Lil' Beethoven
| Lil' Beethoven | ||||
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| Studio album by Sparks | ||||
| Released | November 26, 2002 | |||
| Recorded | Sparks Studio, Los Angeles, California | |||
| Genre | Art pop, Neo-classical, Minimalism | |||
| Length | 44:36 | |||
| Label | Palm Pictures (US), Lil' Beethoven (UK) | |||
| Producer | Ron Mael, Russell Mael | |||
| Sparks chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Lil' Beethoven | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| PopMatters | (?) |
| Rolling Stone | (Positive) |
Lil' Beethoven is the 19th album by the American rock band Sparks, released in 2002.
By 2002, Sparks had released eighteen albums, the last several of them in the new wave/synthpop vein. While this had been successful, breaking them in the US with 1983's "Cool Places" and in Germany with "When Do I Get To Sing 'My Way'?" in 1995, it had not secured them much critical acclaim or a consistent audience. 1997's Plagiarism had been intended to introduce the group's history to their new German audience, while building on the success with high-profile collaborations for the UK and US audience. It had only been partially successful.
The next album, Balls, had not been at all successful and was generally perceived as Sparks treading water. Sparks then decided to change track, dropping the synthpop sound, reducing the musical palette and developing the music upon piano lines and lyrics of Ron Mael and the vocals of Russell Mael.
Described by the band themselves as a "career-defining opus", Lil' Beethoven saw the duo move into a more classical-influenced sound, with a heavy reliance on repetitive lyrics and piano lines, synthesized orchestration and multi-tracked vocals in place of percussion. Opening track "The Rhythm Thief" is an overall introduction to the album's anti-electropop/techno message by declaring "say goodbye to the beat". "My Baby's Taking Me Home" largely consists of the title repeated over 100 times with no other words being used, other than a spoken interlude. Similarly, "Your Call Is Very Important To Us" uses a corporation style call-hold message: "Your call is very important to us. Please hold" which is then sung with some additional words: "At first she said your call is very important to us, then she said please, please hold." The only other lyrics in the song are "Red light", "Green light", "I'm Getting Mixed Signals" and "Sorry, I'm Going To Have To Put You Back On Hold". These elements are layered with a simple piano line to create a highly textured effect.
The album was critically applauded, which led to renewed interest in the band; Record Collector magazine named the album as one of its Best New Albums of 2002, describing it as "... possibly the most exciting and interesting release ever from such a long established act" and later in 2003 saying "... it really does feel like one of the best albums ever made."
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