Album Review: MAD! by Sparks

Ron and Russell Mael are not ones to remain staid or immovable, the stock idiosyncratic label often assigned to the sibling duo appears trite when reflecting on a legacy pioneering and redefining genres from the peripheries. Career peaks Kimino My House's "This Town Ain't Big Enough For the Both of Us" and Giorgio Moroder-produced No. 1 in Heaven signposting early 70s UK breakthrough success to later popularity on the continent for the pair.

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By the time the closing track Lord Have Mercy comes around, you’ll be mentally reordering your list of top 10 all-time Mael brothers albums If there’s a particular age where you’ve earned the right to settle into a particular style, then the mid-to-late 70s is probably it. Yet, MAD!, Sparks‘ 28th studio album, seems to arrive during a particularly fruitful creative period for Ron and Russell Mael. In recent years, they’ve been the subject of an Edgar Wright documentary, written one of the more bizarre musical films of the decade in Annette, and performed with Cate Blanchett at the Glastonbury Festival.

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Twenty-six albums into their career, pop duo Sparks have maintained a level of sophistication that stands up with their older work, complete with a production sheen that gives their idiosyncratic backdrop a contemporary flavor. Having explored their shared history on Edgar Wright’s 2021 documentary The Sparks Brothers, Ron and Russell Mael have pointed their attention to the future with this latest release, Mad!. Vocalist Russell sounds energised on “Running Up a Tab at the Hotel for the Fab”, a bouncy dance track interspersed with Ennio Morricone-esque Western guitars.

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A thought experiment. Imagine what would happen if a brand-new band fell to earth in 2025 who were identical musically, lyrically and aesthetically to Sparks, and the same in every respect except the age of its members (Russell Mael, 76, and Ron Mael, 79). The critical community would immediately spiral into an almighty meltdown. The magazine front covers spinning towards the camera, Citizen Kane-style, would only have two fresh young faces on them, and one of those faces would be sporting a Charlie Chaplin moustache.

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The late-career arc of Sparks is something to behold. More than 50 years in and the brothers Mael are consistently producing work that would shame acts half their age, while a critically acclaimed film (or two) has helped reignite the public's love affair with the formidable art-pop project. New album 'MAD!' comes as Sparks build a head of steam, and it seems to represent everything special about this period in their work.

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