Masthead
One of my photos
← →

Sparks flying

March 21st, 2009 · Posted by Skuds in Music · 1 Comment · Music

Somehow Jonathan Ross’s show has ended up as one of the best places for music on TV these days.   It is not just that he sometimes gets the biggest names on there, but that he often gets people on there giving totally awesome and/or memorable performances.This year he has already had U2 (but then they have been on everything in the last month) and Morrisey – who did a new song followed by an old Smiths song.   Morrisey’s past appearances on the show have been good too.  I can still remember when he was on there promoting You Are The Quarry.

Tonight it was Sparks doing a new song with the title I can’t believe that you would fall for all the crap in this song.  At the end of it I only just stopped myself from standing up and applauding, I got so carried away. Seriously.  Just in time I remembered where I was.

Of course, long song titles are not unusual for Sparks.  They are, after all responsible for This town ain’t big enough for the both of us, Never turn your back on mother earth, and (Baby, baby) can I invade your country?   I think it is only the Pet Shop Boys who can not only get away with such long titles, but also fit them into a song so they scan.

In the last few years Sparks have, despite being foreign, become elevated to national treasure status after years of being a cult act to some or dimly-remembered 70s novelty act for others who can only remember Ron’s ‘tache on TOTP.   I think this is a good thing.

They never did go away though.  About ten years ago they were playing in London and the queues at the Town & Country were going round the block.  I saw them myself at the end of London’s Pride march one year, probably about 15 years ago and they were great then.

Sparks had a short period in the 70′s when they were in the charts quite a bit, and those songs are still pretty iconic.   Some other bands in the same position who are still going are just trading on those past glories.  They put out new material but it lacks the spark (sorry) of the big hits and all the fans really want is to hear the old hits in concert.  Sparks, on the other hand, continue to be innovative and their new material is catchy and watchable even on its first encounter.  Bless ‘em.

Tags: ·

One Comment so far ↓

  • Dinalt // Mar 23, 2009 at 9:32 pm

    Synchronicity stikes again – was just thinking I need a new artist or two to add to my mix of stuff I have on random play at night can’t say that this song is that great but it did lead me to relisten to some of their older stuff…

    Reply

Leave a Comment

*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture. Click on the picture to hear an audio file of the word.
Click to hear an audio file of the anti-spam word

 

 
Comments Policy:

  • Comments from anyone who is unknown (ie who has not commented before) will go into a moderation queue to be approved. This is to prevent spam/advertising comments and there may be a delay before such comments appear.
  • As far as possible I will not reject moderated comments or delete published comments, even if I disagree with them or if they are criticising me.
  • I intend only to delete/reject comments which are offensive, racist, homophobic, sexist or similar or if they are in any way illegal/libellous.
  • If you think a comment meets those criteria and I might have missed it, let me know.
  • Although technically I am able to edit comments I will not do so unless it is to remove embedded code which is causing problems.
  • If it is ever necessary to edit a comment it will be made clear that it has been edited.
  • Certain words in comments will cause the whole comment to be automatically consigned to the dustbin (Aavaisha, hmmegatest, cognitive, phentermine, xanax, pharmacy, viagra, vicodin, casino, ultram, tamiflu, valium, tramadol, levitra, carisoprodol) for obvious reasons.