Deadsplinter Up! All Night: Sparks!

I hope you all are safe and healthy during this weird and harrowing time. Here’s a little tune about a lady obsessed with safety by Sparks. They’re one of my all time favorite bands. Formed by the Mael brothers, Russell and Ron, almost 50 years ago, they’re probably the most durable cult act in rock history. With almost no hits, they’ve managed to release 23 albums with a 24th coming in May.

Sparks – Suzie Safety

The second song released from the new album has a rather ominous title especially considering current events. Hopefully the boys aren’t toast and album 25 is in their future.

Sparks – I’m Toast

One of the things that has probably kept mainstream success at bay is that Sparks has never really had a consistent sound. They keep changing genres, always seemingly just enough ahead of the curve to miss a trend’s peak. They’ve shuttled from psychedelic to glam rock to disco to new wave to electronica to pop, moving on just as the public has caught up.

This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us (1974)

Number One Song in Heaven (1979)

Edgar Wright has a Sparks documentary coming out I think in the fall. They also wrote a musical that is being turned into a movie directed by Leos Carax of Holy Motors fame called Annette starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard. Pretty amazing for a group most people at least in this country have never heard of.

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36 Comments

  1. an Irish 2 for Tuesday (Yeah, I can’t count…Fuck You I’m Drunk!)

    Scrum – No Rain in the Pub

    if you don’t like my choices…you can Kiss My Irish Ass

  2. The Irish in me has always loved the highly underrated Rory Gallagher.

    In 2003, Rolling Stone omitted Rory from their top 100 guitarists of all-time list, prompting Derek Trucks to say, “Give him my spot!”

    My favorite part of this tune is 4:10 when Rory howls along with his guitar.

  3. The Who – Sparks

    And now…a parade of celebrated Irish performers:

    Delbert McClinton – Desperation

    Don McClean – Vincent

    Robert Finley – You Don’t Have To Do Right

    Stacie Collins – It Ain’t Love

    Van Morrison – Into The Mystic

      • Met him once when he appeared on a client’s radio show. Very down to earth and cool guy.

        Saw him sit in a couple of times at clubs. Once with Levon Helm’s band The Barnburners and once with Jimmie Vaughan. The Jimmie Vaughan set was funny/sad because Delbert gets called up to do a tune and he forgets that he’s not 21 anymore. He tries to jump up onto the stage and totally bites his ass. He was fine, other than embarrassed, took the stairs and wowed the crowd.

        • I regret never having seen Levon with The Barnburners. I saw The Band, minus Robertson, a few times. And Danko once on a solo tour, but I love the solo stuff Levon was doing in the last few years of his life. The timing was just never right.

          • I saw him at this tiny club called The Sutler in Nashville. Capacity couldn’t have been more than 100 people. Sadly, the club got leveled a few years later, along with the rest of the businesses in the strip so they could build something entirely forgettable. Anyway, one of my former clients called me up one morning and told me to get down to the Sutler at 4:00 because Levon was playing. I said I hadn’t heard anything about it. He said it was because it was a last minute thing and was being promoted entirely by word of mouth. I asked when the show started and he said 8:00. I asked why I should show up four hours early for a show that isn’t being widely promoted. He said I should trust him. So I did, and I’m glad I did because they had to shut the doors by 5:30 or 6:00. It was one of those shows that really sticks with you because there were all these other A-list musicians in the joint who got to sit in with his band and do a few songs here and there. My personal favorite was Lee Roy Parnell getting up to cover Dust My Broom by Elmore James.


  4. A Canada City Staple: The Irish Rovers. Nowadays I would never watch in the 10000 stream entertainaverse but in the 2 channel days of antenna TV I didn’t have much of a choice and watched the family friendly Irish Rovers on CBC.

  5. I’ve always loved Sparks. I saw them live when they were touring behind Number One Song in Heaven. I took what I thought was mescaline and on my way home I got on Lake Shore Drive going the wrong way. I’m not proud of it, but there you are.

  6. This is a local band from over on the St. Paul side of the river, the sound quality’s a bit muddy in the video, but The Tim Malloys ARE a bunch of fun, if you can ever see them live:

    My favorite version of this one (I love the *lyrical* part to the Thin Lizzie version, but I alllllways want the bass lines punched up to *this* level, and because of that, the Lizzie version just feels a bit “hollow” to me);

    And the ‘Jovi for an “Irish Music” theme, because the rhythm Richie uses on the guitar in this one, with all the triplet notes he plays, reminds me of the bodhrains in classical irish music;

    Also, a song that came out my first year of college, by an artist that most of my high school class loved & listened to😉;

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