Pop-rock vets, Sparks has just announced details to an upcoming new album titled Hippopotamus. This will be the band’s 24th studio album and will be released this September 8 via BMG, with a world tour to accompany it. The European leg of the world out has been announced with the North American leg to soon follow. For a full list of your dates see below.
The band’s Facebook page hosted an official statement that read, ““Excited to finally announce the new Sparks album Hippopotamus will be out on 8th September! But wait, there’s more! The first single will come out tonight! (Friday, March 24) at midnight (GMT), and tour dates will be announced on Monday. Stay tuned!”
Well, the Californian Brothers followed through with their word. The new single is featured as the album’s titled track and was released at midnight on March 24 and first played on BBC Radio 6 Music. The song falls right in line with the uniquely quirky repertoire that that has made the band as prolific as they have been through out their career. The single can be streamed below via Youtube.
Hippopotamus was recorded in Los Angeles and described in a press release as taking “pop form, shaking it up, and creating an album that is adventurous, fresh and idiosyncratically ‘Sparks’.” The first 1,000 orders placed for the forthcoming album via the band’s official online store will come with a special gift. The gift will be an exclusive 7-inch free single.
Although Sparks has been described as “the smartest, most consistently evolving band in the history of rock,” they initially didn’t find their success in America till the early ’80s. While the band formed back in the ’60s with brothers Ron and Russell Mael they didn’t break out until 1972 with their hit “The Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us.” The song reached number 2 in the U.K. off of the album Kimono My House. When they ’80s came around the band saw its homeland success with their album’s Angst in My Pants and Sparks in Outer Space, which included the hit “Cool Places.” In 2012 the band performed their entire back catalogue at the time at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London. The performance included all 21 albums and span across 21 nights.
Hippopotamus Tracklist:
01. Probably Nothing
02. Missionary Position
03. Edith Piaf (Said It Better Than Me)
04. Scandinavian Design
05. Giddy Giddy
06. What the Hell Is It This Time?
07. Unaware
08. Hippopotamus
09. Bummer
10. I Wish You Were Fun
11. So Tell Me Mrs. Lincoln Aside From That How Was the Play?
12. When You’re a French Director
13. Amazing Mr. Repeat
14. A Little Bit Like Fun
15. Life with the Macbeths
Sparks 2017 Tour Dates:
08/07 – Copenhagen, DK @ Vega Theater
08/08 – Oslo, NO @ Rockefeller
08/10 – Stockholm, SE @ Cirkus
08/12 – Helsinki, FI @ Flow Festival
09/11 – Prague, CZ @ Lucerna Music Bar
09/12 – Berlin, DE @ Columbia Theater
09/14 – The Hague, NL @ Paard van Troje
09/15 – Luxembourg, LU @ den Atelier
09/16 – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique
09/20 – Edinburgh, UK @ Queens Hall
09/22 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Ritz
09/23 – Nottingham, UK @ Rock City
09/24 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute 1
09/26 – Bristol, UK @ O2 Academy
09/27 – London, UK @ O2 Shepherds Bush Empire
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