Track Listing

1. Intro
2. Good Morning
3. Strange Animal
4. I Can't Believe That You Would Fall For All The Crap In This Song
5. Let The Monkey Drive
6. Intro Reprise
7. I've Never Been High
8. (She Got Me) Pregnant
9. Lighten Up, Morrissey
10. This Is The Renaissance
11. The Director Never Yelled "Cut"
12. Photoshop
13. Likeable

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20196 in Music
• Released on: 2008-05-19
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .24 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
21 albums in (complete with a 21-night London residency playing every one of those albums), it seems that Sparks are defying the odds and delivering their finest works to date. As with previous albums Lil' Beethoven, and Hello Young Lovers, this is pop music, but it's fun, accessible, demented, clever and unlike anything else being made--everything good pop music should be. The narrative approach of the last two albums appears to have been ditched in favour of proper songs (relatively speaking), and a thankful return for Russell Mael's patent falsetto. Thus, "Good Morning" bursts forth, riding on a catchy synth-bass riff that Scissor Sisters would sell their wardrobes for, and "Let the Monkey Drive" builds up into a thrilling, disturbed crescendo. The layered harmonies and multi-part song structures are still in place, but toned down, which makes the material more accessible. And even the hilarious song titles such as "(She Got Me) Pregnant" and the indie-boy baiting of "Lighten Up Morrissey" belie the fact that underneath all the drama and clever lyrics, Ron and Russell Mael are making the best pop music in the world today. --Thom Allott

CD Description
'Exotic Creatures Of The Deep' is the 21st studio album by the seminal genre-defying duo Sparks. With a career spanningover forty years and renowned for their witty pop songs andconstant music re-invention, brothers Ron and Russell Mael deliver a unique record. Mind-bending and humorous lyrics recall Cole Porter and their musical versatility shines throughout.

Customer Reviews

Sparks Still Fly
Thirty four years.

Let's say that again.

THIRTY FOUR YEARS.

'Kimono My House'.

A big one for Sparks and The Wolf was buying it.

'This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us'

'Amateur Hour'.

Fresh as a a daisy - Then and now.

"Entertainment or art, one should know from the start" ('Strange Animal').

A question, a statement, or both (?).

The Mael siblings have been ploughing this ambiguous furrow
for almost forty years with little sign of wear and tear.

Their corporate demeanour has become more sepulchral,
more cadaverous. Despite the cute chimp we could be in
the company of the undead here but the music is as alive
as we might wish it to be.

This is music for the mind. Mindless listeners beware.

These thirteen new compositions (Introduction and Interlude
included) are quite extraordinary.

Challenging. Chilly. Complex. Cerebral. Exhilarating.

No easy way to pin these two boys down.

Music Hall. Burlesque. Pristine Pop. Does it really matter?

Reich, Glass, Adams, Sondheim (Crikey even Stravinsky's late neo-classicism)
are all ghosts in this rich mix.

Russell Mael's iconic falsetto and brother Ron's cristaline, percussive piano
create layer upon layer of incandescent harmonic and rhythmic vistas.

There is a quasi-cinematic quality to many of their ideas.

Stories. Strange, strange stories.

Who did you wake up with in 'Good Morning' ?

Is the critic in 'Strange Animal' inside or outside the song ?

'I Can't Believe That You Would Fall For All The Crap In This Song',
the bastard lovechild of Norman Greenbaum and Alison Goldfraap.

'Let The Monkey Drive', Highway 1 from hell.

'(She Got Me) Pregnant', a gender/role reversal challenge if ever there was one.

'Lighten Up , Morrissey', (Snigger).

'This Is The Renaissance', so good they pronounced it twice.

Some of the treasures awaiting you.

This is genre-bending music of the finest calibre.

Not for the faint-hearted but essential.

Highly Recommended.

A slight step downwards, but still very good
When I say a step down, I mean in comparison to the last two, staggeringly good, albums, the quality of which shouldn't be possible for a band this far into their careers.

Quick song-by-song analysis (excluding "Intro" and "Intro reprise")

Good Morning - great, no two ways about it. Catchy and lyrically fabulous ("While I fix you breakfast / I hope it's just your laugh that is infectious" - inspired!)

Strange Animal - Another good one. The tempo changes are fun, but it doesn't quite grab me as certain other tracks on the album do.

I can't believe.... - This song is more "clever" than "good" to me - it's a nice idea, but the execution's a bit flat, maybe due to the rather plodding rhythm perhaps?

Let the monkey drive - This is much better. Great, catchy piano fills, solid rocking beat, lyrically fantastic, the whole package.

I've never been high - Another song which doesn't quite add up for me. There are some really nice vocal parts in it, but it doesn't quite gel in the end.

(She got me) pregnant - Pretty decent - not the worst song on the album, not the best, but good. Doesn't really stand out as such, but certainly doesn't blow.

Lighten up. Morrissey - Just brilliant. Nothing else to say. Just like "Let the monkey drive" and "Good morning", this one has everything you could want from a Sparks song - the music's great and the words are awesome.

This is the renaissance - The words are more interesting than the music on this one. It's not bad at all, but the music has a slightly rushed feel to me.

The director.... - Hmm. I'm not sure what they were aiming at on this track. Whatever it was, it doesn't really work to these ears. I sense that they might have been aiming for a "I thought I told you to wait in the car" kind of atmosphere, but I don't think they really pulled it off.

Photoshop - one of the better tracks on here without being up to the standards of the absolute best. It's got a good momentum to it and is a decent song, but it feels like it's just short of being really, really good

Likeable - A strong closer, but like certain other songs, it's just slightly off from "great" status.

Conclusion? Three or four stone cold classics, a couple that are almost there, several songs that are good-if-not-great and a couple of misfires. Still absolutely worth getting and definitely recommended.

Bands of this age should be on life support, not adrenaline
For stars like David Bowie, Elton John, or the Rolling Stones, critics usually give favorable reviews out of kindness and use euphemisms like "noble effort" to illustrate the deteriorating quality that often comes with age. For Sparks, the opposite is true. Since "Lil' Beethoven," the brothers Mael have taken their 30+ year career and started another exciting chapter, crafting pop music like no other. "Exotic Creatures of the Deep" continues their successful combination of wit, layered operatic vocals, and a unique sound that can only be created by Sparks.

While the single "Good Morning" has garnered attention, it's only a slither of what this album has to offer. "Lighten Up Morrissey," another surefire single, features Mael griping about a girl who won't go out with him because he's not like Morrissey, so he offers some advice to the big M to give him a chance. The sound is a departure for Sparks here, as it features some heavy guitar and drums, but Russel trademark vocal is still in tact.

Elsewhere are other fine crafted tunes, like "Strange Animal," featuring some of those great multilayered vocal effects Russel's known for, or "The Director Never Yelled Cut" which sounds like it was culled from a Danny Elfman score. My favorite has to be "Photoshop" featuring something many of us have thought of, where the narrator wants to photoshop someone out of their lives.

This is an album that continues the successful track record of the brothers Mael. It's genius. They have a formula that continues to work and not run out of steam. The sound is continually fresh. Like the previous entries though, take the album as a whole - you will enjoy it more.