Another one of my schoolboy memories is vividly remembering watching Sparks on Top Of The Pops miming to This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us, and being blown away at something so outlandish. A quick Saturday trip to the record store was in order.
The brothers have been playing together in bands since ’66, but it was not until this album (their third, released in ’74), that success came their way. It’s hard to describe, but there was literally no one who sounded like them at the time and it’s great to see them still around creating great music.
This Town does dominate this album, as it is a monumental piece of pop but there were three other singles released from the album: Amateur Hour which does have a resemblance to This Town with the melody, Talent Is An Asset with its Xmas style jingle (I’m sure Devo were listening to this), and Hasta Mañana which I really loved but it bombed as a single. I haven’t played this in a long while and I still feel the tingles listening to it today remembering when I first heard it.
8/10 from The Grooveman.
