‘Beat The Clock’: Everything great about Sparks in one song
Sparks are about five different one-hit wonders in a trench coat. This is a very, very good thing. At various points in their career, they’ve been an influential glam-rock band, a disco phenomenon, a euro-pop trailblazer, indie rock godfathers and movie soundtrack innovators. Despite their chameleonic ability to adapt to new sounds, one can always tell when they’re listening to a Sparks song.
The band aren’t mere dilettantes chasing trends; they are pop obsessives always willing to reframe their witty, literate songwriting with the most cutting-edge sounds of the age. Like David Bowie before them and the Manic Street Preachers after them, at no point in their half-century-long career have Ron and Russel Mael ever sounded like anyone other than themselves.
To me, there’s no better example of this than the first time they had to evolve their sound. Despite being Los Angeles natives, the Mael’s breakout came in Britain thanks to their certifiably bananas glam-rock thrill-ride ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us’. Beginning a pattern that would see Sparks through their entire career, this initial hit led only to diminishing returns. Their subsequent singles not replicating the astonishing success of ‘…Both of Us’.
After a few albums spent playing catch-up to a glam rock scene that had long since moved on to better things by the late 1970s, Sparks made a break for success in their home country with the Beach Boys-style pop-rock of 1977’s Introducing Sparks. Despite the album having a cult following today, this was an act of commercial suicide at the time—one that seemed to be a death knell for the Mael brothers as anything other than a one-hit-wonder.
How did Sparks turn their careers around?
Their comeback began innocently enough, with nothing more than an idle comment made to a German music journalist. The brothers were speaking to this writer about how tired they were with the rock band set-up and wanted to make records the way pioneering Italian producer Giorgio Moroder made them. Unbeknownst to the band, the writer was a friend of Moroder’s and put them in touch with each other.
The resulting record was 1979s Nº 1 in Heaven, which was a commercial rejuvenation for the band. With Moroder’s unmistakable Italo-disco backing, the band made an astonishing comeback off the title track. However, it was the album’s fourth single and biggest hit that I firmly believe is the best summation of everything great about the band. A song that marries everything silly, smart, arch and unforgettable into one absolute monster of a hook.
One listen to the playground chant that holds ‘Beat The Clock’ together, and it will be in your head for the rest of the day, guaranteed. That’s before you even get into the slick disco track it struts in on. Then you get to the truly bizarre short story the lyrics tell of a child “born a little premature”. In a desperate attempt to live as much of life as possible before he dies, he enters school at two, “phd’d that afternoon” and is a divorcee by four.
The following song is a delirious rush of Russel’s quavering vocal, Moroder’s tumbling, propulsive production and, as is standard issue for any Sparks song, more hooks than you could possibly clock on first listen. The sheer momentum the song builds culminates in a spectacular instrumental breakdown. One that, when played live in Sparks’ heyday, used to accompany a Ron Mael striptease.
Ron does step out from behind his keyboard at this moment during live shows today, but for a far more charming soft shoe dance break, the one moment in the set where his stone face breaks out into a broad grin.
Today, Sparks have one of the most enviable back catalogues in rock. One that might not quite have the commercial success of their peers, but for sheer diversity and spirit, no one comes close. To have one that sums up every inch of their greatness is asking a lot. However, if you want to sum up their skill with a hook, their unforgettable way with words and their unflinching commitment to always moving forward, look no further than ‘Beat The Clock’.
