Sparks - 1975-1976 (Indiscreet & Big Beat)

The 3CD Sparks 1975-1976 brings together the fifth and sixth studio albums from Sparks (their '71 debut was released under the name, Halfnelson) alongside a bonus disc containing single B-Sides, rarities and a live performance.

Following the success of their previous releases, Kimono My House and Propaganda, this was a period of extraordinary creativity and dramatic change for the group - over the course of the next 50 years we would come to expect nothing less from brothers, Ron and Russell Mael.

Indiscreet saw the group work with producer, Tony Visconti for the first time (described in Simon Price's insightful new sleeve notes as "the architect of Glam's greatest moments") but, confounding expectations, they delivered an album where no two songs were in the same style, drawing on influences ranging from Classical to Jazz, music hall to marching bands. And even though it confounded the critics and some fans, it still managed to deliver the hit singles, 'Get In The Swing' and 'Looks, Looks, Looks'.

Big Beat followed in October 1976, and saw Ron and Russell move from the UK back to the US, leaving their established backing band behind, ditching the baroque stylings of Indiscreet for something all-together more back-to-basics, with the recording overseen by producer, Rupert Holmes. Still three years away from topping the US chart with his single 'Escape (The Piña Colada Song)', 1976 also saw him contributing to Barbra Streisand's multi-million selling soundtrack to The Star Is Born. Quite where an energetic and muscular Sparks' collection that sat closer to the emerging Punk scene sits in all of this is open to debate.