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 ‘The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman’.
I’m not going to rate individual tracks on this album.
On the one hand, I’m glad the band by this time had come to a place where they would do exactly as they pleased, and not try to follow trends as (in my opinion) they were doing through much of the 80s. On the other hand, it’s a little frustrating that they seemed to have been building some momentum with their last three albums. I was hearing more and more about the band in general, and then they came out with this, which is an album that just not many people are going to like. Oh well, as I said they are doing what they want now, and good on them for that.
A lot of the music on this album is just wonderful, right from the very first track. I listened to this on a long car ride this time (only I think the third time I’ve listened to the whole thing) thinking that would be a good way to experience it. Something to draw me into a story during the drive. Unfortunately, and the problem with this album for me is, I never got drawn in. I don’t find the story all that compelling, there’s not a lot of humor on here for me, and Ron does some of the singing. I try to keep in mind that I’m listening to at least a partial translation, and humor just doesn’t always come across when things are translated. Maybe if I were Swedish, I’d be laughing so hard I was spitting up lingonberries or something, but here, not so much. I just don’t care about what’s happening and to whom.
Having said all that, if there were no vocals, I think this would be a stunning soundtrack, and it would rate at least a couple of points higher for me. I’d actually really like to hear it that way. I remember at the time there was talk of an actual movie, which may have been interesting, but it was a long time ago now, so I’m guessing that’s not going to happen.
I have no idea how to rate this. There’s nothing on here I really dislike, so it has to be at least a 5/10. I kind of like the song when they get to the commissary, and the one where Bergman starts to ask God for help. And I like all the music. I’m going to say it’s a 6/10 for me. I can’t rate it higher than I did ‘In Outer Space’. Next up, ‘FFS’.