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 ‘Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins’.
1. Gratuitous Sax
A ‘Propaganda’-like vocal piece with some (I think) keyboard driven sax at the end. I’m not going to rate it, it’s barely a song, but I do enjoy it. I think it’s their way of setting up the album; here’s an album that’s going to be just tons of overlaid vocals and synthesizer, with no conventional instruments at all.
2. When do I get to sing ‘My Way’
Considerable time had gone by since ‘Interior Design’ when this album came out, but listening to them back-to-back it’s almost jarring how much more modern this album sounds. Techno is not really my thing, and this whole album is what one of my friends calls ‘UNh-Tsss UNh-Tsss’ music, but it all is produced nicely, and ties together well. I like this song. I like they way the protagonist wants to feel both what Sinatra and Syd Vicious felt, two people that probably felt very different things. 9/10.
3. (When I Kiss You) I hear Charlie Parker Playing
Another good one. I like the rap-like vocals going into the sung chorus, and the choice of Charlie Parker in the subject. 7/10.
4. Frankly, Scarlett, I Don’t Give a Damn
Bizarre, bizarre song. I don’t understand some of the choices, like the ‘robot’ voice of ‘Buildings were burning to the right of us’. It’s all strangely hypnotic and compelling though. The repetitiveness of the music really works. My impression of this album is that the band was beginning to figure out what they wanted to become, after several abums of chasing. 8/10.
5. I Thought I Told You to Wait in the Car
It’s really the same as the song before. The overblown orchestration over these lyrics is hysterical. It’s an 8/10, but I like this one more than ‘Frankly, Scarlett’.
6. Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil
Another hypno-techno song, more dreamy than the two previous. I like the back and forth vocals in the chorus. It’s going to get even harder on some of the subsequent albums, but it’s very hard to think of these as individual songs. 8/10
7. Now That I Own the BBC
Very funny lyrics. More melodic than the other songs other than ‘My Way’, but the melody isn’t as good. Some of the techno choices grate a little bit too, the super-tinny sounding snare crescendo, and some of the pops, etc. It’s fine. 6/10.
8. Tsui Hark
Another weird, weird ambient music kind of song. I don’t really know what to say about it, but it’s repetiveness and hypnotic quality sucks you in. It feels like some weird subliminal message. Now I want to watch ‘Once upon a time in China’. 6/10.
9. The Ghost of Liberace
I can’t get over how strange this album is 🙂 Weird song, what is it they say about starting something with ‘It was a dark and stormy night’? Vaguely eastern sounding chorus. 6/10
10. Let’s Go Surfing
I like this song quite a bit. Great imagery, and the again over the top orchestration really works for the song. 8/10.
11. Senseless Violins
It’s hardly a song, but like the first one, I like it. It’s a fun closer.
I feel like I could listen to this again and rate everything differently. Album rates 7.3/10. Next up, Balls.