The Smiley Smile Message Board

Coming up this fall, a career retrospective 5 CD box set for the Mael brothers. Comes with a hardbound book - looks top shelf.

http://store.universal-music.co.uk/restofworld/exclusives/sparks-new-music-for-amnesiacs-the-ultimate-collection-box-set/invt/5037300783451 (http://store.universal-music.co.uk/restofworld/exclusives/sparks-new-music-for-amnesiacs-the-ultimate-collection-box-set/invt/5037300783451)

It'll be interesting to determine whether the old Island-era tracks were remastered or what. I'm sure it'll sound stunning at any rate.

Wow, I'm looking forward to this. Sparks is one of my favorite groups and Ron Mael is THE great, underrated composer/artist that nobody knows!

Does that Disc 5 have just 2 songs?

The funniest thing I ever read about Sparks was they had to close down their website because they were bombarded with questions asking if they were really brothers or just a couple of queers.

~

Indiscreet is a perfect album.

Love Indiscreet. Kimono My House to Propaganda to Indiscreet. What a trifecta! They were on a roll. Some of the best music of the 1970's, and not a lot of people in the U.S. heard it! Spread the word.

They also had a tenuous Beach Boys connection. Earl Mankey played guitar for them just pre-Kimono, in their Half Nelson years. Earl of course went on to work with the 'Boys at Brother Recording in Santa Monica.

The 'Introducing Sparks" lp that came out in '77 was recorded in LA, and I know that Earl was involved. Check out their Beach Boys pastiche, "Over the Summer"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qv5JvEmSoc (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qv5JvEmSoc)

Another minor connection.... Ben Benay played guitar on 15 Big Ones AND Introducing Sparks.

Looking at the track list of the box set....it covers the essentials but seems to be a tracklist not that much different from the old 2 CD Rhino retrospective Profile, logically extended to the present.  I mean, if I were getting a Sparks box set, I'd want some real rarities.

Starting with some of the Urban Renewal Project and very early Halfnelson songs.  The songs I've heard from that period are bizarre even by comparison with what came later.  I mean, it'd be great if the accompanying booklet included a photo of Ron the way he looked in late 1968 - when he supposedly did some shows wearing a ten-gallon hat, cowboy boots and a full-scale handlebar mustache - but I'd still want some of the music that goes with that. 

Plus some live tracks from the pre-UK era. I've heard stories that either Earle Mankey or his brother have some tapes.   

From Spark's Official Facebook page:

IN THE WORDS OF SPARKS... SELECTED LYRICS will be released by TamTam Books on October 31st.

The beautiful hardbound book features 76 printed lyrics from throughout Sparks' career, personally chosen by Ron and Russell. The book is illustrated with images of Ron and Russell's hand-written lyrics that showcase their thought-process. In addition, Morrissey Official has written an eloquent and celebratory five-page foreword specially for the book.

"In The Words Of Sparks" offers a new way to focus on Sparks' lyrics, and to appreciate how compelling and unique they are even divorced from the music. The book will also work as a companion piece to the forthcoming Sparks box set, New Music For Amnesiacs - The Ultimate Collection.

The book will be available worldwide via Amazon on October 31st, 2013. However, the books are already en route (we hear) to the distributor and will therefore probably be in stock at your local indie bookstores in the US as early as the beginning of October. So go to an actual bookstore to buy it!

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