Arguably one of
Sparks
' best albums, 1974's
Kimono My House
finds the brothers Mael (
Ron
wrote most the songs and played keyboards, while
Russell
was the singing frontman) ingeniously playing their guitar- and keyboard-heavy
pop
mix on 12 consistently fine tracks. Adding a touch of
bubblegum
, and even some of
Zappa
's own song-centric experimentalism to the menu, the Maels spruce up a sleazy Sunset Strip with a bevy of Broadway-worthy performances here: as the band expertly revs up the
glam rock
-meets-
Andrew Lloyd Webber
backdrops,
sends things into space with his operatic vocals. And besides two of their breakthrough hits (the English chart-toppers
"This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us"
and
"Amateur Hour"
), the album features one of their often-overlooked stunners,
"Here in Heaven."
Essential. ~ Stephen Cook