Customer Reviews

Angst in My Pants

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Angst in My Pants" is one of the greatest albums of the 80s. The Mael brothers were often witty, insightful, and brilliant, but most of the Sparks catalog is, at best, uneven. That isn't the case with this classic album, as Sparks seem to have all of the pieces of the puzzle in place. The backup band is also brilliant, seamlessly blending Sparks trademark brand of keyboard/snyth, guitar, percussion, and electronica. To me the album always reflected the decade of its release - full of smart-assed witicisms, semi-sarcastic vocals, and slightly off-base melodies - it is a beautiful document of the 80s. It is easily one of the 10 best records of the decade. "Eaten by the Monster of Love" is a classic - placed perfectly in the film "Valley Girl," another historical document of the 80s.

Sparks has for a long time been my favorite artists. I had the cassette tape of this album when I was in High School, I wore this tape out listening to it so much.

What can you say. This album contains the song "Mickey Mouse", which always by tradition was the first song in my tape player in my car when vacation plans called for a roadtrip to Disneyland!

"Nicotina" and "Sherlock Holmes" are also great fun songs. The title song, "Angst in my Pants", the song with the most airplay from the album is also one of those songs that go down in the Sparks-Hall-of Fame!

The title song of this album is simply the best song on this album. To me it reminds me of a person with big personal problems, that he og she cant cope with.

Perhaps it's a generational thing, but to me Angst in My Pants doesn't have quite the immediacy of the 1970s Sparks classics. There are certainly some listenable tracks: Moustache is a fun, real-Sparks song with a degree of gusto. Sextown USA has some of Sparks classic manic musical doodles. And I Predict has a certain power. But Instant Weightloss and Tarzan & Jane seem pretty feeble, albeit (as other reviewers have pointed out) very much in the 1980s mould. If that's your thing you might like the whole album.

Overall a second rank Sparks album albeit not a total flop.