SPARKS

TommyGun · Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 5:30 pm Post subject:

this was fantastic! Beat the Clock was like a big party and No 1 In Heaven was just as great as i expected it... but my highlight was My Other Voice..wow so impressive!!

Rons hairdo was hilarous and also i liked Russells clothings

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MarkRae · Groupie Joined: 11 Mar 2008 Posts: 199 Location: London

Just back home.

Well, this evening we were treated to an hour or so of top-quality electronic / dance music, if you like that sort of thing.

Fortunately, the 800 of us at the venue absolutely loved that sort of thing! I'd say it was probably the most enthusiastic audience so far. An absolutely storming gig!

Not much to add to what's already been said.

Someone wondered how Ron was able to reproduce the original synth sounds from the album so faithfully. As a keyboard player myself, I can tell you that nothing could be simpler. Russell hinted at the fact that back in the late 70s there was not the equipment available today, and that's part of it. Pretty much every sound of every "vintage" keyboard ever made is available in sample form these days, so all Ron has to do is find the one he used in 1979 and copy it into his computer's sound library. Which is not to detract from Ron's performance at all, but that really is all there is to it...

Expect more of the same on Tuesday but, alas, not nearly such a large crowd...

Tim Collins · Fan-in-Training Joined: 02 May 2008 Posts: 19

themightybishop · Certified Fan Joined: 04 Dec 2007 Posts: 73

that was the best yet for me. i so looked forward to this so got myself at the front and in the centre early doors for the atmosphere.
i couldn't really hear enough of the keyboards on tryouts and was a bit disappointed with the thin sound. but from then on, it was pure brilliance. my other voice was the big surprise - not one i've taken much notice of before. but, if i die tomorrow, i'll be okay having heard such a fantastic number one song in heaven tonight. and dancing is dangerous was such a great choice for the encore. 8 down (someone tell russell!) but such a lot more to come.

Noisy Boy · Power Groupie Joined: 20 Feb 2006 Posts: 292

Setlist (taken from the actual stage setlist I pilfered after the gig!):
Tryouts For The Human Race
Academy Award Performance
La Dolce Vita
Beat The Clock
My Other Voice
The Number One Song In Heaven

Dancing Is Dangerous

Band:
Ron
Russell
Steve Nistor (Drums)
Jim Wilson (Backing vocals, Guitar on Dancing Is Dangerous)
Marcus Blake (Backing vocals, Bass on Dancing Is Dangerous)

Support:
Gamine

Magnificent. The best gig of the series so far, and nearly perfect in every respect. From Sparks’ twisted concept of introducing an era-defining disco album with a lullaby-singing David Lynch lounge band (piano/pedal steel/ vocals trio Gamine, who under the right circumstances would be worth watching, but tonight their beautiful but affected chanteuse was met mostly with bemusement) along with Charles Aznavour, and Portishead’s new album on the PA, to Ron’s magnificent ‘homage’ hair, done up identically to how he wears it on the rear sleeve of the album, this was Sparks in their element. Maybe it was down to the fact that there’s so much sequenced stuff on there, or that it’s just a shorter album but everything was impeccably performed, and any worries my accompanying ‘Sparks army’ (well, seven of us, including one who’d never even heard Sparks before) had about My Other Voice being sub-par, or The Number One Song In Heaven being re-arranged to the rather more funereal way they currently play it were unfounded. From the opening ‘beeow’ of Tryouts, through the Hi-NRG Academy Award Performance, to La Dolce Vita, to Beat The Clock (which got the second biggest cheer of the night), to My Other Voice to the grand finale, everything was just about faultless. Russell missed his first vocoder’d verse of My Other Voice, and there was the odd moment of synths being too low in the mix, but it was so musically perfect, it wasn’t missed. And when they finally reached the pinnacle of Number One Song, everybody around me went absolutely apeshit. I even got a laugh out of the Bob-Dylan-cognisant portion of the crowd by yelling ‘JUDAS!’ when Russell was talking about how there was criticism of them selling out when the album first came out.

As an aside, how good is Steve Nistor? His work tonight was absolutely sterling- from his sequenced pads to his strict disco rhythms, the guy is untouchable.

The finale of Dancing Is Dangerous was something that had crossed my mind as a potential choice, but given that they’ve filled the last two evenings with Island-era B-sides, it was only a fleeting thought and I was wondering (hoping in fact) that we’d get Profile or Marry Me. In the end, Dancing Is Dangerous was far more of a revelation. If the album’s not been released on CD, someone should take the bull by the horns and get it out quickly!

If I’ve one gripe (and there always has to be one), it’s that most of the people around me were relatively static (which contrasts with MarkRae's account - where were yo ustood, Mark?). My girlfriend, who has far more energy than I, was lucky enough to be stood next to two people just as enthused as she was, so got to dance without any problem. I don’t know if it was the same anywhere else, but it surprised me a bit, especially as it’s a bank holiday weekend! It’ll be interesting how Terminal Jive compares on Tuesday…

Annika · Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 7:13 pm Post subject:

Why isn't Steve MacDonald playing for the second night in the row??????
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timahall · Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 7:30 pm Post subject:

I had neither heard or heard of Dancing Is Dangerous. Where can I get it?

BigManRestless · Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 7:54 pm Post subject:

Sorry to be negative but what the **** was up with the sound tonight? :(

All I could hear for the first four tracks was the bass drum, the sequencer and some vocal, where were the synth melodies? It got sorted for My Other Voice onwards but my goodness...it was annoying.

Ron seemed to be shouting at the sound guy all through Beat The Clock to do something or other.

Still the highlights were My Other Voice and Number One Song In Heaven (and not just because they were the only ones with a decent sound mix).

sjadey · Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 9:58 pm Post subject:

It was a great show tonight but my goodness it was packed in there; you could hardly move, let alone dance! It was very noticeable in Tryouts when it came to Ron's more prominent keyboard riff, that it was too low in the mix, but it did get turned up just before Russ came back in with the vocal. This song had been played live before on the HYL tour, despite Russell saying that apart from BTC none of them had been. The drum machine hadn't been invented when this album was made!

I loved Ron's homage hair and he was positively grinning at the end tonight!

Lots of people seemed very excitable; there was lots of whooping and bouncing around. How fantastic to hear Dancing is Dangerous again. I have it on 12" single, but haven't heard it since I packed up my record player in 1995. So far, it's not even in the top 70 in the Ultimate Encore thread, although I mentioned it briefly in a post there, but it was originally sung by Noel not Russell so I never expected it to qualify as a Sparks encore.

Another corker of a gig, anyway. Loved it! Wore my black DICK AROUND T-shirt tonight, so tomorrow I can wash all my Sparks T-shirts, ready for the next show. I might go to the Bodhi Gallery tomorrow to check out the Sparks exhibition.

I expect there will be plenty of space to dance around in on Tuesday. TJ is not one of my favourites, so I shall be watching online and I hope the streaming will be better than it was for Kimono and Propaganda.
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sjadey · Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 10:19 pm Post subject:

Loreley · Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 10:31 pm Post subject:

What an amazing show.

I've never been a really big fan of the album, but I suppose I should listen to it more often.

And about the dancing... It's almost impossible to dance when it's so crowded. I suppose there'll be plenty more room on TJ.

And how great was Dancing Is Dangerous?!
I love that song, and it was really great to hear Russell (and Marcus & Jim) sing it. I noticed a lot of people weren't singing along, strange, I thought people knew it.
I have the album, it's great, and well worth to look for.
I suppose it's not released on cd, but I'm sure the LP would be easy to track down.
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Loreley · Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 10:43 pm Post subject:

Wow Ron's hair

What a beauty.
It was so odd to hear No 1 after all the rock gigs. I love electronica and My Other voice is one of the most beautiful electronica ballades I've heard

Fantastic to hear it live.

About Dancing Is Dangerous, it's not impossible to find. Try e-bay or Eil.com, I have a picture disc of that album and it was not hard to find.
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MissmissyTannenbaum · Groupie Joined: 29 Sep 2007 Posts: 164

ooops. Loriley's last post here was written by me. She used my laptop and forgot to logout and I forgot to check before I wrote the post.

I heard the synth easily, but I was standing close to the speaker.

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MarkRae · Groupie Joined: 11 Mar 2008 Posts: 199 Location: London

MarkRae · Groupie Joined: 11 Mar 2008 Posts: 199 Location: London

Physicality · Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 5:27 am Post subject:

flamingkitties · Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 5:45 am Post subject:

I took some good photos and some, unusually good, video footage which I will paste up when I get home tonight. I was stood right behind the guy doing the actual video!

Looking forward to the 13th June!
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RODDON · Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 5:49 am Post subject:

Folks,

You can download Is There More To Life Than Dancing in its entireity including album art for free here:
http://discodelivery.blogspot.com/2006/10/disco-delivery-27-noel-is-there-more.html

Enjoy!!!!
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E-Clect-Eddy · Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 6:34 am Post subject:

E-Clect-Eddy · Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 6:37 am Post subject: