Wacky Women / This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us. Rock & Classic Night - Circus Krone, Munich Dec 9 1981. Russell Mael - Ron Mael - Les Bohem - David Kendrick - Bob Haag - Jim Goodwin
Hello - I'm working on the Edgar Wright documentary about Sparks and we would potentially like to use this footage in our film (and maybe any other sparks footage you have). Please email sparksfanarchive@gmail.com with the subject line "youtube sparks soundcheck1981" and we can discuss more. Alternatively give me your email address/contact details and I'll share more info with you. Thanks!
Poor Ron and Russell. I don't know why I should even think that given their lives have undoubtedly been a whole lot more fun and meaningful than mine. When they started out in 1971 they said they wanted to be bigger than General Motors. They could have been but their egos got in the way. Ditching Martin, Adrian and Dinky was the worst move they ever made and the repercussions stayed with them forever. As a huge Sparks fan, I am sad they did not achieve what they wanted. Yet, they got what they wanted, a duo with no outside influence whatsoever (unless it was a "big name" like Moroder). Damn your snobbery R&R, why could you not see that both your original bands (Half Nelson/KMH) worked in your favour and made you sublime.
Wow, I sure wouldn't want to read what someone who is not huge Sparks fan would write. Martin only played on KMH, replaced by Ian for the tour and next two albums. Adrian played on KMH and Propaganda but only toured for KMH, then replaced by Trevor. Dinky was an excellent drummer, on all three Island records and supporting tours. Times change, people change...How do you know what repercussions stayed with the Maels forever? How do you know they didn't achieve what they ultimately truly wanted? They continue to work passionately on their music and have done so with various artists throughout the years, even though the music has always been of their own doing. You might want to see Edgar Wright's documentary and maybe reconsider your damning opinion of snobbery.
Wow you seem a bit bitter! Martin, Adrian and Dinky were brilliant, but so were pretty much all of the other guest musicians the guys have used over the years eg Keith Forsey, Hilly Michaels, Christi Haydon and David Kendrick on drums. I honestly don't think Ron and Russell sit there with their heads in their hands thinking, "Damn if only we still had Martin Gordon in the band..." From my perspective as an electronic music fan, ditching "the band" and "going electronic" was the best thing the guys ever did, and paved the way for so much music to come. I don't see any logic to your argument to be honest, you've picked just one iteration of this ever-changing band's line-up and implied that if only they'd stuck to that iteration for the rest of time. But that's not Sparks and it's not why most of us love them! We enjoy the unpredictability and shape-shifting nature of Sparks. Eg FFS - no way on earth that project could have ever taken shape the way it did had Sparks had to bring along a load of spare luggage with them! Anyway - peace and respect, despite your rather strange comment, you are a Sparks fan after all :-)
I couldn't agree more, mollyscot. I bang on about this all the time but just get abuse. "Kimono Sparks' is one of the truly great rock bands of all time. As a duo it just doesn't work, apart from No 1 in heaven. You are absolutely correct, their egos got in the way; with Adrian, Martin and Dinky they would have been up there with The Who, Quo, Queen etc.
