On my voyage through all the Sparks albums, some of which I haven’t heard in 20 or 30 years, here is my review of ‘Lil’ Beethoven’.
Wow, what a change.
1. The Rhythm Thief
Statement of intent. The ‘Unh-Tss’ is gone, maybe for good. Instead of drums, other than a timpani here and there, the rhythm is carried almost entirely by the vocals through most of these songs, and I love the way he states that explicitly, really emphasizing the word ‘I’ in ‘I am the rhythm thief’. This is such a well thought out song. I love when the strings all cut out for the wind instruments in the middle. I don’t know if anyone else has ever thought of music like this. 10/10.
2. How do I get to Carnegie Hall
Great piano hooks, and a song built all around an old, dumb joke. It’s so good. I can’t believe how danceable these songs feel, despite the lack of a rhythm section. I find a lot of the songs on this album are little mind movies, where I visualize through them. The album isn’t even that ‘funny’ per se, but it’s so much fun. I love the ‘Bravo!’s. 10/10.
3. What are all these bands so angry about?
Intentionally ugly sounding song I think, with the megaphone effect. Bombastic, funny lyrics, it’s great. 8/10.
4. I Married Myself
Pretty song, I like the Beatles sounding piano, the muted trumpet, and the wistful feel to the funny lyrics. I listen to this album frequently, but listening now and paying close attention, I can’t get over how good it sounds. It sounds like they spent so much money making this album. 10/10.
5. Ride ’em Cowboy
Another good one. I like the piano and harpsichord together, and how panicked the singing feels. The background vocals really drive this song. 9/10.
6. My Baby’s taking Me Home
Such a weird song, the way he slides down into ‘Home’. A little guitar on this song, which works. It’s very hard to rate some of these songs individually. How do you rate something where the only words are ‘My baby’s taking me home’ and a little inspirational poem? 9/10.
7. Your Call’s Very Important to Us
Another joke carried out through an entire song. I always wonder if the lady’s voice is from an actual hold message. There feels like a real tension in this silly song; they keep building it, then releasing it, then building again. 10/10.
8. Ugly Guys with Beautiful Girls
I like Dean Menta’s involvement with Sparks. He’s got the right tone for these songs. This is a great song for me; another one with fairly silly lyrics that are delivered impeccably. The background vocals really make this song. 10/10.
9. Suburban Homeboy
This is probably my least favorite song on the album; it’s a topic that’s been covered a lot of times, though they do it well here. Strangely though, for me it makes the entire album experience better than if it weren’t on here; I think the album needed something like this on it. Just shows that averaging individual songs to get an album rating doesn’t really work. 8/10.
One thing I’m finding I really like about Sparks albums is that they’re not that long. That sounds like I’m saying something mean, but I’m not. They’re all right around 40-50 minutes, which is a really good album length for me, rather than the 75 minutes that lots of albums are these days. It’s hard to not think that this is one of the all-time great albums. Album rates 9.3/10. Next up, ‘Hello Young Lovers’.