R.I.P. James Lowe

Lead singer of The Electric Prunes, and producer behind (most notably) Sparks' A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing. Details here.

I felt kind of bad for him in The Sparks Brothers when he talked about how sure he was that Woofer was going to be a massive hit. Even as weird as the top 40 sometimes got in the early 70s, it's hard to hear anything on that album that wouldn't have been a hard sell to radio, or at least American top 40 radio. Mayyyyybe "Do Re Mi" could've snuck through as a novelty hit. Otherwise, it's hard to imagine "Girl From Germany" rubbing shoulders on the radio with "A Horse With No Name" or "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)."

According to the setlists published online, Sparks are performing "Whippings and Apologies" from Woofer on their current tour, which I would imagine is pretty damn epic live. So of course, the only date on this tour that is at all accessible to me is in Chicago, which would be fine except it's at fucking Riotfest, and there's no way I'm going to waste time going to some damn festival where I'll already be half a mile from the stage before the inevitable yeti decides they simply have to stand 13 inches directly in front of me.

But anyhow, "Whippings and Apologies" has one of the greatest intros in music history, which I suspect kicks every variety of ass imagineable when performed live. I seeth with envy of anyone whose market is lucky enough for Sparks to acknowledge the existence of.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/2025 04:34AM by breno.

The Prunes Live In Stockholm is the one to get.

> The Prunes Live In Stockholm is the one to get.

And lo, another band name is born.

Not to be confused with The Prunes spinoff from the Virgin Prunes.