Introducing Sparks

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Introducing Sparks is the seventh studio album by the American rock band Sparks, released in 1977 by Columbia Records. The album proved to be a commercial failure, and many other very negative reviews claimed that the band had adopted a new East Coast "American sound" despite the fact that the Mael brothers are indeed Americans. The title is also rather ironic – Introducing Sparks was not only not their first album, it wasn't even the first for their label, Columbia (it was their second and, furthering the irony, their last). Introducing Sparks was no more a success in terms of chart performance than their previous album Big Beat. It did not chart in the UK or US. The singles "Over the Summer" and "A Big Surprise" each backed with "Forever Young" were released singles but failed to gain any significant sales or radio play. For decades the album remained obscure, in part because it remained unavailable on CD until 2007. However, in recent years the album has enjoyed a certain critical reassessment leading some critics to appreciate Introducing Sparks as a much overlooked album. At the time of its release, Pete Makowski in Sounds suggested that the album was "probably the most adventurous musical outing yet" from Sparks, suggesting that Ron Mael "is one of the most underrated and original lyricists in the galaxy." Reviewing in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau wrote, "On its five albums for Bearsville and Island, this skillful brother act compounded personal hatefulness with a deliberately tense and uninviting take on pop-rock.