Sparks - Hello Young Lovers (2022 Remaster) (Pause Rewind Play)

 

This weekend's debut of Pause Rewind Replay has been really enjoyable. We must return to it again some time. The reaction has been amazing, but I Don't Hear A Single is about new albums and artists and its back to the day job tomorrow. Maybe on another Bank Holiday Weekend?

So to close, a return to my beloved Sparks, probably the band closest to my heart over the past five decades. From being 11 to now hitting 60, they have never let me down, well perhaps once with Pulling Rabbits Out Of A Hat.

This 2006 release was their 20th studio album and their best selling since the 70s. Amazing because Hello Young Lovers is nothing like a lot of their heyday material. Where as now, the Mael Brothers are much closer to those Island Years, here was the continuation of the direction heralded by Lil' Beethoven.

Symphonic at times, minimal at others, orchestral and based on the repetition of multi tracked vocals. Melodic, yet more hypnotic, there is one exception. That is the splendid Waterproof, a song that would sit happily on Indiscreet.

There were more drums and guitar utilised, but not too much. This was never more so on Dick Around which is a song that everyone who listens to gets hooked on. A song that gets mentioned by newcomers as much as This Town Ain't Big Enough. It is a revelation with its Heavy Metal Guitar breakout.

The fondness for Dick Around is probably helped by the fan base which more so than any act of a similar vintage has brought along not one younger generation, but two and the youngest look to the more recent stuff than those Island classics.

Perfume is a strum along that borders on Lounge, Rock Rock Rock is nothing like Rock, it is more classical in soundscape. There's No Such Thing As Aliens is like an expanded Victorian Parlour tune. The Very Next Fight has an overtone of impending doom, madness maybe.

Included as a Bonus Track is the cover of We Are The Clash. Originally on an Uncut Magazine Cover CD of Clash covers, it is absolutely inspired. You can tell what the song is, but it is totally Sparks, nothing like the original as I wish more covers were on the endless compilations.

Also included is a version of (Baby Baby) Can I Invade Your Country? with alternate lyrics. Hello Young Lovers proves that there is nothing wrong with repetition if it is relevant and you know what you are doing. Sparks have a new album out in May. You won't necessarily know the direction of travel, but you do know it will be wonderful.

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