026: Sparks - No. 1 in Heaven (1979) - Album history and discussion

Sparks go electronic! In this episode, we explore how Ron and Russell Mael ditched guitars, embraced synthesizers, and joined forces with Giorgio Moroder to craft No. 1 in Heaven—a dazzling, divisive leap into the future. We unpack the backstory, the Arista demos, the bold new sound, and the hit singles that brought them back to the charts.

It’s disco, it’s synth-pop, it’s Sparks like you’ve never heard them before.

A track-by-track-analysis of the individual songs on the album will follow in the next episodes.