Sparks Announce “Tangible Object” for October Release

Essentially quirky rock heroes Sparks have announced a “tangible object” – a new five-disc, swag-packed box set – for release through Universal Music’s U.K. arm in October.

New Music for Amnesiacs: The Ultimate Collection collates just about the entire experience of the band founded and fronted by hyperactive frontman Russell Mael and his Chaplin-mustached, scowling keyboard brother Ron. The set spans four discs, starting from the early art-rock of breakthroughs like Kimono My House and U.K. hit “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us” to their reinvented state as an electronic duo in the ’70s and ’80s, collaborating with the likes of Giorgio Moroder, Harold Faltermeyer and Reinhold Mack – all the way up to their most recent pop album, 2008’s Exotic Creatures of the Deep. (The conceptual “radio musical” The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman (2009) is not excerpted, having been meant to hear as a whole.)

While audio rarities are few, the box does feature an unreleased version of “Tryouts for the Human Race” from 1979’s No. 1 in Heaven, as well as a bonus disc with two rare single tracks released in conjunction with the band’s latest tours: “Islington N1,” to promote a 21-night concert series in London in 2008 where Sparks played every album in chronological order; and “Two Hands, One Mouth,” released for a European tour of the same name in 2012 – the Maels’ first live appearances as just a duo.

The main four discs are packaged in a hardback book with 64 pages of liner notes and rare photos, while the fifth disc has its own custom wallet. Also included in the box is a generous helping of bonus ephemera, including replica tickets, tour passes, a new sticker and badge and “never-before-seen proof-sheet photo outtakes of the Big Beat (1976) photo session shot by renowned photographer Richard Avedon and adorned with a replication of Richard Avedon Studio’s return address sticker addressed to the Maels at their New York hotel.”

Packaged as an “intangible object,” made with “impossible-to-download technology created by the Mael brothers,” New Music for Amnesiacs is available exclusively through the Universal Music box set store and will be available October 21. Hit the jump for the full track breakdown!

New Music for Amnesiacs: The Ultimate Collection (Universal Music (U.K.), 2013)

Disc 1

1. Wonder Girl
2. Roger
3. High C
4. Girl from Germany
5. Batteries Not Included
6. Whippings and Apologies
7. This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us
8. Amateur Hour
9. Equator
10. Talent is An Asset
11. Barbecutie
12. Propaganda
13. At Home, At Work, At Play
14. Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth
15. Something for the Girl with Everything
16. Alabamy Right
17. Hospitality on Parade
18. Happy Hunting Ground
19. Looks, Looks, Looks
20. Get in the Swing
21. Miss the Start, Miss the End
22. Big Boy
23. Nothing to Do
24. Looks Aren’t Everything
25. Tearing the Place Apart

Disc 2

1. Goofing Off
2. Over the Summer
3. The Number One Song in Heaven
4. Beat the Clock
5. Tryouts for the Human Race (Unreleased Version)
6. When I’m with You (Single Version)
7. Young Girls (Single Version)
8. Tips for Teens
9. Funny Face
10. I Married a Martian
11. Angst in My Pants
12. I Predict
13. Mickey Mouse
14. Eaten by the Monster of Love
15. Cool Places
16. Popularity
17. I Wish I Looked a Little Better
18. Pretending to Be Drunk
19. A Song That Sings Itself

Disc 3

1. Music That You Can Dance To
2. Change
3. Let’s Get Funky
4. Singing in the Shower – Les Rita Mitsouko with Sparks
5. So Important
6. A Walk Down Memory Lane
7. Madonna
8. National Crime Awareness Week (Psycho Cut)
9. Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins
10. When Do I Get to Sing “My Way”
11. (When I Kiss You) I Hear Charlie Parker Playing (Radio Edit)
12. Tsui Hark (feat. Tsui Hark & Bill Kong)
13. Let’s Go Surfing
14. Propaganda
15. Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat
16. This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both Of Us (with Faith No More)
17. Bullet Train
18. It’s a Knockoff
19. The Calm Before the Storm

Disc 4

1. Concerto in Koch Minor (Wunderbar)
2. The Rhythm Thief
3. How Do I Get to Carnegie Hall?
4. My Baby’s Taking Me Home
5. Suburban Homeboy
6. I Married Myself
7. Dick Around
8. Perfume
9. The Very Next Fight
10. Metaphor
11. As I Sit Down to Play the Organ At the Notre Dame Cathedral
12. Good Morning
13. Lighten Up, Morrissey
14. Strange Animal
15. Photoshop
16. I’ve Never Been High
17. I Am a Bookworm

Disc 5

1. Islington N1
2. Two Hands, One Mouth

Disc 1, Tracks 1-3 from Halfnelson (Bearsville, 1971/1972)
Disc 1, Tracks 4-6 from A Woofer in Tweeter’s Clothing (Bearsville, 1973)
Disc 1, Tracks 7-10 from Kimono My House (Island, 1974)
Disc 1, Track 11 was the B-side to “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us” (Island, 1973)
Disc 1, Tracks 12-15 from Propaganda (Island, 1974)
Disc 1, Track 16 was the B-side to “Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth” (Island, 1974)
Disc 1, Tracks 17-21 from Indiscreet (Island, 1975)
Disc 1, Tracks 22-23 from Big Beat (Columbia (U.S.)/Island (U.K.), 1976)
Disc 1, Track 24 from Big Beat: 21st Century Edition (Island (U.K.), 2009)
Disc 1, Track 25 from expanded edition of Big Beat (Island Masters (U.K.), 1994)
Disc 2, Tracks 1-2 from Introducing Sparks (Columbia (U.S.)/CBS (U.K.), 1977)
Disc 2, Tracks 3-4 from No. 1 in Heaven (Elektra (U.S.)/Virgin (U.K.), 1979)
Disc 2, Track 5 previously unreleased
Original versions of Disc 2, Tracks 6-7 from Terminal Jive (Virgin (U.K.), 1980)
Disc 2, Tracks 8-10 from Whomp That Sucker (RCA (U.S.)/Why-Fi (U.K.), 1981)
Disc 2, Tracks 11-14 from Angst in My Pants (Atlantic, 1982)
Disc 2, Tracks 15-17 from In Outer Space (Atlantic, 1983)
Disc 2, Tracks 18-19 from Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat (Atlantic, 1984)
Disc 3, Tracks 1-3 from Music That You Can Dance To (MCA (U.S.)/Consolidated Allied (U.K.), 1986)
Disc 3, Track 4 from Marc and David (Virgin, 1988)
Disc 3, Tracks 5-7 from Interior Design (Fine Art, 1988)
Disc 3, Track 8 from non-LP single (Finiflex (U.K.), 1993)
Disc 3, Tracks 9-13 from Gratuitous Sex & Senseless Violins (Logic, 1994)
Disc 3, Tracks 14-16 from Plagiarism (Oglio (U.S.)/Virgin (U.K.), 1997)
Disc 3, Tracks 17-19 from Balls (Oglio (U.S.)/Recognition (U.K.), 2000)
Disc 4, Track 1 from “Suburban Homeboy” CD single (Lil’ Beethoven (U.K.), 2003)
Disc 4, Tracks 2-6 from Lil’ Beethoven (Palm Pictures (U.S.)/Lil’ Beethoven (U.K.), 2002)
Disc 4, Tracks 7-11 from Hello Young Lovers (In the Red (U.S.)/Gut (U.K.), 2006)
Disc 4, Tracks 12-16 from Exotic Creatures of the Deep (Lil’ Beethoven, 2008)
Disc 4, Track 17 previously unreleased – recorded 2010
Disc 5, Track 1 from non-LP single – Lil’ Beethoven (U.K.), 2008
Disc 5, Track 2 from non-LP 10″ single – Lil’ Beethoven (U.K.), 2012