ladyislingering
retired
Sparks - "No. 1 in Heaven" (1979)
By 1978, brothers Ron and Russell Mael had taken their band, Sparks, through a number of genres, lineups, and locations. At first dabbling with psychedelic experimental rock in the early 70s, they slowly worked their way into the popular glam scene, even experimenting with lush orchestrations and the "big band" sound. Before dipping into classic surf rock, they also experimented with a classic rock sound. Eager for a change of pace, the brothers Mael teamed up with Giorgio Moroder after Ron had been spellbound by Donna Summer's "I Feel Love".
With a new look came a new sound. Sparks were ready to take on electronic music/Italo disco like nobody's business. They came back to Europe from America (after recording their 7th studio album, "Introducing Sparks"). They ditched the band, imported drummer Keith Forsey (bear in mind there are absolutely NO drum machines used on this album), and left the rest to the synthesizers. "No. 1 in Heaven" was recorded through 1978, and released in September of 1979. Its album cover features a woman with a microscope; on the back side the woman's overcoat is pulled open. Don't let the package fool you. This is not a force to be taken lightly.
Side A opens with a seemingly mellow track that begins with a series of single, solitary high-pitched tones for several seconds, and an airy type of sound that cannot be explained. The tones grow greater in frequency, leading into a heavy synthesized bassline.
"Tryouts for the Human Race" is a tongue-in-cheek tune about *****. Russell Mael's high-flying falsetto charms cannot mask how truly filthy this song really is. However, it's a real charmer. Synthesizers galore, steady drums, and Ron Mael's brilliant lyrics. Here are two versions of the song.
Single version (promo video).
Album version (released as a 12" single in a plethora of colours - I have an orange one).
Album version (released as a 12" single in a plethora of colours - I have an orange one).
The album doesn't bother to ease into the next track. It's a hyper onslaught of sounds that will make your head spin. It's the only song on the record that was not co-written by Russell or Giorgio.
"Academy Award Performance" is a light jab at people who wear a million faces for others - a bitter taunting of two-faced bitches that only Ron could write sneaky enough lyrics for. Despite its initial appearance, the track could be considered a filler song, or a sleeper. It was the only song from the album to not be released as a single.
The next track is a little easier to digest.
"La Dolce Vita" (the sweet life) teases the lives of media superstars with lines like "I catch a cold just by looking in your eyes/that's just a hazard in work of this kind". Its lyrical content is more of a spin off the previous song, but the music is entirely different.
It was released on 7" vinyl with "My Other Voice" as its b-side. Unlike the more popular tracks on the album, it was only released on plain black vinyl. These singles are now very difficult to find.
Since "No. 1 in Heaven" is a fairly brief album, this is where side A ends.
Side B opens with a massively popular hit from the Sparks catalogue. It was released on both 7" and 12" vinyl (I have a 12" single in yellow) in several different colours. On the 12" records there is a small comedy skit by Peter Cook, to be heard in the runoff grooves on the picture discs (there is also one on the "Tryouts" 12").
"Beat the Clock" has an awful lot to boast about. Ron Mael could not have asked for a better birthday gift than when the single reached #10 on the charts in August of 1979, and stayed there for six weeks in the UK. Here are two versions of the track:
Single version (promo video).
Long version.
Long version.
One of the most important pieces of this brilliant song happens to be the drums. At this point in music history, they didn't have drum machines to do this work for them. As you listen to the album version of "Beat the Clock" keep in mind that this is all the work of one single, solitary drummer with magnificent skill. The lyrical content tells the story of a man who decides to grow up much too quickly, just for the sake of it.
"My Other Voice" is a hauntingly beautiful piece. It's remarkably moody for a Sparks song. There are hardly any lyrics whatsoever, but there's tons of layering. The song opens and closes the same way. As mentioned before, it was not released as its own single, but only as a B-side for a much more popular song.
Another thing to keep in mind is that auto-tune did not exist at this time in music history. This is all the talent of one man's golden vocal chords.
The album concludes with its title track, which is, for lack of a better word, actually quite heavenly. It was released on both 7" and 12" vinyl, yet again in a bunch of colours (I haven't been able to afford one yet). Unfortunately I cannot find the long version (or, the album version) of this terrific song, so I'll have to leave you with the well-known promo video.
"The Number One Song in Heaven".
In the 90s, Sparks remixed "The Number One Song in Heaven" for their "Plagiarism" album (their own covers of their own songs). It was released yet again as a single and featured the vocal talent of Bronski Beat's Jimmy Somerville.
"Plagiarism" remix.
A little personal input about this album:
I was completely blown away upon first hearing "No. 1 in Heaven". I love disco, and I love electronic music, but I had never heard either of those things properly until I listened through the entirety of this terrific record. It's long been forgotten in the United States, and very few Sparks fans actually praise the album, but anyone with a genuine interest in electronic music should really give this one a shot.
Without allowing my Sparks bias to get in the way of grading this album, I can fairly give it a 9 out of 10 in terms of what it's supposed to be, and not in terms of what it was in contrast of. Given the fact there are only 6 songs on the record and I'd consider only one to be a real "sleeper" I think it's quite a fitting grade.
Personal favourites from this album:
"Tryouts for the Human Race"
"My Other Voice"
Hopefully someone will discover this today, and really enjoy it.
