5.0 out of 5 stars
DAZZLINGLY INNOVATIVE MUSIC, May 23, 2003
This review is from: This Album's Big Enough: Best of (Audio CD)
Sparks first hit the limelight in about 1974 with the gorgeous This Town Ain't Big Enough, a powerful hook-filled pop song with dynamic falsetto vocals. It was a UK Top 20 hit but didn't do much elsewhere. Other seventies successes included Amateur Hour, Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth and Something For The Girl With Everything. Sparks continued to make music throughout that decade but remained fairly obscure until 1979 when the groundbreaking electronic synth-masterpiece Number One In Heaven (produced by Giorgio Moroder) gained them critical respect and commercial success again. Tracks like Beat The Clock and Tryouts For The Human Race are drawn from that one while the equally enjoyable Cool Places comes from 1983. These brilliant songs are enough to make This Album's Big Enough a winner, but it would have been even better if a couple of their pop masterpieces from Whomp That Sucker had been included, songs like That's Not Nastassia, Suzie Safety or Tips For Teens. Sparks are masters of unusual but addictive melodies and clever quirky lyrics. That's probably why their music has aged so well. It sounds very contemporary today. If you like pop music with a bit of brain and you haven't heard Sparks before, this album will be a revelation.
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