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 ‘In Outer Space’.
This isn’t my favorite album. Sorry, I know people are going to yell at me. I did like it more than I expected to, though. The album does sound great, which helps
1. Cool Places
Their big U.S. hit. I’ve never been a huge fan to be honest. It has the problem that a lot of duets do, in that to get the song in the best key for one of the singers, it takes it out for the other. It’s not as big of a deal here as on a lot of other songs. What am I supposed to take from this song? They want to go to go to cool places. They want to go, they want to go, they want to go, they want to go. There’s a little bit of something in the second verse where there may be some insecurity in the protagonists. They don’t always get in. I’m reaching here. It does sound great. 6/10
2. Popularity
It’s almost exactly the same song as the last one, subject-wise. I like this one more. The vocals are a little more soaring. I don’t know. 7/10 I guess. I contemplated using decimal places in the score.
3. Prayin’ for a Party
Trying for an anthemic kind of song here. It sort of succeeds. It’s got the 4/4 backbeat, cover-me-charge chords on the guitar. Some of the background vocals kind of annoy me, but I get what they’re doing. There’s just not a lot here for me to chew on. Maybe in a club in 1983 this was great, but there’s not much for me to just listen to. The song is short, and almost half of it is just the chorus over and over again, and a good part of the rest is just ‘mmm-mm-mm-mm-mmm-mmmm-mmm (Come on Lord!)’. 5/10.
4. All you ever think about is Sex
I like this song quite a bit. It feels very Depeche Mode-y to me, though I’m not that acquainted with their catalog. Nice pulsing synth beat to it, good instrumentation, and a good vocal delivery. The verses have a nice driving feel to them, and a good chorus. It’s another song that’s half chorus, but in a song like this, and with a good chorus it doesn’t seem to as big of a deal as the last song. 8/10.
5. Please Baby Please
It’s got a nice energy, and kind of a sleazy, snakey feel to the whole thing. Nice guitar tone, good vocals. It reminds me of a Human League song. 7/10.
6. Rockin’ Girls
I love Russel’s voice. He’s got the falsetto of course, but he’s SO good at getting in and out of it. A little more of a ‘conventional’ pop song. I’m pretty uncomfortable with people their age at the time singing this song. Why is he after a 17 year old? ‘C’mon baby, please stay 17’, etc. I like the song instrumentally, but I can’t give it a good rating. 5/10.
7. I wish I looked a little Better
It’s fine I guess. It feels like filler. There’s some funny lyrics in here. I’ve never been very fond of one chord songs, and this is the one-chordiest. 6/10.
8. Lucky Me, Lucky You
The other duet. I like this one more than ‘Cool Places’. It has such a nice dreamy feel. Which of course the lyrics are, but they came up with nice dreamy music to set that tone. I don’t know much about Jane Wiedlin. Did she sing any lead with the Go-Gos? She has a nice voice. 7/10
9. A Fun bunch of Guys from Outer Space
I don’t know what to say about this. Did they watch that ‘V’ mini-series and decide to write this? I don’t like it much. 5/10.
10. Dance Godammit
It’s almost the same tempo and key as ‘Safety Dance’. I think it may be a half step higher, but it’s in the ballpark. As the eighth-notes come in on the keyboard, I just keep thinking ‘You can dance if you want to…you can leave your friends behind’. The lyrics are pretty funny. I like this song pretty well. Probably 6/10.
This gives the album a score of 6.2/10. Next up, Pulling Rabbits out of a Hat.