Number One In Heaven - Sparks

...the last,the sprawling electro epic"The Number One Song in Heaven "in its two distinctive parts revealing the first song you will hear in heaven,a bubbling melodic introduction is then reiterated as a high energy version of exactly the same melody almost making it possible to believe that there are in fact disco,s in heaven.

That a subject as taboo as death can be approached with such humour and irreverance reveals why this ...
...listener from comception to the afterlife with more wit and charm than any priest could manage ,its pointless resignation that we are all going to die make it seem like it might just be fun getting there as we hopelessly try and beat the clock .

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Sparks were(and still are ) experts at combining the perverse and downright odd with precise entertainment ,they had used these elements before but in this instance they travelled several light years in to the future ,so far in fact that this album is still contemporary ,its influence on modern dance has few rivals and its producer Giorgio Moroder can not take all the credit has he had done on those great Donna Summer and Japan records ,the sibling harmony of brothers Ron and Russell Mael would not alow that .

Consisting of only six well chosen tracks, the album unveils itself with a song from the narrative perspective of poised sperm or "Tryouts For The Human Race",the racing ,pulsing backbeat emulating the urgency of climax as they chant "tryouts for the human race we just wanna be someone ",remarkably this went top 40 in 1979.

On the unfeasibly fast "Academy Award Performance "the albums electronic credentials are established and sealed in a frantic repetitive workout,Sparks sounding like two American
oddballs working with an Italian dance icon in a studio in Munich ,now do you see it ???.

The extent to which Sparks took to this new technology is demonstrated expertly on "La Dolde Vita"a celebration of the good life coming across like Gene Kelly in an episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century,with Sparks still sounding like Sparks and Moroder still sounding like Moroder ,only less so .

Then we arrive at the albums commercial foundation stone ,the awesome,innovative and fondly remembered "Beat the Clock",with its lyrical twist based on a kind of too much too young theme,the almost helium pitched Russell Mael racing to the song,s end from the offset as the song seemingly goes on forever or at least six minutes or so.

Most great albums have a track which radically departs from its main body of work,in this case its "My Other Voice "so sublime and strange yet hypnotic and euphoric that you might think that you have died and gone to heaven,its backward symbols intro makes way for an electronic angelic choir which in turn submits to a spaghetti western guitar line before the cherubic Russell sings of the joy of having two voices ,the song makes no sense at all in the real world but in the abstract surrealism of The Mael Brothers /Sparks it all makes complete sense of course ,but you will never hear a song so staggeringly different within the realms of a pop song .

In perverse and awkward Sparks fashion the title track is also the last,the sprawling electro epic"The Number One Song in Heaven "in its two distinctive parts revealing the first song you will hear in heaven,a bubbling melodic introduction is then reiterated as a high energy version of exactly the same melody almost making it possible to believe that there are in fact disco,s in heaven.

That a subject as taboo as death can be approached with such humour and irreverance reveals why this is such a fantastic record its six tracks take the listener from comception to the afterlife with more wit and charm than any priest could manage ,its pointless resignation that we are all going to die make it seem like it might just be fun getting there as we hopelessly try and beat the clock .

 

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