isn't there some campaign to try and finally get the Americans to recognise one of their greatest bands and get them in the Hall of Fame?
Much thanks for these posts. Bringing back lots of fun memories. We used to blast Sparks when driving around in my dads Mustang, On 8 track no less. The looks were priceless.
I wish the kids in my town did the same!! They ride their cars, open windows, full blast with something... I can't even describe. No, it's not from the top lists, oh no. Imagen what the worst SCORNFUL CARICATURE of hillbillies would listen to 😭 (PLEASE, don't be offended, you should see how people from this area can be pictured😂😂😂, and the tragic is, especially the young guys do look like that... 🙄) (To Swedes: Ronny o Ragge - intellekt som lyssnar på Eddie Meduza kopior och dansband😭. Jepp, jag bor i en avkrok.)
Rock and Roll people in a soon-to-be disco world. More so than in '74, today I enjoy Ron and Russell's approach of throwing nearly every genre of musical entertainment into the Waring blender of their creativity. Much like the Sensational Alex Harvey Band (doing stellar work at this same time), the music has staying power and for those open to it, makes a movie in your mind.
Hillarious!! He's just being part of the artrock scene. Thats just his look. some of them did that, just posing weird like that. like they had a camera on them 24 hrs. lol
This show and all the "In Concerts" were recorded in Long Beach CA. So ya, lots of beach boys. Just down the beach from Huntington Beach, aka Surf City. So you got that right. Lots of surfers and beach bunnies out of their element. I love that cuz i live here and most had no clue. They needed the education. First saw Sparks at Santa Monica Civic in '72. Still love them. (Pogsquatch)
My best friend and I got into Sparks after hearing Kimono in 1976. We saw them play an amazing concert in Berkeley in approx 1978. We’re still best friends and we still follow Sparks. These videos are some of the best I’ve seen for capturing the band at their peak (imho) - and the way I always remember them.
I was never a glam fan so Russell's look bothers me more than Ron's (sabotage his band? Ha ha, Sparks only got contract after contract to record more than a dozen albums, and 40 years later still have fanatic fans. Any artist will take that kind of sabotage!) but it's not the looks, it's the sound. In time The Pop and The Quick and new wave would cash in on high-energy quirkiness - and whether it is true or not I don't think Andy Partridge could have existed without these boys - but in 1974 who else was there? Milk and Cookies? Ten years ahead of their time. KIMONO and PROPAGANDA will still be loved as long as people value originality. Bring on the Halfnelson revival! The 1974 concert is brilliant videos, thanks so much for posting!
+baddogmaine That is excellent insight especially mentioning Andy Partridge as I only remember him giving credit to Captain Beefheart as a key influence. Sounds like AP got much inspiration from Russel as the early days of the AP band 1976 truly resembled revving up that level of quirkiness to something like "Sparks on Ecstacy." Agree, commercially successful new wave bands were influenced by Sparks packaging their music in a way to make $$$; while Sparks consistently kept their pure creative music resisting going for the bucks. Look how consistent their sound has been still producing & performing all these decades. Thanks again !
The more I think about it, I reckon Devo and John Lydon must have been fans. Mark M has very similar vocals and JL totally does the Ron stare during early Pistols gigs. Siouxsie is on record as a Sparks fan, and Roxy and other bands of that era have all been cited as influences by early punk bands. Sparks really seemed mental first time I saw em on ToTPs when I was a kid. Wish they'd played a longer set here - amazing. Anyone got links to live stuff from the same early period / line-up. Diamond is an awesome drummer!
Seth Berner, I see you wrote "Ron's (sabotage his band)" ... this is not the first time I have seen that brought up, but I don't understand. Ron Mael had that personae from Day 1, so why the whole "sabotage" thing? In fact, Ron Mael was the more interesting and talented of the two brothers, by far. Russell, IMO, was too fey. He never gave off any type of stage "appeal" other than singing and prancing and more prancing. He should have read Marc Bolan's playbook.
This was not in Europe. It was ABCs In Concert. Keith Moon introduced the first segment and called the finest act to come out onstage that evening. They then cut his tie in two.
It's mutually. Russell glances at Ron, in the corner of his eye pretty often. I don't think it's right to say that Russell is a sort of puppet-on-a-string. These two brothers depend on each other, musically they are two halves of the same coin. Has probably always been that way and will be as long they keep doing music. May they live long in good health! 💖
The first song "B.C." has all those pauses, and each verse starts with an accelerando (speeding up instead of starting from a fast tempo right away), and in cases like that it's traditional to follow the vocalist's lead so the instruments don't get off-beat from the singing. So I guess technically for the first song, Russell is leading and Ron (along with the other band members) is accompanying him. That being said, I'm sure a lot of it is theatrics ;)
Loved it when I saw it on TV as a 14 y/o. It was delightfully subversive and naughty; it had something to aggravate both parents. It jarringly combined the masculine power and coolness electric rock music with the weirdly feminine dress and manner of what I didn't know (at least consciously) at the time was overt homosexuality. Both elements were executed and blended perfectly. Just the kind of thing you'd expect to see in a decadent 1920s cabaret in pre-Nazi Germany. Look how that turned out and look how we've turned out since 1974. ;-)
WOW, IN-FREAKIN'-CREDIBLE !! (pt 2!) THANX A MILLION for upping and sharing all these cultural gems, dilloacami : May 1974, my parents had the fresh 'Kimono My House' LP on vinyl : I was 5 years old at that time, ..sticked to the tv-screen when they appeared (between Mud, Slade, Zappa, Roxy Music, Bowie, Pink Floyd, The Who & The Rolling Stones) and a true fan (of them all) eversince... the Mael brothers are still kickin' : do check for the FROM THE BASEMENT (dot TV) sessions.
It's funny because Ron is just as, if not more handsome than his brother but he sabotages (or neutralizes) his looks with that Charlie Chaplin stache... Punk Rock!!
