Introducing Sparks

Introducing Sparks
Studio album by Sparks
Released	October 1977
Recorded	1977
Genre	Glam rock pop
Length	35:58
Label	Columbia (US), CBS (UK)
Producer	Terry Powell, Ron Mael, Russell Mael
Sparks chronology
Big Beat (1976)Big Beat1976 Introducing Sparks (1977) No. 1 in Heaven (1979)No. 1 in Heaven1979
Rear cover
Singles from Introducing Sparks
"Over the Summer" b/w "Forever Young" Released: August 1977 (US)[1] "A Big Surprise" b/w "Forever Young" Released: 30 September 1977 (UK)[2]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]
Robert Christgau	B [4]

Introducing Sparks is the seventh album by the American rock band Sparks, released in 1977.

Release

At the time of its release, Pete Makowski in Sounds suggested that the album was probably the most adventurous musical outing yet from Sparks, suggesting that Ron Mael is one of the most underrated and original lyricists in the galaxy.^[5]. However, the album proved to be a commercial failure, and many other very negative reviews claimed that the band had adopted a new East Coast "American sound" despite the fact that the Mael brothers are indeed Americans. The title is also rather ironic -- Introducing Sparks was not only not their first album, it wasn't even the first for their label, Columbia (it was their second, and last).

Introducing Sparks was no more a success in terms of chart performance than their previous album Big Beat. It did not chart in the UK or US. The singles "Over the Summer" and "A Big Surprise" each backed with "Forever Young" were released singles but failed to gain any significant sales or radio play. For decades the album remained obscure, in part because it remained unavailable on CD until 2007.^[6] However, in recent years the album has enjoyed a certain critical reassessment leading to a very belated appreciation of Introducing Sparks as a much overlooked album. ^[7]

The Mael brothers next would team-up successfully with Giorgio Moroder in 1978 to record a very different album from Introducing Sparks.

Re-release

Apart from its initial release in 1977 Introducing Sparks was unavailable for many years. For a time it was previously the only Sparks album only released on vinyl (though bootlegs were available on CD). This was in part because Columbia Records held the rights, and while they had released Big Beat, that album had been released by Island Records in the UK and they had since taken up the option of re-releasing it in 1994. Therefore, there was little impetus for Columbia to release just one album rather than a number which could benefit the sales of one another like Island had.

Due to its commercial and critical failure, Introducing Sparks faded into obscurity. This was rectified in November 2007, when the album was officially re-released on CD on Sparks own record label; Lil' Beethoven Records. However, the CD was not remastered from the original studio master tapes owned by Sony, but was mastered from a vinyl LP. When the album was later re-released again in Japan on SHM-CD, which is marketed as being a superior sounding CD format, the same vinyl remaster was used.

In 2014, a fan had posted online that they had inadvertently discovered a quadrophonic master tape of 'Introducing Sparks', which revealed a possible early incarnation of the album. The tape contained 8 songs, which included two fully produced unreleased songs ('Kidnap'^[8] and 'Keep Me'^[9]) and excluded three songs from the final album release ('Forever Young', 'Girls On The Brain' and 'Over The Summer'). All songs had countdown intros and cold stops instead of fade outs. Also, the album appeared to be an early mix, as some sounds were either missing from the songs or mixed differently. In the case of the song 'Goofing Off', there is the addition of background conversation opening, closing, and running throughout the song.

Track listing

All tracks written by Ron Mael and Russell Mael.

Personnel

• All songs written by Ron Mael & Russell Mael
• All lyrics ©1977 Ackee Music,Inc. (ASCAP) Used by permission. All rights reserved.
• Lead & Background Vocals: Russell Mael
• Musicians: Ben Benay, Alan Broadbent, David Foster, Ed Greene, Ron Mael, David Paich, Mike Porcaro, Reinie Press, Lee Ritenour, Thom Rotella
• Background Vocals: Tom Bahler, Al Capps, Stan Farber, Jim Haas, Ron Hicklin, Mark Piscitelli, Nick Uhrig
• Recorded at Larrabee Sound, Los Angeles
• Engineer: Lenny Roberts
• Assistant Engineers: Betsy Banghart and Randy Tominaga
• Arranged by Al Capps and Ron Mael
• Mastered at Allen Zentz
• Management: John Hewlett
• Licensed from Island Records Limited, London
• Photography: Bob Seidemann
• Design: John Kehe, Tommy Steele

Release details

References