Well, considering my 'dad' taste in music, it's not often I will get to review a new album. And it doesn't get newer than this...our less than 48 hours! This is Sparks' 24th studio album, and Ron and Russel Mael never fail to impress. Something I love, as you will see across my reviews, are artists who continue to produce new music. I don't like when artists take the greatest hits route and just relive their old songs again and again. No, I like new! And Sparks are the masters of reinvention. They are now producing the best music of their career. Their 21st century period has been the most inventive of their 50 year spanning productivity. And to top it all off, they're very nice guys as well. I had the pleasure of seeing them play live a few years ago in Dublin on their 'Two Hands, One Mouth' tour and it was one of the best, funny shows I was ever at.
Now, to the new album. I have been following the build up to this album in Instagram and have loved the songs they're released so far, and album doesn't disappoint. Like most Sparks albums it's catchy from start to finish. It opens with the instantly likable 'All That' which starts as an acoustic number that build to a satisfying anthem-like conclusion. 'I'm Toast' is darker and heavier, but equally as engrossing. Every song builds on this strong start to a very solid ending to the album. The final four tracks of the album really round things off nicely, with 'iPhone' being my personal favourite of the entire album.
The only criticism I would offer if that the album is a tad too long, and seems to drag a little in the middle which is something I find with a lot of Sparks recent albums. I think that anything over 45 minutes is too long for an album (unless it's a double), and I think the album would have benefited from shaving 9 minutes from its 54 minutes runtime. But, don't take that as an indication that I didn't enjoy it. I've listened to it about 5 times in the last two days, and I think it will be at the top of my playlist for some time to come. I can't see anything else topping this album this year!
High Points: 'All That', 'I'm Toast', 'iPhone', and 'The Existential Threat.'
Low Points: 'Lawnmover' - this just didn't land with me.
Legion rating: A solid 6.29/10
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