Introducing Sparks

By calling this 1977 release Introducing Sparks, the Mael siblings were being ironic — this was their seventh album, and they were famous in England even though they only had a small following in their own country. The second of two albums that Sparks recorded for Columbia, Introducing Sparks gained a reputation for being its least essential album of the 1970s. To be sure, this LP isn't in a class with either Big Beat (Sparks' previous Columbia release) or Island gems such as Propaganda and Kimono My House. But it isn't a bad album either — uneven and imperfect, yes, but generally decent. Some of the album's more memorable songs range from the opener "A Big Surprise" and the Beach Boys-minded "Over the Summer" (a '60s-like ode to summer love) to the Greek-influenced "Goofing Off." On the hilarious "Occupation," Sparks outlines various career options and has fun lampooning all of them — for example, Russell Mael says of athletes: "We athletes run around and round/We moan and groan and hit the ground/And when we get to 35/We sell cosmetics and survive." Although not recommended to casual listeners, Introducing Sparks has more plusses than minuses and is worth hearing if you're a hardcore Sparks aficionado.