Sparks - Amateur Hour

Titled for Sparks' second U.K. hit, and the second 45 to be pulled from their breakthrough Kimono My House album, Amateur Hour is a reasonably well-thought-out introduction to the Mael brothers' years with Island: that is, the 1974-1976 span that saw them cut three magnificent albums and one fairly dodgy one (Big Beat), and still leave enough B-sides and outtakes lying around to half fill a wonderful rarities album. This isn't it. Neither is it the much-deserved digest of Sparks' more left-field numbers -- the body of work that makes you wonder just what was in the water back then, that an entire continent made stars of the men who made "Equator"? Read More