Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
No Result
View All Result
Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
Home Music

Sparks Go MAD! On Latest Album

rmtsa by rmtsa
May 27, 2025
in Music
0
Sparks Go MAD! On Latest Album
74
SHARES
1.2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


You might also like

New Music Friday: The Alchemist & Hit-Boy, Mac Miller, Lil Baby & More

9 Rock + Metal Albums That Would Make SICK Horror Movies

The Nigerian Star Redefining Global R&B

Sparks Go MAD! On Latest Album

Over the course of nearly 30 albums and 54 years, Russell and Ron Mael have had plenty of time to perfect the DNA of a Sparks song. During those multiple decades of songcraft, the Maels have seen tastes change, styles come and go, and despite weathering periods both fecund and fallow in popularity, the septuagenarian brothers have entered their final act riding high. 

New record MAD! is another triumph for the Maels, featuring more of the synth-pop and art rock that has defined much of their 21st century output. Their popularity has been on the rise ever since Edgar Wright’s 2021 documentary The Sparks Brothers ushered in a new generation of fans and now MAD! arrives almost exactly two years after The Girl is Crying in Her Latte dropped, which charted #7 in the U.K. 

More from Spin:

The Gift That Keeps on Giving: Exploring Xmal Deutschland’s 4AD Era

Chelsea Wolfe’s Gothic Heart

Stereolab Disorients the Dream of the ‘90s

Does MAD! feature the darkly humorous lyrics that are hallmarks of Ron’s writing? Check out doozies like “Hit me harder/ Can’t wake up/ Hit me like Tyson/ Still it’s not enough.” Are there more insidious, circular songs that lodge themselves in your head? Just listen to “A Little Bit of Light Banter” one time and you will be singing it for days.

MAD! plays like a sampler of what Sparks does best. Ron, who turns 80 in August, has always been a master of writing songs about cast-off lovers and unrequited romance. (Just check out “Tits” from Indiscreet (1975).) This time around, “JanSport Backpack” is from the perspective of a man who is so used to seeing his girlfriend walk away, he can only view her as a complete entity with that titular accoutrement strapped on her back. Meanwhile, the frenetic “I-405 Rules” is a classically madcap ode to a highway, while the plodding “A Long Red Light” is a complaint against…being stuck at a red traffic light. 

Despite being 76 years old, Russell’s voice is still honey-sweet; his heavenly falsetto matched by new, lower registers on some tracks here. And Ron’s synths can range from stately to nutty to sounding like a harpsichord over the span of just one track. While the synths recede a bit on the guitar-heavy lead single “Do Things My Own Way,” Ron does heavy lifting on songs like “Running Up the Tab at the Hotel for the Fab,” which was likely inspired by Anna Delvey, a woman who posed as a European heiress and infiltrated New York’s socialite scene.

While many of the songs on MAD! are archly funny, tracks like “Drowned in a Sea of Tears,” which explores the perils of suppressing emotion, feel quite sincere for Russell and Ron Mael. Meanwhile, the album-closing “Lord Have Mercy” is a love song, plain and simple, with a singalong chorus.

“Gonna do things my own way,” Russell intones as the album opens. Hasn’t Sparks always done things their own way? MAD! wouldn’t be half as great otherwise.

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.



Source link

Tags: AlbumLatestMadSparks
Share30Tweet19
rmtsa

rmtsa

Recommended For You

New Music Friday: The Alchemist & Hit-Boy, Mac Miller, Lil Baby & More

by rmtsa
October 25, 2025
0
New Music Friday: The Alchemist & Hit-Boy, Mac Miller, Lil Baby & More

New Music Friday is back with a bang! This week is a loaded one thanks to new albums from two of the best producers (and rappers) in the...

Read more

9 Rock + Metal Albums That Would Make SICK Horror Movies

by rmtsa
October 24, 2025
0
9 Rock + Metal Albums That Would Make SICK Horror Movies

There are some rock and metal albums that would make SICK horror movies.Heavy music and horror have a lot of overlapping themes and symbols. Metal bands in particular...

Read more

The Nigerian Star Redefining Global R&B

by rmtsa
October 24, 2025
0
The Nigerian Star Redefining Global R&B

Source: Burak Cingi / Getty Tems — born Temilade Openiyi on June 11, 1995, in Lagos, Nigeria — is a remarkable force in global music today. From advocacy...

Read more

Taylor Swift Scores Another Chart Double

by rmtsa
October 24, 2025
0
Taylor Swift Scores Another Chart Double

Australia’s latest chart week was pitched as a fight of two heavyweights. In one corner, Taylor Swift’s incumbent, The Life Of A Showgirl (via Republic/Universal). And in the...

Read more

Wilco, Billy Bragg To Join Forces Again At Solid Sound

by rmtsa
October 24, 2025
0
Wilco, Billy Bragg To Join Forces Again At Solid Sound

Between 1998 and 2012, Wilco and British troubadour Billy Bragg released three Mermaid Avenue albums inspired by a trunk of unpublished Woody Guthrie lyrics uncovered by his family....

Read more
Next Post
No Charges Filed in Death of Telvin Osborne

No Charges Filed in Death of Telvin Osborne

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Browse by Category

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized

CATEGORIES

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized
No Result
View All Result

Recent News

  • New Music Friday: The Alchemist & Hit-Boy, Mac Miller, Lil Baby & More
  • The Greatest Members of the Doom Patrol, Ranked (By Coolness)
  • What Happened To Stacey On Gen V? EP Explains Her Sudden Disappearance

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In