2 weeks Ago By Daily Republic Staff
SAN FRANCISCO — Tickets are on sale for the Sparks' Sept. 27 show at the Golden Gate Theatre. The event celebrates the duo's 25th studio album set for release in May.
"Mad!" finds the brothers examining cultural phenomena such as branded backpacks, tattoos, performative devotion, the hegemony of banter, and the rise of influencers, to name a few. If the world is a cafe, its ridiculous patrons babbling ridiculously all day long, then Ron Mael is the guy on his own in the corner that you don't notice, quietly sipping his coffee. But he's watching, listening, making notes.
Those notes become songs for his band, to be sung by his brother Russell Mael in his unmistakable falsetto. Ron Mael is considered one of the most acutely perceptive observers of social mores. Russell Mael has the asset of a talent to put those observations across in a uniquely arresting manner.
Musically there are nods to new wave, synthpop, art rock and electronic opera – all genres Sparks had hands in pioneering, or straight-up invented. Sparks aren't most acts. If anything, their rate of productivity has sped up in recent years: since the millennium the duo have released eight new studio albums and toured the world numerous times.
The brothers were born and raised in Los Angeles, and first recorded under the name Urban Renewal Project and subsequently Halfnelson, before settling on the name Sparks in 1972. Despite being mentored and produced by Todd Rundgren and signed by Bob Dylan's manager Albert Grossman, American audiences initially proved unreceptive to Sparks' uniquely arch, ironic aesthetic, and their breakthrough came instead after they relocated to London with a new backing band, scoring a huge hit in 1974 with the cinematic, staccato single "This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us," and unleashing full-scale Sparksmania in the UK. "Mad!" opens with the song "Do Things My Own Way," a piece of typically forward-facing progressive pop which is the album's lead single and focus track.
But it also functions as something of a manifesto for the Maels themselves. Because Sparks is a band who have always, always done things their own way. Find tickets at www.
broadwaysf.com/events ..
