For those of you who don't know them, Sparks are one of the longest running, most influental and creative pop groups of all time, consisting of Ron & Russell, the brothers Mael. Hello Young Lovers is their 20th album-length effort, and frankly it's so good I feel mean not telling people about it.




Hello Young Lovers
Sparks
Gut Records 2006


01 Dick Around
Imagine Queen if they were still going. It's that good. It stands at a rather daunting 6 and a half minutes, but it's worth every second. As with most Sparks songs it can be to work what Ron was writing about at parts but Russell carries it perfectly. I'm not sure how else to describe this song - it works on every level.


02 Perfume
Considering the lyrics you'd think this song would get repetitive pretty quickly, and to be fair, if you don't get into the song it can just drag. If you do get it into though, it's one of the most fun songs on the album. The only weak point for me is the capella a minute in, but it does add a bit of variety to the song so it's not all bad.
Plus it's great fun to sing because you can make it up as you go long......Katie will never stop hearing that she wears Georgio....


03 The Very Next Fight
This song is about as serious as Sparks get, but it's still hard not to smile. I can't think of any other band that could pull this song off, though again, if you don't get into it it feels like it's just dragging in the middle.


04 (Baby Baby) Can I Invade Your Country
I had to listen to this a few times over because I couldn't stop laughing. Lyrically, it's both amazingly witty and extremely crude and the music matches perfectly - I'd say think "God Only Knows" mixed with "Rock the Casbah", but this song covers way too many genres and styles to be pulled down like that. It launches from one mood to another in about 2 seconds but never feels forced. I honestly think this is one of the best songs I've ever heard. The album is worth buying for this song alone. Genuis.
And it has a wah-wah banjo. Though only for a few seconds.


05 Rock Rock Rock
Sounds like a continuation of "The Very Next Fight", and for a while I thought this was a genuinely angry song.......til I heard the chorus. Almost fell off my seat, though I tend to find things like that a lot funnier than most people so don't get your hopes up.
It says a lot about the band that they can make a song with music this layered, grand and sad but still make you smile with the lyrics, even with Russell's voice fitting the music.


06 Metaphor
It's about how to get women by learning how to master the use of metaphors. "Chicks dig, dig, D-I-G dig, dig metaphors! Use them wisely, use them well and you will never know the hell of loneliness".
I wish this was how I'd been taught English lessons.


07 Waterproof
This song has a really sweet, waltzy sound. Beautiful. What's genius about it is while the lyrics are typically unusual, the vocal melody fits the music so well that if you don't like them, you can just ignore what he's saying and the song will still sound amazing. As great a writer as Ron is, it's hard connecting a love song to lyrics about barometric pressure. Though he does a damn fine job.
And the accordion...that just came out of nowhere.


08 Here Kitty
I'll admit, at the beginning it sounds like he wants to murder the kitty. But it gets funny. I promise. The song is actually about him trying to get his kitty back....via the medium of song. Then a nice man gives him his kitty back. Then he goes the circus to talk to the tiger tamer...I think. It's hard to keep up.


09 There Is No Such Thing as Aliens
Shortest song on the album and my least favourite. The music is good, though considering Ron's creativity with lyrics and the subject matter, this song feels like a wasted oppurtunity.


10 As I Sit To Play The Organ At The Notre Dame Cathedral
It starts off sounding like a really old video game...but not. It builds up on this song on the way through, as well as all the sounds you'd expect from the title. And quite a few you wouldn't. As near as I can tell, the lyrics range from one-up-manship to faith to landmarks to girls claiming to be from various countries, all told from the perspective of the guy who plays the organ at Notre Dame Cathedral.
Excellent way to end the album.




Overall:
....it's better than "Kimono My House".....they've actually bested it. That won't mean anything to someone who's never heard of them, but that's a pretty tall order. Anyone who apprieicates originality in music has to listen to this album. I can't praise this album highly enough.