In Outer Space

In Outer Space Artist: Sparks
Label: Repertoire
Category: Music


Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1
EAN: 4009910476123
ASIN: B0000258S5


Release Date: 1999-03-26

In Outer Space


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Tracks:

  1. Cool Places - Sparks, Jane Wiedlin
  2. Popularity
  3. Prayin' for a Party
  4. All You Ever Think About Is Sex
  5. Please, Baby, Please
  6. Rockin' Girls
  7. I Wish I Looked a Little Better
  8. Lucky Me, Lucky You - Sparks, Jane Wiedlin
  9. Fun Bunch of Guys from Outer Space
  10. Dance Godammit

Similar Items:

  1. Angst in My Pants
  2. Whomp That Sucker
  3. Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat
  4. Terminal Jive
  5. No. 1 in Heaven

Album Description

Reissued 1983 album. Sparks enjoyed belated success in their native USA with their warbling 'Sparks in Outer Space' which reached #88 and featured the singles 'Cool Places' and 'All You Ever Think About Is Sex.'

Album Details

Digitally Remastered Version features the Hits 'Cool Places' and 'Lucky Me, Lucky You' (Both with Jane Wiedlin)', 'All You Ever Think About is Sex' 'Popularity', 'Prayin for a Party' , 'Dance Godammit' and More. One of their Best, Wittiest and Funniest Albums Ever!

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Excellent 80's music.......2007-02-06

this is the best that Sparks put out. Pop 80's New Wave. Great stuff!

5 out of 5 stars Uncool, but who cares!.......2005-09-29

You won't find a review by a respectable music critic that does anything less that totally trash this album. But let's face it. This album is like a faded 1984 Pontiac Fiero with rips in the seat, stains in the carpet,...............and a Northstar V8 out back - about the most uncool thing you can imagine. But WAY more fun than some slow, ill-handling, but blinged-out Cadillac Escalade (ie the 'cool' music). So take your pick. Oh, and you might not want to let anyone hear you play this CD

5 out of 5 stars Say It Loud - We're Dorks And We're Proud!.......2005-08-29

One of my gripes about popular music is how seriously it takes itself. Let's face it, most musicians are dorks pretending to be profound. Success in popular music means convincing teenagers and emotionally stunted adults that you really are profound and not a dork. Irony is something that is lost in the world of pop idol worship.

Sparks is a great illustration of this principle. These are not dorks pretending to be profound but ending up sounding like dorks. These are dorks who are aware of their own dorkiness and who are not trying to insult your intelligence by pretending otherwise. This explains (in my mind anyway) why Sparks never caught on. They refused to play the "Let's Pretend We're Cool" game. They just wanted to revel in their dorkiness. The song "Cool Places" is as close to a Declaration of Principle as you will find: It's the "cool" people who are the real dorks in life.

It's a shame that this band never made it big. On "In Outer Space", the Mael brothers are so gloriously dorky that it makes them poetic (to borrow a phrase from the excellent film, "Almost Famous"). The melodies are catchy, keyboard-based ditties that are pleasant enough to listen to, but it's the silly lyrics that make Sparks worth listening to. This is never more evidence than in songs like "All You Ever Think About Is Sex" (All you ever this about is sex/Alright with me), "I Wish I Looked A Little Better" (I went to high school and majored in lookin' real bad/I got a real ugly mom and a real ugly dad), and "Rockin' Girls" (You're the only girl I've ever met who hates "Hey Jude"/Maybe that's the reason that I'm so in love with you).

Profound? Hell no. And definitely not cool either. My heroes.

3 out of 5 stars LIMITED OUTER SPACE.......2004-08-16

Though not entirely a bad album..."Sparks in Outer Space" seems to be the first sell-out for a non-hit based band. Just while Sparks seemed at the height of their success with 82's release of "Angst in My Pants"...so were the Go-Gos with "Vacation." It seemed like the best pieces of the great 80's synthesized rock puzzles. Ironically enough, Jane Wiedlin (formely of the Go-Gos) teamed up w/ the Mael brothers to become a member of this long lost dance crazed classic. Speaking so, Sparks seemed to resist the fashion of making tunes for its more intelligent crowd and jumped for air-waves friendly music instead.

Though I loved "...In Outer Space" when I first purchased it at the age of 11... some 20 years later the appeal wears thin. Avoiding the fact that "Cool Places" seemed to "spark" some radio play...the rest of the album seems too simple and slippery.

"All You Ever Think About is Sex" is among the strengtheist on "...Outer Space." It demonstrates the witty, classic Mael brothers humour from the very opening of the song: "Think of all the places we've had our little fun/ In the church at Christmas, busted by that nun." While "I Wish I Looked a Little Better" almost seems like a sequel to "Funny Face" from their "Whomp That Sucker" album in the lines: "Turn out the light, yeah the light/ And I might have a chance/ I guess I look slightly worse than the Elephant man."

But, while the previous Sparks' albums tended to make its listeners chuckle and laugh, "...In Outer Space" only has its random moments. Not to say it's a bad thing for any band to try out a different turf, the love churned tunes such as "Please, Baby, Please" and "Lucky me, Lucky you" just seem too pop friendly to be recognized as Sparks forgivables.

The only other complaint about this album is its defeat in being timeless. As for an album that sounded good during its time it's sensational, but twenty years later, the "...In Outer Space" sounds like its from another planet. It's too heavily synthesized and it just doesn't prove any justice for the back-up band the Mael brothers had retained at the time (hence, it was perhaps the best line-up since 74's "Kimono My House").

4 out of 5 stars Some fine melodic tunes........2002-12-04

I own the album & it contains some wonderful melodies. Songs such as Popularity, A funch bunch of guys from outer space & Rockin' girls are upbeat highly melodic & instantly catchy electro pop. I'd say 8 out of 10 of the songs on this album are good.

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  7. Live at Sin-é ~ Jeff Buckley
  8. There's Always Someplace You'd Rather Be ~ Sianspheric
  9. Why Don't You...Just Rock! ~ Restless
  10. Excluded ~ Klute

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