17th June 1995 and I had a epiphany: the world would be a better place if we could somehow pump out the music of Sparks into the atmosphere for everybody to hear all day long. Allow me to explain further. I was at Blur’s legendary Mile End gig watching the brothers Mael support Diamond Geezer Albarn and his Mockney mates. They were playing their timeless classic of a single ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us’ at the time of my revelation. I had been drinking heavily all day.

Since then Ron and Russ have released a further four albums prior to Hello Young Lovers. The first three failed to reach the heights of 1974’s Kimono My House, or as music OMH.com refer to it, Kimono My Dragon – the album off which ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For the Both Of Us’ is taken from. But then along came 2002’s Lil’ Beethoven. Low on beats yet heavy on orchestral arrangement, it prompted one fan to declare: "This isn’t an album, it’s an experience."

Lil’Beethoven was also described as a challenging listen and Hello Young Lovers is more of the same. There’s a fine line between listenability and fingers-in-your-ears-provoking din, and the Maels walk it like a tightrope. Or as Russell puts it: "Again, we wanted to steer clear of the pop conventions that for us now sound archaic. We explored other ways to structure songs that aren't simply verse/chorus/bridge. We also explored ways to not always work in standard pop music instrumentation."

Therefore, refrain and echo are used a lot to provide extra texture to lushly produced rock opera. As a result, Hello Young Lovers boasts more layers than your average onion. With issues.

There have been few more guiding bands than Sparks. On ‘Rock, Rock, Rock’, with its spoken rather than sung vocals, you can see why The Times once defined the Mael bros as "prototypical Pet Shop Boys." And on the Zappaesque hilarious ‘(Baby, Baby) Can I Invade Your Country’, whose true subject matter shouldn’t be too hard to work out, they indicate where Electric Six could have ended up if they had taken the right turn rather than one leading to career suicide. Elsewhere, there are hints as to where the likes of System Of A Down and The Darkness were hitherto enlightened.

Not that Sparks aren’t without their influences. They once admitted they wanted to be like The Who. With Hello Young Lovers they have finally achieved their dream, penning a Tommy for the 21st century. What’s more, 11 years on from my epiphany, surely we’ve got the technology now to pipe Sparks music out to the world. And I type this stone-cold sober.
(4½/5)

Release Date: 06 February 2006

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