SPARKS

Doefie · Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 5:28 pm Post subject:

Great performance from start to finish. Not an easy one to sing if you ask me, but Russell was fantastic. To be honest, "Whomp" is not an album that I used to listen to very often, but that will change after tonight!

sparksfanlm · Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 5:35 pm Post subject:

Ennui · Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 5:35 pm Post subject:

jidlomonster · Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 5:35 pm Post subject:

Whomp That Sucker - always has been and probably always will be my least favourite Sparks album. It only gets going toward the end of side 1 and I'd be quite happy if side 2 had never seen the light of day. Even so, I enjoyed this one just because the performances were so committed and - at least for some of the songs - the balance was better than usual. The exchanges between keyboard and guitar in Tips for Teens were just right, but where did the guitar solo escape to in I Married a Martian?
The crowd had a whale of a time and I hope the atmosphere is just as good when I'm in London for Angst on Friday.

Just rejoined the fan club on the strength of these shows. Never intended to leave it, but nobody told me my sub was due....
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Tvcoahran · Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 5:38 pm Post subject:

Dal · Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 5:56 pm Post subject:

Fanbloodytastic, IMO.
Russell's greatest performance so far in these gigs.
WTS is an incredibly strenuous album for a vocalist. I've known Russell use his falsetto when the tenor notes are too high for live vocals, but in most cases tonight he was right up there, loud and true.
Apropos of nothing: I noticed recorded backing vocals during one or two songs, and a keyboard phrase or two, which is the first time I've spotted any in these gigs.
It was a triumph all-in-all.
Perhaps people will re-assess this album now? Hope so.
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David Alston.

rileyrempel · Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 5:58 pm Post subject:

First off, I have to say that
Hello everybody, this is Russell - Right before I sing I'm going to make a muscle
is one of the best lines in pop music.
Great performance tonight. Nastassia is my favorite song on the album, and it was my favorite live too. I didn't think they messed up - just shortened it a bit, but it's hard to tell with the audio on the stream.
Speaking of the stream, the visuals froze for a bit on a close up of Ron, but it took me a good 15 seconds to realize it! He doesn't move around much, does he?

kev hook · Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 6:00 pm Post subject:

No complaints tonight. Thanks Mr Soundman

. And what a terrific performance.......

My favourite so far, and I wasnt even there tonight..........

THANK YOU EVERYONE

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

Just got back home.

Wow! How good was that! Probably my favourite of the shows so far...

WTS is definitely my favourite Sparks album after the first five, so I made sure I got there in plenty of time to get right to the front. Fantastic performance, fantastic atmosphere.

Highlight for me was Don't Shoot Me - I just love that song.

Someone mentioned pre-recorded vocals and keyboard parts - I didn't notice those though, at times, all four of the "backing" band were doing backing vocals...

Someone else mentioned that they messed up the end of That's Not Nastassia - it seemed to me that they slightly simplified it deliberately, but Ron was definitely doing the minor third descending keyboard runs...

Top stuff! A night off, then Angst - can't wait!

Thermaland · Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 6:23 pm Post subject:

Robin Davies · Certified Fan Joined: 16 Jun 2004 Posts: 64

I didn't notice any mistakes but then I was too high on the sound quality which was a HUGE improvement on last night (apart from a bit of bass boominess when Ron changed to the other keyboard). Russell was really on fire tonight. What a GREAT show. For me it's in the top 3 with Indiscreet and Introducing Sparks.

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

Setlist:

Tips For Teens
Funny Face
Where’s My Girl
Upstairs
I Married A Martian
The Willys
Don’t Shoot Me
Suzie Safety
That’s Not Nastassia
Wacky Women

Get Crazy

Band:
Ron
Russell
Steve MacDonald (Bass, some backing vocals)
Steve Nistor (Drums, some backing vocals)
Jim Wilson (Guitar, backing vocals)
Marcus Blake (Guitar, backing vocals, Guitar)

Support:
Rumble Strips

Absolutely awesome. I was slightly unsure of how this one would go, with the sparse attendance last night, and Russell’s reticence about the 80s, but to be honest there were many reasons why this was up there with the best. One is that the sound was the BEST I’ve heard at any of the gigs so far, apart from Number One In Heaven – the guitars were upfront, the synths popped through at the right point, Steve N had the drum sound down pat, and the whole thing was very faithful to the album. When they came out and simply TORE through Tips For Teens, I was absolutely enthused! The whole album is a real favourite of mine and Upstairs (one of my most played Sparks obscurities) was impeccable. It was also great to be surrounded with an audience who were totally up for it, joining in on all the call and response on Funny Face and Upstairs.

It’s also great to see Steve MacDonald back for the ‘Gleaming Spires/ Bates Motel’ lineup albums (I hope), as having Marcus on second guitar adds an extra punch that was absent for the last two albums (and maybe Introducing? I missed that). He’s also a far more energetic and expressive individual that Marcus or Jim Wilson and it always cheers me up to just watch him for a bit.

I thought things went off the boil slightly for Susie Safety (never one of my favourites), but came right back in for the last two tracks on the album. Following an convoluted monologue from Russell concerning Giorgio Moroder and his friend Nastassja Kinski, they really nailed that in the same key as the original (my one contender for a song they’d change key for). Absolutely magnificent. Same for Wacky Women, which was a lot of fun, and again lots of crowd replies on the ‘Medic! Medic!’ bit.

The encore was chronologically slightly out (according to Wikipedia, the film, starring Malcolm McDowell, Allen Garfield, Daniel Stern, and Ed Begley, Jr. came out on 1983), and was never their best song (I would've preferred a cover of Are You Ready For The Sex Girls), but it certainly looked like Russell was surprised at how well known it was, and I was impressed with the amount of people who were singing along (It’s on The Hell Collection compilation, should you wish to track it down). So, my final night until next week, and as much as I love these guys, I’ll be happy to come home straight from work tomorrow instead of hanging round Angel until 7pm then hanging round the Academy for three hours; I’m getting jolly sick of the place.

P.S. Rumble Strips are a band many people have suggested to me as a recommendation based on my Dexys fanaticism (which matches my Sparks loyalty),and they weren’t bad. But, as I see it, why do we need another Dexys when we’ve got one who do the same job ten times better already? Expect a new Dexys album very soon…

P.P.S. Is it me, or did Russell seem to be a bit pissed off when someone shouted out 'WHY NOT?' in response to his tale about not touring the album in the UK?

Joan of Arc · Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 6:29 pm Post subject:

Please anyone who is at any of the concerts don't be afraid to recount the inter-tune spoken bits for the army of streamers. The sound has been of variable quality (tonight's was excellent though!) but I can only hear about one word in five of the - obviously hilarious - speeches in between the songs

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

Thermaland · Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 6:46 pm Post subject:

Well he went on quite a bit about how Sparks didn't tour the UK much in that whole era because they were busy in LA so they are grateful for people to come to those particular shows etc... He said that the encore song was from "a really lame film of that time". And he introduced Ron as "the man who wanted to have a song called That's Not Nastassia".

The whole thing with That's Not Nastassia is that he started by explaining how Moroder had been important in their career etc... and then when he said that the man liked to hang out with young people there was cheeky-to-uncharitable laughter in the audience so he tried to retell the story from the top without any ambiguous phrases....

(It suddenly hits me that I understood pretty much everything he was saying tonight, whereas at previous shows I attended I barely made out a word of it. So perhaps they did indeed sort the sound spectacularly. Or is it rather because the crowd was thinner?)

Oh, and the Windows screensaver-type animations on the screen are getting increasingly disturbing up there! Red and green waves coming out of Ron's emaciated ribs anyone?

Brightonian · Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 8:00 pm Post subject:

Great, great show - up there with the best, and no discernable sound problems.

Where's My Girl, Whacky Women, Nastassia, Don't Shoot Me, not a duff song among the whole lot. Only Suzie Safety seemed to slip in intensity a little. It was a really taut performance. Almost perfect.

I almost didn't go to this show, but so glad I did. I haven't played this album in years, but found I knew all the words (engrained in my subconscious from when I was a spotty 15 year old, back in '81!) and merrily danced and bellowed the set away!

fatherjack · Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 8:06 pm Post subject:

Enjoyed every last drop.

If there were 8 or 8,000 people in the place there is such a feeling of love for the boys it should come through.

Great album. even the weak ones were sooo good due to the band being tight.

As for the bitching regarding backing tapes etc. BU*****T!

"This band is tight, and they can rock all night".

Thank you Diamond Dave for that line.........DLR Band.

I can see everything from my 5'2" (apart from the packed ones), it may not come out so well on the streaming (waddya want for nuthing? who else would do this???????????). However there is so much joy and effort going into every performance that may not be coming across.

Boys, I loved every minute tonight.
If you can make "The Willy's" rock (Yes Russell, we do know what it means...).
Then my previous doubts about the "lesser" albums may be diminished.

TTFN.

"Yes, that would be an ecumenical matter"

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