Sparks to Perform Their Entire Catalog Live, Album by Album; A Very Small Portion of the Public is Staggeringly Excited, Another Very Small Portion of the Public Is Making Fun of Them, Everyone Else Is Sorry But Would Really Like Us to Keep it Down

It seems like everyone who has ever heard Sparks in my company either immediately “get it” or wish they could gouge their eardrums out. I love Sparks. Many upstanding, educated people do not. Thurston Moore is on my side, while reports suggest Kim Gordon is not. In spite of the fact that many modern experimental bands would kill for such a crowd response, Sparks has always struck me as a band that deserves a second (or third) look.

It’s probably not intentional (it actually strikes me as one of the less histrionic things the Mael brothers have ever done), but nothing screams “Look at us!” quite like performing all 20 of your studio albums in order over 20 nights.

Halfnelson, Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing, Kimono My House, Proaganda, Indiscreet, Big Beat, Introducing Sparks, No. 1 In Heaven, Terminal Jive, Whomp That Sucker, Angst in My Pants, Outer Space, Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat, Music That You Can Dance To, Interior Design, Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins, Plagiarism, Balls, Lil Beethoven and Hello Young Lovers will be performed in that order at London’s Islington Academy this May and June. The 21st and final night of the band’s residency will see them performing their as-yet-untitled 21st studio album.

A Small Aside: There used to be a video on YouTube of Sparks performing live on some television show hosted by Danny DeVito. They performed “Mickey Mouse” and the performance was preceded by a hilarious, DeVito-flabbergasting monologue about how mice are “usually known for ingesting massive amounts of saccharine for laboratory experiments, but sometimes they manage to break into show business.” The video in question is perfect and can no longer be found. If that video can ever be tracked down, many points will no doubt be scored for the side of me, Thurston Moore, and Sparks.

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