Stay with it. It’s worth it. Ron and Russell Mael return for their 28th reincarnation as Sparks with MAD!

Release Date: 23rd May 2025

Label: Transgressive Records

Format: CD / Tape / Vinyl / Streaming

SEEMINGLY IMMORTAL

Sparks, the seemingly immortal mid-Atlantic electropop pioneers who everbody loves to pretend they’re not copying, have released a new album. It’s their 28th, depending on how you count 1971’s first foray into the music industry, and that means that the Mael brothers have been making and recording music for 54 years, an impressive feat of stamina by anyone’s measure.

The questions, of course, are whether the new album is any good, whether it attracts new fans and whether current fans will say, “Oh no, not again”. And what does the title mean? Are Sparks mad? Is it a reference to the American satirical comic of the same name? Are they saying that you would be mad to buy it? Let’s find out.

Sparks are a band who have shot to fame more times than you can imagine, only to see that limelight fade just as quickly. They are the undisputed world champions of reinvention, yes, even more so than David Bowie. Is this born out of a wild, creative, inventive nature? Or something more ordinary, the hope that, next time, they’ll get the formula right and earn a star in the musicians hall of fame?

Influenced and Influencing

As for the bands who have copied Sparks? Well, think of a duo with a charismatic lead singer and a mysterious, dour, sometimes whimsical background musician and there you have it. Soft Cell. Erasure. The Pet Shop Boys. Yazoo. Heaven 17. Eurythmics. Sparks – when they copied themselves as a form of artistic expression. Even more bands cite Sparks as a musical influence, or at least an influence in the art of experimentation and breaking out of a musical formula.

Why, then, have Sparks not seen more consistent, widespread success? Perhaps they’re simply ahead of their time. Perhaps the process of reinvention leaves people not knowing what to expect from them. Certainly, each album has its own style, its own principles. You might think of a Sparks album, not as a collection of the latest songs but more like an artist’s phases or periods. Picasso’s cubist period, or Van Gogh’s post-impressionist period, for example.

And here we are at the dawn of Sparks’ MAD! period. Again, what does it mean? And how does it sound?

THE Genesis OF MAD!

Something interesting has happened to Sparks of late. First, their collaboration with Franz Ferdinand which led to the album FFS and the excellent song Johnny Delusional. Second, Edgar Wright made a feature film, ‘The Sparks Brothers’, highlighting their 50-plus year influence on artists as diverse as Red Hot Chili Peppers and “Weird Al” Yankovic. Launched at the Sundance Film Festival, the documentary presented Ron and Russell as the musical analogue of Gilbert and George. Their ability to reinvent themselves is beginning to look like a compulsion to move on from the hope of success, rather than the pursuit of it.

This is all very relevant because, looking back over those preceding albums, Sparks seem to have entered a new period in their art form. Pre-documentary, their music sounded experimental, furtive, even home-made at times. Post-documentary, they seem to have expanded, perhaps drawing influences from other artists. Collaborating with Franz Ferdinand, for example, shifted the sound of Sparks from two guys with a multitrack to a full band. Playing live over the last few years with a consistent band has transformed many of the old favourites in the same way.

MAD! Track By Track

MAD!, to get back to the object of the review, sounds like a child born of greater collaboration, an infusion of other artists and perhaps a conformance to the expectations of a new audience.

We kick off with Do Things My Own Way, a song that has all of that Sparks quirky, hypnotic, relentless drive but, structurally, sounds a lot like The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte. Still, that was a big hit, right? Why change a winning formula?

Next up, JanSport Backpack, a song that epitomises Sparks’ lyrical style of taking snippets of overheard conversations and everyday observations and extrapolating them into a pop song. Sometimes, as is the case with this track, we get exposition. Sometimes not, and more on that later.

Rich Soundscapes

Hit Me Baby is not a Britney Spears cover but a faster paced, heavier, grittier, grungier track. By now, the MAD! period is taking shape. Gone are the Bontempi synths and thin mixes of days gone by, replaced with full, guitar laden, percussive, rich soundscapes.

Running Up A Tab At The Hotel For The Fab is a typical Sparks title – clever, witty and rich in metaphor. In style, it’s Depeche Mode from the vocal reverb to the repetitive heavy synth to the key change. If you took away the vocals, you’d swear it was a DM track. The second aspect of the MAD! period is now revealing itself. The tide has turned. Sparks seem to be incorporating influence from other artists.

My Devotion is a love song with something missing – the twist. Devotion, oddly, turns out to be about love and not about stalking. It doesn’t seem quite right for Sparks to be singing about the actual thing that they’re singing about. What has happened?

Don’t Dog It is a return to the repetitive, staccato style of many past Sparks songs. I Thought I Told You To Stay in the Car is one such example that springs to mind. If only we knew what ‘dogging it’ was then we could perhaps sing along in public without fear of embarrassment.

In Daylight is another love song. Something is definitely going on here. Has one of the brothers found a soul mate? With this track we get clever lyrics too; “Everybody looks great at night, you were impressive in daylight.”

BACK ON HOME TURF

I-405 Rules returns again to Sparks’ home turf of musically fine songs featuring peculiar lyrics about things that generally don’t warrant their own songs. In this case, I-405 is a road in California. Has such a serenade been penned about the A406 North Circular? Probably not. Musically, it sounds a lot like What The Hell Is It This Time? from the 2017 album Hippopotamus.

A Long Red Light is like a great many Sparks songs – an overheard phrase repeated, over and over again before being repeated some more. JanSport Backpack gave us a bit of context but this track? None. It’s a long red light. That’s it. It’s very much in the style of My Baby’s Taking Me Home, a song which divides opinion between, “It’s so clever how they take one phrase and layer it with so many deep and meaningful implications” and “Why does this song only have one line?” Having said that, there’s something very urgent, impatient, frustrating about this track. It belongs on a movie soundtrack rather than an album. Maybe the Maels couldn’t think of any more lyrics, maybe they thought the phrase was so powerful that additional information would simply add clutter. Musically, this is Sparks at their most Mark Rothko.

Telling the Story

Drowned In A Sea Of Tears is a song very reminiscent of Johnny Delusional, building tension, telling a great story, filling your ears with a beautiful production. Most of all, the song makes sense. You know what Russell is singing about. You get the story that Ron is telling. It’s the song most likely to make someone who has never heard of Sparks rush to their favourite streaming app.

A Little Bit Of Light Banter is fun. Very similar, musically, to the lockdown anthem All That with added bounce and jolly camaraderie. It’s a song that you would happily sing in the pub with your pals. Think 500 Miles by The Proclaimers. Take a little Celtic strutting and add a few thousand Sparks fans singing along and you’ve got a sure fire winner for the next tour.

The finale is Lord Have Mercy, another lovely song with some charming composition, great production and a sprinkle of The Beatles’ Hey Jude when it hits the singalong chorus.

And Finally

Let’s return to those opening questions.

Is it any good? Well, it’s like any other Sparks album in that there are a few songs that immediately tick all the boxes and ease you into the other tracks which you might say are a more… acquired taste. They’re growers, not showers, but that’s experimental art for you. You can’t expect to understand it all right away. If you want that, go and listen to something mass produced by AI for the latest manufactured pop group. It’s a mix of “great“, “worth a listen“, “it’s growing on me” and “what the hell?“, like all good Sparks albums.

Does it attract new fans? That, right there, is the problem. Buy this on vinyl or CD and you’re along for the ride. You get the full tour. The immediately catchy songs pull you through and the others complete the Mael vision. The real artist doesn’t give you what you want, they challenge your senses and preconceptions and that takes a bit of getting used to. But the modern listener, flicking through their streaming app, can skip over all of that texture, missing the point entirely. Stay with it, it’s worth it.

Will current fans say, “Oh no, not again.” Probably. And that’s exactly what they’ll love about MAD!

Here’s Drowned In A Sea Of Tears:

See Sparks Live

Sparks are touring again, starting in Japan in June 2025, heading to the UK and then across Europe until July.

Sparks online: Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / YouTube / Bandcamp / Spotify

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