logo
Sparks, Mad!, review: eccentric brilliance with pearls of wisdom

Sparks, Mad!, review: eccentric brilliance with pearls of wisdom

Telegraph23-05-2025
Since they first properly struck gold with 1974's piano-pounding art-glam romp, This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us, Ron and Russell Mael's 'band', Sparks (its personnel has long since consisted of just the two of them), has been an ever-present gold standard for left-field pop – perhaps the world's most successful cult act.
High points along the way have included 1979's Giorgio Moroder -produced New Wave/disco hit machine No.1 In Heaven and 1994's synth-pop primer Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins, but perhaps the most extraordinary twist in the tale of this fraternal odd couple from Los Angeles, ever beloved in the UK, is that, now well into their late 70s, their last three non-conceptual studio albums – Hippopotamus (2017), A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip (2020) and 0223's The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte (2023) – all by some remarkable coincidence hit Number Seven on the British charts.
They've remained furiously productive since the millennium, managing to squeeze in 2015's collaborative record with superfans Franz Ferdinand ('FFS'), a radio opera (2009's The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman), a film musical (2021's Annette, which won them a César from Best Original Score), but this 28th studio album in their labyrinthine career surely delivers what most Sparks fans want from them most – a barrage of the kind of eccentric yet immediately connective synth-pop bangers, which only Chaplin-moustached keyboard maestro Ron Mael, now 79, seems capable of writing, and which Russell, 76, his sky-scraping high notes miraculously uneroded by passing time, delivers with characteristic theatrical gusto.
If Mael Sr majors in operatic pop ditties with laugh-out-loud librettos of interpersonal observation and pop-cultural referencing, Mad! is veritably bulging at the seams with them. It opens with the pulsing electro assertion of Do Things My Own Way, a new anthem, perhaps, for Sparks's pathological idiosyncrasy.
Further on, the glacially product-placing JanSport Backpack hilariously satirises our contemporary fixation with brand identity, often in preference over what's actually going on around us, or to us. More laughs beckon on Running Up A Tab At The Hotel For The Fab (oh, that craving to spend indiscriminately at a pricey boutique establishment!). Best of all, maybe, My Devotion offers a wonderfully goofy snapshot of unrequited love bordering on obsession: 'my devotion to you is all that I do,' gamely chirps Russell, over infectiously tootling synth lines, 'Got your name written on my shoe, and I'm thinkin' of getting' a tattoo!' He goes on, a tad creepily if he didn't sound so genuinely smitten: 'Through all the years/Rent in arrears/You never cared/Can't help but stare'!
More relationship insecurity surfaces on In Daylight, which serves up the wisdom, doubtless accrued beneath unforgiving LA sunshine, 'Everybody looks great at night/Ain't no trick to look great at night', before our narrator approaches a radiant apparition to deliver the ultimate LA compliment, 'You were impressive in day light, I saw you/Sunlight oppressive, but it's working for you', then succumbs to a dose of 'we are not worthy': 'I can't approach you since daylight reveals me/So I'll just wait for the night to conceal me'.
Like many of pop's greatest songsmiths, Ron Mael has a rare talent for writing lyrics which you instantly imagine applying or indeed singing in real-life conversations with fellow Mad! enthusiasts. Over circling psychodrama strings-synth, A Long Red Light, for example, brilliantly captures the stress of awaiting a change from those traffic signals which seem to be on a far more patient time-loop than all the others around town. I can just imagine singing this one to myself, the next time I'm stopped at a particular junction on my route back from Central London.
For all their lifelong weirdness, Sparks are always real enough to invade your daily reality, as all great pop does, in singalongs of collectively amusing phraseology, set to memorable melodies. As such, another Number Seven, or higher, surely awaits.
Best New Songs
By Poppie Platt
Cerrone x Christine and the Queens, Catching Feelings
Following their performance at last summer's Paris Olympics, French drummer Cerrone and polymath Christine and the Queens reunite for a funky disco banger with emotional depth at its heart, as Christine (real name Rahim Redcar) sings: 'Let me be your man / Don't be afraid / Of catching feelings for me'.
I-dle, Good Thing
The superstar K-pop quintet return with a new name (they've dropped the precursory G) but more of the same sharply tailored, irresistibly catchy bubblegum pop.
Robbie Williams featuring Tony Iommi, Rocket
Perhaps the strangest duet of the year so far – in a good way. Pop's favourite bad boy teams up with the Black Sabbath axe-shredder for an energetic pop-punk anthem as far removed as his saccharine hits of yesteryear (Candy, here's looking at you) as you can imagine. Maybe Robbie will even show up as a surprise guest at July's mega-star Sabbath gig at Villa Park.
Suede, Disintegrate
The Britpop staples will take over the Southbank Centre with four special gigs in the autumn, showcasing tracks from their forthcoming tenth album, Antidepressants. Disintegrate offers a tantalising first taste of what to expect: Brett Anderson on typically sardonic form, howling about modern anxieties and disillusionment ('You hold your love like a weapon in your hand / You used to be alone but you're not alone / Watching from the outside') against a backdrop of moody riffs.
Taylor Swift - Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor's Version)
The biggest teaser yet for the album that will soon break the internet – the rerecording of Swift's 2017 revenge-epic Reputation – appeared in the most recent episode of Channel 4's The Handmaids Tale. Elisabeth Moss's quest to bring down Gilead makes Swift's battle with Kanye Swift (the original inspiration for Reputation) look tame, so it's a fitting union.
White Lies, Nothing on Me
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Kate Nash showcases her sleazy side: best podcasts of the week
Kate Nash showcases her sleazy side: best podcasts of the week

The Guardian

time15 minutes ago

  • The Guardian

Kate Nash showcases her sleazy side: best podcasts of the week

Dig out the American Apparel dress, liquid eyeliner and Wayfarer sunglasses – the late 00s' indie sleaze movement is being celebrated for all its messy glory. Kate Nash – an OG sleazer – hosts this nostalgic new series about the scene, speaking to the likes of the Cribs' Ryan and Gary Jarman, Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos and Razorlight's Johnny Borrell. It's enough to make you want to cut in a badly judged chunky fringe again. Hollie Richardson BBC Sounds, available from Monday 28 July This honest, conversational podcast breaks down taboos by talking to people about the loved ones they've lost. Host Jason Davidson is a social worker and in the latest episode Michael Palin (pictured right) talks to him about trying to come to terms with his wife's death – and why he feels it almost impossible to say 'I' instead of 'we'. It's a thoughtful look at his grief. Alexi Duggins Widely available, episodes weekly This enjoyably chatty look at the everyday products we take for granted combines history with product design. It opens with a look at the 'fabulous innovation' of the tin opener, running from how it wasn't created until 100 years after food tins were invented to its potential future: a luxury item, like 'the craft beer' of can-opening. AD Widely available, episodes weekly Keir Starmer may be in power now (and enjoying varying levels of success, depending on your views), but what of the Labour leaders of old? Izzy Conn of the University of London digs deep into the red team in this comprehensive pod, which begins after the second world war with Clement Attlee and the beginnings of the welfare state. Hannah J Davies Widely available, episodes weekly Sign up to What's On Get the best TV reviews, news and features in your inbox every Monday after newsletter promotion Widely available, episodes weekly This new podcast from Tortoise Investigates is about mothers who – like Australia's Kathleen Folbigg, whose case sets off this series – have been accused of murdering their children, and whether the experts are always right. The content is highly charged, but the questions it poses around the use of statistics in a court of law feel vital. HJD Widely available, episodes weekly

‘They're rowdy. They're vibing. I rip my shirt off': the exploding career of Hanumankind, India's hottest rapper
‘They're rowdy. They're vibing. I rip my shirt off': the exploding career of Hanumankind, India's hottest rapper

The Guardian

time15 minutes ago

  • The Guardian

‘They're rowdy. They're vibing. I rip my shirt off': the exploding career of Hanumankind, India's hottest rapper

Two weeks ago, halfway through his first ever UK show, Hanumankind instructed the crowd to mimic him by hopping to the right then to the left, back and forth, in unison. But the rapper from India slipped and fell, limping to the end of the gig in evident pain, kept upright by his DJ and inspired by the audience's singalong familiarity with his catalogue. 'We were ready to have a good time,' he sheepishly grins from an armchair at his record label's offices three days later. It turns out he has torn a ligament. 'It was a battle of internal turmoil. The show was like a fifth of what it was meant to be, but I gave it my all. London has a beautiful energy which gave me strength.' Even without the leg injury, the 32-year-old star, who was born Sooraj Cherukat, has reached a testing threshold in his short, explosive career. His tracks Big Dawgs and Run It Up, helped by action-movie music videos, have made him one of the most talked-about MCs in the world. A$AP Rocky and Fred Again are among his recent collaborators. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi even invited Cherukat to perform at an event in New York last September. But as a rare south Asian face in globally popular rap, he feels a certain responsibility. 'The past year has been hard,' he says. 'I'm trying to navigate through it.' What's more, although he expresses a deep pride about life in India, 'a lot of things are off. There is a mob mentality. There's a lot of divisiveness because of religion, background, caste. It doesn't sit well with me. I'm in a unique space to change the way people can think within my country.' Born in Malappuram, Kerala, which he remembers as a 'green, beautiful environment', Cherukat spent his childhood following his father's work abroad, from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia to Britain. 'We'd traverse different countries and I'd sing songs in whatever language I was picking up,' he says. 'Wherever I went, I had to get involved and be ready to leave. I learned to connect with people. That's why the power of the word is so important to me.' At the age of 10, he landed in Houston, Texas, and found a rare stability. It was the early 2000s and the city was an engine room for rap innovation. Cherukat's set his accent to a southern drawl. Already a fan of heavy metal – which makes sense given his grungy, rockstar leanings today – he became hooked on the local chopped-and-screwed subgenre pioneered by DJ Screw, Three 6 Mafia and Project Pat. In his teens he was 'burning CDs full of beats, riding around smoking blunts and hitting hard freestyles'. He returned to south India just before hitting 20. 'The only place I had roots,' he says. He completed a university degree in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, before working a corporate job in the tech hub of Bengaluru. Seeing rap as 'a party thing, a way to de-stress and stay connected to the art form', he performed at open-mic nights, softening his US accent and perfecting his stage show for an Indian audience. 'Friends would come to watch and be like, 'Dude, you're not bad. You should lock in.'' So he did. At the end of 2019, Cherukat played his first festival: NH7 Weekender in Pune, Maharashtra. The crowd went wild, quickly morphing from a small handful into a packed moshpit. 'They're rowdy and they're fucking vibing,' he says. 'I rip my shirt off. I'm like, 'OK, I can do this!'' He quit his job and began plotting his next move, filling notebooks with lyrics throughout the pandemic. These are a blend of cheek and grit delivered with a flow that keeps respawning at different speeds and scales. Soon, Cherukat was signed by Def Jam India. Part of a movement to reject the remnants of British colonialism in favour of local expression, the proud, rebellious patchwork of Indian hip-hop encompasses the vast country's 'hundreds of languages, each as deeply rooted as the next', Cherukat explains. 'Someone who speaks Hindi or another regional language will give you a vast amount of depth and detail in what they're doing.' His decision to rap mostly in English therefore came with risks of being perceived as inauthentic at home, but it has certainly helped his global crossover. Besides, he has found other ways to communicate a homegrown aesthetic. Run It Up marches to the beat of Keralan chenda drums, while its video features martial artists from disparate corners of India. Cherukat performed it with a band of drummers at Coachella festival, his debut US gig. 'Most people don't know what is going on in my country,' he says. 'Maybe I can open up some doors, open up some eyes, break out of these bubbles and stereotypes.' Although not religious, Cherukat has a divine figure woven into his performing name. Over recent years, Hanuman, the simian-headed Hindu god of strength and devotion, has been employed everywhere from the car stickers of hypermasculine Indian nationalism to the bloody, satirical critique of Dev Patel's 2024 thriller, Monkey Man. Where does Hanumankind fit into this: traditionalist or progressive? 'I need to make music for myself first,' he says simply. 'But when you have a platform, you can bring about change through your words and actions.' Some fans were disappointed that he accepted the New York invitation from Modi – whose Hindu nationalist government has been accused of democratic backsliding and Islamophobia. Cherukat has defended his appearance, describing it as 'nothing political … We were called to represent the nation and we did that.' But today he claims his 'political ideology is pretty clear' to anyone who has been following his career. In one of his earliest singles, 2020's Catharsis, he rails against systemic corruption, police brutality and armed suppression of protest. 'I'm not just trying to speak to people who already agree with me,' he says. 'I'm trying to give people who are otherwise not going to be listening a chance to be like, 'OK, there is some logic to what he's saying.'' Monsoon Season, his new mixtape, is just out. It features the mellow likes of Holiday – performed on the massively popular YouTube series Colors – as well as raucous collaborations with US rap luminaries Denzel Curry and Maxo Kream. It is less a narrative album, more a compilation, with songs gathered over the years before the spotlight shone on him. 'I have a lot of memories of coming into Kerala during the monsoon,' says Cherukat of the project's name. 'You can have days where things are absolutely reckless, flooded, out of control. There can be days where you get introspective and think about life. There are days where you love the rain: it feels good, there's that smell in the air when it hits the mud, the soil, the flowers. Your senses are heightened. You can fall in love with that. Or it can ruin all your plans and you hate it.' Cherukat's knee will take some time to recover before he embarks on a North American tour later this year. It's clear he needs a break: not just to heal, but to continue processing fame, adapt to its changes and return to the studio. 'I'm still adjusting,' he says. 'The attention, the conversation, the responsibility, the lifestyle, all this shit. Things have been a little haywire. So I just want to go back to the source – and make music.' Monsoon Season is out now on Capitol Records/Def Jam India

Sacha Baron Cohen, 53, admits to using Ozempic to help him achieve his revenge body for new Marvel role
Sacha Baron Cohen, 53, admits to using Ozempic to help him achieve his revenge body for new Marvel role

Daily Mail​

timean hour ago

  • Daily Mail​

Sacha Baron Cohen, 53, admits to using Ozempic to help him achieve his revenge body for new Marvel role

Sacha Baron Cohen claimed he used Ozempic to help him achieve his ripped physique. The actor, 53, who is starring as Marvel's newest supervillain Mephisto, underwent an incredible body transformation for his role, which he revealed this week. As he showed off his chiselled abs in the new issue of Men's Fitness UK, Sacha, who split with Isla Fisher in 2023, after more than two decades together, re-shared the photoshoot to his Instagram Story and got candid about how he achieved his results. He wrote: 'Some celebs use Ozempic, some use private chefs, some use personal trainers. I did all three.' Sacha's representatives later insisted to MailOnline that the Borat star was 'only joking' and his new buff physique 'all down to hard work'. In a second post, Sacha added: 'This is not AI. I really am egotistical enough to do this. Debuting my new character. Middle aged man who replaced beer with protein shakes.' Sacha then thanked his personal trainer, writing: 'Thanks @theangrytrainer for doing the unthinkable - putting up with me for 25 minutes a day.' He revealed he had just three weeks to get into superhero shape, putting in the 'hard work' ready to portray Mephisto, a devil-like figure who makes Faustian bargains. Speaking to Men's Fitness UK, the actor revealed he turned to Matthew McConaughey to get the phone number of celebrity trainer Alfonso Moretti, who has well-established reputation for transforming physiques on impossible deadlines. Sacha went on to have a FaceTime meeting with Alfonso, who got him to strip down to his underwear during their first chat. Due to the short time frame and Alfonso workout methods, Sacha was tasked with being 'consistent' by doing '100 push ups a day'. Sacha's incredible transformation was far from marathon workouts and extreme dieting, as they concentrated on short workouts and a diet high in fibre and protein as well as low in sugar. He said: '25-minute workouts that were sustainable. Even while filming, the workouts happened. In the past, I would've thought you needed hour-long sessions'. He admitted at the beginning of the regime he 'had the core strength of an arthritic jellyfish... but the short sessions made it so much easier to stay consistent - even with the demands of being on set.' By the two-week mark, Sacha's wardrobe team had to spend $5,000 (£3,600) altering costumes because his body had changed so significantly. He was leaner, stronger, and fitter than ever before. His trainer also shared the magazine's photos to Instagram and wrote that he 'could not be more proud' of Sacha after working out with him. In a recent press conference, Marvel chief Kevin Feige confirmed that Sacha will be portraying MCU character. Sacha first rose to fame in the 1990s with his Ali G character, the infamous spoof wannabe gangster who became a comedy star. He also starred as Borat, a journalist from Kazakhstan, and played the role of flamboyant Austrian fashionista Bruno. The actor made his Mephisto debut in the finale of miniseries Ironheart earlier this month, marking the first appearance of the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after years of speculation. One of Marvel's key villains, Mephisto is a demonic entity who acquires souls by making pacts with mortals and has battled the likes of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store