My groovy L.A. sister-in-law's boyfriend is Jim Wilson, guitarist of the rock band Mother Superior. Right now, he and fellow Mother Superior rocker Marcus Blake are touring across Europe, playing with quirky 70s popsters Sparks in a colossal project to play every single one of Sparks's albums, in full, in concert, one after the other.
!!!
Wow. That impresses me.
As Sparks put it: "How do we best unveil our new album, our twenty-first? How about playing in concert every single song off of every album that preceded it, all 20 albums on 20 consecutive nights, culminating in the premiere of our latest? That’s approximately 250 songs, or for you musicians, 4 million, 825 thousand, 273 notes!"
Click here to see Sparks on British TV a couple of weeks ago with Jim on guitar, playing their new song, the infectious and hilarious "Lighten Up, Morrissey." I love the harmonies during the chorus and the way the whole thing raves up. In fact, I can't stop listening to it. I eventually had to go find the album version. And I will eventually have to have it on my iPod. It's as simple as that.
Try this one, too, also from the BBC Two show. There's a brief interview, followed by the sprightly "This Town Ain't Big Enough" at the two-minute mark. Whew! Great big spangly dramatic operatic 70s-sounding craziness! Love it!
