Kimono My House

This is an American band? They larped UK glam rock pretty good. I don't like the operatic voices they do here but the energy of the production is nice. Reminds me of Roxy Music, which already comes off as mid to me (2.5-3).

Saw them live a couple of months ago, it's impressive that in over 50 years neither of them have lost their energy and passion for performing these songs, and this album perfectly shows off that energy.

This was nuts, mostly in a good way. It felt like a campier version of "A Wizard, A True Star." And I felt like that campy attitude may have influenced many more people than Todd did. For me it made it less moving emotionally. And of course the title and cover image are just embarrassing. Still, I'm glad I encountered it. It's the sort of music I hoped to discover through this project... it's on the family tree of stuff I knew and yet I had never heard of them. I'll have to check out the documentary everyone keeps talking about.

Not really for me. I can appreciate the creativity and the unique sound, but the theatrical style and vocals just didn’t click with me. A few interesting moments, but overall it wasn’t my thing.

¿Glam? ¿Queen? ¿Quiénes son? ¿Es un grupo de chicas? Después de buscar más info, veo que son dos chicos y hoy en días dos señores. Continúo escuchando y ya el falsete no me parece tan femenino a ratos, pero sin mirar me habría costado. La portada es atemporal y su tema principal tiene su gancho "This town ain't big enough for both of us".

Iako ostatak nikad ne dostigne vrhunac koji odmah postavi This Town, volim sve što nije uredu s ovim albumom. P.S. ako ko slučajno ovo pročita postoji verzija This Town sa Faith No More koja je još genijalnija!

I will not include the bonus tracks from the 21st Century Edition reissue in this review.

Alright, I've listened to Sparks here and there, including the big single off this record, "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us". Brothers Ron and Russell Mael have been writing and composing rather quirky and eccentric art pop for over five decades now, having broken through to the mainstream with Kimono My House. Compared to their first two records, this one is where Ron is established as the primary songwriter. As such, there's a marriage of complex lyrics with a more pop-oriented glam rock sound, characterized by Russell's affluent falsetto and Ron's bright RMI keyboard tones. With Muff Winwood's simple yet punchy production, this album kicks ass. Every track on here is excellent, including the Western standoff of "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us", the kooky waltz of "Falling in Love with Myself Again", Adrian Fisher's wailing guitar licks over the failed suicide pact on "Here in Heaven", the bright melodies juxtaposed with the marked dread on "Thank God It's Not Christmas", the cheeky story of not being able to communicate with a partner on "Hasta Mañana, Monsieur", and the surprisingly poignant cautionary tale of taking advantage of one's genius on "Talent Is an Asset". Even the album closer, "Equator", is this surrealist ballad with horn-esque keyboard glitz, as the narrator laments being unable to find his date along Earth's equator. While that song does go on for a tad longer than it needed to, I still had a good time with it.

I ain't got much else to say, as Kimono My House is such a bona fide glam rock record. Sparks would continue to innovate and switch styles, garnering such influence on a wide array of musicians, justifiably so.

I wasn't familiar with The Sparks, but I knew a few of their songs, like “This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us.” Their “Kimono My House” is basically the David Bowie album I’ve been waiting for since the start of this project (the six Bowie albums released so far haven’t quite been it): affected, virtuosic, offbeat, yet without completely losing its grip - and self-deprecating humor helps with that. All of this is built on a foundation of great songs that, depending on the arrangements and instrumentation, work just as well in a variety theater as they do in a stadium.
That’s how glam rock is done!

Never heard of this before, but didn’t like it. Those squeaky vocals I really couldn’t stand.

A little bit of sparks goes a long way. I’d happily listen to a couple of songs but a whole album is a bit much.

Music version of a trifle.

A load of stuff put together that somehow works,
You certainly wouldn't want it every day
But it is enjoyable.

I 100% see how this was influential to a lot of the artists I love, that doesnt mean I particularly enjoyed this.
This truly does feel like a case of 'Sparks learned to walk so ______________ could run.'

And once again the riduculous 5 star rating system rears its ugly head. 2 stars would imply this is bad, 3 stars would imply its good. It is neither.
2.5

Kimono My House was definitely a very interesting listen. This is probably the glam rockiest glam rock album to ever glam rock. It has pretty much all the cheesiness and quirks that you would expect from this genre. There is all the pianos and the saxophones that you would come to expect from glam rock and all the regular rock elements too. The vocals were pretty interesting because at many points they sounded like a woman was singing and i had to remind myself that it was a man singing. While there are some songs that don't work (I'm looking at you, Equator), most of the songs here work alright and while they are cheesy, they were still alright to listen to. It is a weird album but i still think it's more than listenable.
Best Song: Complaints
Worst Song: Equator

Russell and Ron Mael ✨️invented✨️ poetry and here is proof:

1. Zoo time is she and you time
2. Gonna hang myself from my family tree
3. It's a lot like playing the violin, you cannot start off and be Yehudi Menuhin
4. The mammals are your favorite type and you want her tonight
5. I bring home the bacon and eat it myself, here's to my health
6. I tried to tell you in the night that with a girl like you I could do without guided tours
7. You tried to tell me in the day that your leading exports were textiles and iron ore
8. We are his relatives, and he don't need any non-relatives
9. Take her to Spain and hear her complain
10. You are a khaki-colored bombardier
11. As twenty cannibals have hold of you, they need their protein just like you do
12. Shower, another shower, you got to look your best for her and be clean everywhere

bit hit and miss but at its best it's up with the heights of Roxy/Bowie

Just not my favorite style. I don't mind some Bowie and other glam rock, but this felt... a little overcooked. Like it tried too hard, maybe? 2.

Love it 👍

Dramatic- feels like there Broadway version of pop music. Fans of Queen (which I’m not) will probably love this. Interesting stuff, I feel like I “should” like it, but after a few listens I just don’t. The constant falsetto grates on me, for one thing. But it’s certainly not boring. This is a rare album where I will likely give it three stars but it doesn’t mean “meh”, like most of my three stars. I just can’t get myself to like it enough to give it four.

Don't think I needed to listen to this, but it was a-o-fine. It was a vibe at times. Never really got boring, but it wasn't always great.

Huh, I thought I would like this more. But halfway through I was bored to tears. I just wanted it to end. Maybe I'm getting burn-out from this challenge. But there was nothing that spoke to me in this album. It's... perfectly adequate glam rock.