INDISCREET

Sparks' Indiscreet finds the brothers Mael taking their idiosyncratic glam rock style to flamboyant, nigh-operatic extremes. Rarely have they camped it up harder than on cuts like Hospitality On Parade. Their harder edge is retained on cutting instrumental interjections that stand as stark counterpoints to the melodramatic vocal delivery, and the ridiculous lyrics of songs such as "Tits" adds a side order of deliberate farce to proceedings. Representing the natural conclusion of the cycle of musical development begun on Kimono My House and continued on Propaganda, Indiscreet finds Sparks delivering their ultimate glam statement, and whilst some will find it a disaster on the scale of the plane crash on the cover, others will admire its daring.

For my part, I find myself somewhere in the middle. Whilst it is interesting to hear them go full operatic, at the same time the wild danger of albums like Kimono My House seems to have bled away here, making this the most anemic and mild-mannered of the triptych this album rounds off and consequently making it the least of the three.