Sparks - Exotic Creatures Of The Deep

Mouthwateringly Mael, satisfyingly Sparksian

To someone who dubbed Sparks “musical Marmite” in RC in 2002, Exotic Creatures Of The Deep is another fine example of their crowd-splitting showmanship. As always, a 21st Century Sparks album seems to come after another Mael-aping star pops up. We’ve had the Scissors and Franz already, now we have Mika doing a great Russell to mass acclaim. Sparks’ 21st record shows the youngsters how it is done.

We can now whisper that 2005’s Hello Young Lovers wasn’t as good as we first thought. Aside from some career best-equalling material, the layers of repetition got a bit much in places. Exotic Creatures Of The Deep has something the last two albums haven’t had: genuine pop singles. The buoyant Good Morning and the rocking and wry Lighten Up Morrissey would both make the old-fashioned Top 20. It’s a trifle long, and to these Sparks-loving ears, The Director Never Yelled “Cut” and (She Got Me) Pregnant could easily have been omitted, but the glam of I Can’t Believe That You Would Fall For All The Crap In This Song and Ron’s wordplay on This Is The Renaissance demonstrate, once again, that for a veteran band (a description they would surely detest) moving forward, they are simply without equal.

Lil’ Beethoven Records | tbc

Reviewed by Daryl Easlea
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