SPARKS - NO. 1 IN HEAVEN @ 45

 

Marking its 45th year on the shelves today is the eighth studio album from Sparks, their collaboration with Italian electronic disco pioneer, Giorgio Moroder, No. 1 In Heaven, which was released on March 1st, 1979. Both a stylistic departure for the Mael brothers and a career shot-in-the-arm in terms of chart success, it was nonetheless mostly ravaged by critics, though it has, retrospectively, been revered as an influential essential in the history of synth-pop.

By 1978, the Mael brothers were struggling with their sound and lack of success on the heels of two commercially disappointing albums in a row. After some success in the UK, which the group had made their home in the mid 1970s, they'd returned to the US and LA, only to find their forays into breezy "West Coast" rock creatively unsatisfying and commercially lagging, both in the US and the UK. But their fortunes were about to change thanks to a comment in an interview with a German journalist, who they told of their admiration for the work of Giorgio Moroder on Donna Summer's smash disco hit, I Feel Love. This journalist turned out to be a friend of Moroder's, and he facilitated introductions, setting the ball in motion for the collaboration. Once production on the album began, the group quickly discarded the usual "bass, drums, guitars" rock band configuration of their previous albums, and dove headlong into the world of synthesizers and electronics, with drummer Keith Rorsey keeping the beat. Moroder's trademark pulsing synth sound dominated the album and echoed his groundbreaking work with Donna Summer.

A total of four singles were released from the album, with The Number One Song In Heaven being the biggest hit for the band, peaking in the UK top 20, their first hit single since 1975. Beat the Clock did even beater, pushing into the UK top 10, but despite the success on the singles charts, the album barely scraped the bottom of the top 100, peaking at 73 for a week, which was certainly better than the group had done with their previous two albums, but still less than they'd hoped for.

The critics of the day were mostly disparaging of the record upon its release. Reviewer Ian Penman said, "Moroder's production is essentially irrelevant", and found that the album was "neither a comedy album nor an experimental album, but it possesses the near instant redundancy of both." Melody Maker panned the album concluding, "the most pathetic thing of all is that they seem to think you'll want to dance to it". Record Mirror said that the album was "a complete frustration from beginning to end."

There may have been a preponderance of naysayers for the LP, but there were a few of the hipper voices in the music press who heard something different in this music. Sandy Robertson wrote that "the band have found in Moroder the best filter for their ideas since Rundgren" and qualified the album as "icy sharp and fresh". Trouser Press' Bruce Paley found that the songs were "solid, innovative and exciting". The New York Times called the album a "fascinating fusion disk, blending rock, disco, progressive rock and avant-gardism ... in a most unusual, appealing way."

Opinions of the album, retrospectively, have evolved a long way from those original scathing critiques, however, and the album's legacy has been affirmed by other artists who were inspired by it, most notably the members of Joy Division. They cited "Number One Song in Heaven" as a primary influence during the recording of "Love Will Tear Us Apart". Joy Division's drummer Stephen Morris stated: "When we were doing 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', there were two records we were into: Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits and 'Number One Song in Heaven' by Sparks. That was the beginning of getting interested in Giorgio Moroder." It's clear that influence would extend well into the work of New Order as well.

For me, I must confess to being very late to this party. Sparks was always this band that I saw peripherally on the music landscape as mildly intriguing, but also confusing enough that I never felt compelled to delve into their works. That changed when I got to see the 2021 biographical documentary by Edgar Wright, The Sparks Brothers, after which, I immediately added No. 1 In Heaven to my music library. It certainly qualifies as a critical piece of the techno-pop puzzle from the era. sustaining its relevance to contemporary ears.