The Sparks Brothers

New film!

https://youtu.be/b3Z0_H4sZcE

Ooohhh...aahhhh...

I imagine it'll go straight to streaming, but that's OK with me. I'm excited! (Note: I am a late convert - basically became a big fan in the last decade or so.)

I interviewed Russell a few years ago, and he was a delight.

that trailer is riddled with celebs whose opinion of Sparks holds no interest for me. I am curious to see the film, but Jason Schwartzmann? Flea? Patton Oswalt? C'mon!

Maybe the idea is to introduce, say, Red Hot Chili Peppers fans, to Sparks? Like, if we throw all these celebs on screen, we’ll get a much bigger audience then just Sparks fans. Maybe they’ll get some new fans. (Even as old fans might say “who cares?”)

Carn't wait!! Don't care about the celebs. just the archival footage is making my brain melt. [and where is that comprehensive video album promised 20 years ago…] Please oh god of DVDs, deliver unto me on this one as I smite the Streaming Demons®!
Here is the trailer

The Sparks Brothers trailer

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2021 09:35AM by Post-Punk Monk.

Just got home from seeing it. Excellent. I hadn't thought I could love the Mael brothers anymore than I already did. And my old buddy DJ Lance Rock was in it, which was a nice surprise.

There was not a very big crowd, but about what one would expect for a documentary about Sparks on a Thursday night in St. Louis. I think there were eight people in attendance - me, my brother, a friend of ours, a friend of that friend, and a couple of couples. It felt like being a member of a small and very exclusive club.

breno Wrote:
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> It felt like being a member of
> a small and very exclusive club.

The experience of being a Sparks fan, in a nutshell.

Though the club over 50 years has gotten a lot bigger. Can't wait to see it. Was hoping we could rent it on the iTunes store but no dice. Yet. Not actually going into a theater any time soon so hopefully one of the art cinemas in town will add this to their streaming.

NPR did a really fun little piece about the making of the documentary. I am not a hugely knowledgeable fan of Sparks musically but I find them fascinating.

.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2021 11:21PM by That One Guy.

That One Guy Wrote:
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> The Washington Post ran a review that was riddled
> with errors and almost staggering in its overall
> ignorance and ineptitude.

What would you expect from anything owned by Jeff Bezos?

i saw a comment on the paper's site that noted one error -- what else did you spot?

.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2021 11:23PM by That One Guy.

Movie reviewers can let huge errors of memory into their notes. Roger Ebert often let lapses so big into his reviews, I often wondered if we were at the same films! In the age of DVD screeners and more, I guess that's only laziness manifesting.

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/21/2021 10:58AM by Post-Punk Monk.

They just announced a tour next year. Info. I've only seen them one the 'Two Hands One Mouth' tour and when they went out as FFS so I'm looking forward to a full band tour.

Dates:
February 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ Walt Disney Concert Hall
February 8 – Los Angeles, CA @ Walt Disney Concert Hall
March 11 – San Francisco, CA @ Warfield Theatre
March 13 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
March 14 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
March 15 – Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre
March 18 – St. Paul, MN @ Fitzgerald Theatre
March 19 – Chicago, IL @ Copernicus Center
March 21 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern
March 22 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
March 24 – Knoxville, TN @ Big Ears Festival
March 25 – Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theatre
March 26 – Washington, DC @ Lincoln Theatre
March 28 – New York, NY @ The Town Hall
March 30 – Boston, MA @ Boch Center Shubert Theatre
April 1 – Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
April 2 – Toronto, ON @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre

I saw them on that tour when they played Fun Fun Fun Fest, and interviewed Russell for it. (He's as charming as you might expect.) But I've never seen a full band show, and it looks like the tour isn't coming anywhere near Austin, alas.

Any chance that anyone here has presale codes?

For DC it is STEADY2022 but I don't know if that will work anywhere else.

That one doesn't work, either in the Fan Club or in the "Maeling List" presale. But I thank you all the same, Heff!

The "Maeling List" pre-sale password is MAELSPARKS

We watched The Sparks Brothers last night. It's a really great documentary, and a ton of fun on its own terms. My wife was a bit mystified at the fact that Sparks didn't blow up in the early days of MTV. Their early '80s sound was a perfect fit for the music channel, and they obviously had visual flair. And they were recording for Atlantic at the time! Yet we didn't recall ever seeing them on MTV, apart from "Cool Places" ... and one could argue that Jane Wiedlin's irresistible presence had something to do with that.

Anyway, the movie is great. And we're both all the more stoked to see Sparks next March.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2021 11:41AM by Delvin.

I barely saw "Music That You Can Dance To" on MTV. That and "Cool Places" seemed to be IT as far as MTV and Sparks. Dammit. I was constantly wondering "where the hell is Sparks on this channel??" For the sake of illumination, here's the rundown of US record labels for the band.

Halfnelson/Sparks - Bearsville
Woofer In Tweeter's Clothing - Bearsville
Kimono My House - Island
Propaganda - Island
Indiscreet - Island
Big Beat - Columbia
Introducing - Columbia
No. 1 In Heaven - Elektra
Terminal Jive - UNRELEASED in USA
Whomp That Sucker - RCA
Angst In My Pants - Atlantic
In Outer Space - Atlantic
Pulling Rabbits Out Of A Hat - Atlantic
Music That You Can Dance To - Curb
Interior Design - Rhino
Gratuitous Sax + Senseless Violins - Logic/BMG
Plagiarism - Oglio
Balls - Oglio
L'il Beethoven - Palm Pictures/Island
Hello Young Lovers - In The Red Recordings
Exotic Creatures Of The Deep - UNRELEASED in USA
The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman - UNRELEASED in USA
Two Hands, One Mouth [live in Europe] - UNRELEASED in USA
Hippopotamus - UNRELEASED in USA
A Steady Drip, Drip Drip - BMG
Annette - OST - UNRELEASED in USA

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2021 11:35AM by Post-Punk Monk.

No kidding. Sparks made more appearances on American Bandstand than on MTV. (I remember seeing them on the show as far back as Propaganda. I can't honestly say I fell in love with them at that point -- being only 12 years old at the time -- but they definitely made an impression on me.)

The disc version (and maybe digital download, but I wouldn't know, as that would be anathema to me) includes a full concert video also directed by Wright (which is excellent, with a setlist covering their entire career) and enough deleted scenes and unused interview clips to extend the runtime of the movie for well over another hour. And even with it now pushing four hours, you still wish the movie was twice as long, just to get to hang out with Ron and Russ some more. They truly may be the most charming and likable characters in the history of rock music.

Buy it.

I will buy it even though I don't have a Blu-Ray! One day that will change. Especially since I retired the CRT this year and went flatscreen so we can stream movies in the theater-free lifestyle.

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/05/2021 07:58PM by Post-Punk Monk.

If you have an Xbox or PS4 or similar some models play blu ray. Just FYI

Really? My daughter has a PS4. That's good to know, thanks.

exciting!

[www.brooklynvegan.com]

Fantastic! I can finally see it.

way too many talking heads, most of them making the same redundant observations. most needless, a few on point, some of them dead wrong.

As a fairly ignorant listening audience, I found the song selection exciting and I learned a lot, but again, I am not a particularly knowledgeable Sparks listener. The live performance segments were very interesting as the band adjusted its sound and approach over the years. Purely in terms of storytelling approaches I found the relentless chronological order somewhat mechanistic, and I wish they had mixed it up a bit more.