Brothers Ron and Russell Mael grew up in Pacific Palisades, in west Los Angeles County, California, and both attended UCLA, Ron studying cinema and graphic art and Russell, theatre arts and filmmaking. Detesting the folk music scene, they developed a particular taste for English bands of the time such as the Who, Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd, the Kinks and the Move, which led to their description of themselves as "Anglophiles". Their very first recordings were made in 1967 under the name of Urban Renewal Project, recorded with married couple Fred and Ronna Frank, who were close friends of the Maels at the time. Other members of the band were 16-year old drummer Raymond Clayton and 22-year old Harold Zellman on bass guitar, with Ron on lead guitar and Russell as the singer, as well as playing the tambourine and harmonica. The four songs recorded were pressed on two acetates and have never been released, apart from the track 'Computer Girl', which was featured on a CD included with the Japanese semi-biography from 2006. After the breakup of Urban Renewal Project, the Maels put out a call for a guitar player on their university's bulletin board and Earle Mankey responded, and although Mankey was not a great musician, he turned out to be a real talent in recording techniques, and so they started writing and recording avant-garde-like songs. A demo album was taped in 1969, with the help of Surly Ralph Oswald on bass and John Mendelssohn on drums, and the recording was financed by manager Michael Berns, with a few copies being pressed on vinyl, and once it was housed in a cover designed by Ron, the 'Halfnelson' album was sent to a number of American record companies with an enclosed contract, and the request to sign on the dotted line.
There was no positive response, however, and so Oswald and Mendelssohn were thanked for their services and left the band. Meanwhile, Russell became friends with Miss Christine of the GTOs, and being impressed by the song 'Roger' on the demo album, she advised Russell to send a copy of the album to her friend Todd Rundgren. After hearing the record he decided to fly to Los Angeles to meet Halfnelson, and after the meeting he expressed interest in producing their first album, which was to be named after the band. Through his contacts with Bearsville Records, he managed to get a record deal for the eccentric trio, and with the addition of Earle's brother Jim on bass, and Harley Feinstein on drums, 'Halfnelson' was recorded and released in January 1971, selling just a few hundred copies. In 1972 the band renamed themselves Sparks, being a play on the Marx Brothers, and the 'Halfnelson' album was re-issued as 'Sparks', with 'Wonder Girl' being extracted as a single. Their follow-up album, 'A Woofer In Tweeter's Clothing', led to a tour of the United Kingdom, including a residency at the Marquee Club in London, which gained them a significant cult following, leading them to relocate to England in 1973 with a new manager, John Hewlett, founder of John's Children. He managed to get them a deal with Island Records, thanks in part to the exposure garnered by their BBC2 Whistle Test performance, and an ad in music weekly Melody Maker provided them with a bass player in Martin Gordon, joining Adrian Fisher on guitar and Norman "Dinky" Diamond on drums. This line-up recorded their third album 'Kimono My House' in 1974, and the No. 2 hit single 'This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both of Us' proved to be their breakthrough in the UK. They became a UK teen sensation, appearing on the cover of Melody Maker, Record Mirror and countless other pop magazines in the UK and Europe, and further hits singles 'Amateur Hour' and 'Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth' led to appearances on the BBC's flagship music show Top of the Pops, with Russell's hyperactive movements being in sharp contrast to Ron's expressionless squint and Charlie Chaplin-esque moustache. Gordon and Fisher were later replaced by Trevor White and Ian Hampton, and in 1975, the revised band returned to the US to tour supporting the 'Kimono My House' album, and it's follow-up 'Propaganda', and they soon gained a strong cult following in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
'Indiscreet' appeared in 1975, and 'Looks, Looks, Looks' was another big hit for them. In 1976 the Maels returned home to Los Angeles, and concerned that their music may have become stale, they adopted a more "American" sound, and recorded 'Big Beat' with Rupert Holmes and Jeffrey Lesser on production. None of the singles pulled from this album were as successful as their earlier ones, and so for 1977's 'Introducing Sparks' they produced the record themselves, with help from Terry Powell. In 1976, Sparks made one of their first forays into the movie business, making a cameo appearance in the disaster-suspense film 'Rollercoaster', after Kiss had turned down the roles, and they performed their songs 'Fill 'Er Up' and 'Big Boy'. By 1977 the brothers found themselves at a crossroads, as they had cut ties with Hewlett and had grown tired of recording within a traditional rock band framework. In a conversation with a German journalist, they expressed their admiration for Giorgio Moroder, a pioneer of electronic disco and pop music, and as Moroder happened to be a friend of the journalist, he was able to connect the brothers with the Italian producer, who produced their next album, 'No. 1 In Heaven'. This was more electronic and synthesizer-based than their previous efforts, and it would come to redefine Sparks' sound, and challenge the concept of what is meant by a band. It spawned two singles which reached the top-fifteen of the UK chart, with 'The Number One Song In Heaven' and 'Beat The Clock' introducing fans to their new sound. Their next album appeared in 1980, and 'Terminal Jive' produced a hit single in France with 'When I'm With You', which led to the Maels staying in the country for a year promoting the album, during which Russell became conversationally fluent in French.
Finding the electronic equipment that they had adopted for their new sound too cumbersome for touring, the band returned to the more conventional band format for their next three releases, although they did not eschew synthesizers entirely. 'Whomp That Sucker' was released in 1981, followed by 'Angst In My Pants' in 1982, and 'In Outer Space' the following year. This last album gave them a US top 50 hit single when 'Cool Places' was released from it, being a collaboration with the Go-Go's rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Jane Wiedlin, who was a dedicated fan of the band, and who at one time ran her own Sparks fan club. In 1984, the Maels wrote and performed several original songs on the soundtrack for the black comedy teen film 'Bad Manners' (aka: 'Growing Pains'), including the film's title song 'Bad Manners', and it was around this time that Sparks stopped including otherwise unheard songs on the flips of their singles, going with remixes of album tracks instead, and so this collection of rare b-sides finishes in 1983 with the stand-alone single 'Modesty Plays'. The band continued to release albums throughout the 90's, right up to the early 2010's, to a generally positive reception, but it was their 23rd studio album 'Hippopotamus', which was released in September 2017, which brought then back into the public eye, with its universal critical and commercial success, peaking at number 7 in the UK Albums Chart, and heralding a return to form for this innovative band, which has continued to the present day, with their 2020 album 'A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip' garnering similar reviews. For now, we can revel in their work from the early 70's to the early 80's, when they were at the peak of their success.
Track listing
01 Barbecutie (b-side of 'This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us' 1974)
02 Lost And Found (b-side of 'Amateur Hour' 1974)
03 Alabamy Right (b-side of 'Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth' 1974)
04 Marry Me (b-side of 'Something For The Girl With Everything' 1975)
05 Profile (b-side of 'Get In The Swing' 1975)
06 The Wedding Of Jacqueline Kennedy To Russell Mael (previously unreleased 1975)
07 I Want To Hold Your Hand (single 1976)
08 England (b-side of 'I Want To Hold Your Hand')
09 Gone With The Wind (previously unreleased 1976)
10 Intrusion/Confusion (previously unreleased 1976)
11 Looks Aren't Everything (previously unreleased 1976)
12 Tearing The Place Apart (previously unreleased 1976)
13 Untitled (b-side of 'Beat The Clock' 1979)
14 Sports (b-side of 'Cool Places' 1983)
15 Modesty Plays (single 1983)
16 Angst In My Pants (b-side of 'Modesty Plays')
