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Sparks

1947: SPARKS ONE AND A HALF NELSON

September 27, 2012
Sparks, TAKRL
1 Comment

TAKRL says: “Last collaboration directly with Wizardo. First Sparks underground.”

‘one and a half nelson’ is probably one of the best known sparks live recordings. recorded at Croydon U.K, 9th of November 1975.

01. Hasta Manana Monsieur 4:36
02. Something For The Girl With Everything 2:25
03. Talent Is An Asset 5:00
04. Thank God It’s Not Christmas 5:34
05. B.C. 4:09
06. Here In Heaven 4:09
07. This Town Ain’t Big Enough (For The Both Of Us) 5:30
08. B.C. (Edited Version) 3:29
–> Bonus Tracks: (Studio B-Sides)
09. Lost And Found 3:20
10. Barbecutie 3:08
11. Alabamy Right 2:09
12. Marry Me 2:45
13. Profile 3:31
14. Gone With The Wind 3:07
15. Tearing The Place Apart 3:39

From the Sparks – Propaganda Website:

“

Sparks lineup was as followed : Russell Mael on vocals, Ron Mael on keyboards, Norman “Dinky” Diamond on drums, bassist Ian Hampton (replacing Martin Gordon from the “Kimono My House” sessions) and guitarist Trevor White.
The gig was performed live in a studio with a very small, awfully quite and polite audience. The mix was taken off of the mixing console by the Sparks’ staff and the recording was never intended to one day appear on a disc, but several years later bootleg copies could be found on the parallel market thru TAKRL label (The Amazing Kornyphone Record Label)…

    
     
Vinyl Lp front cover – 1975

Sparks bootleg live in Croydon, Fairfields Hall vinyle Lp

The sound quality was fine – just a little bit of phasing in the beginning – but the record was really cheaply packaged (in the 70s’ most bootlegs were poorly annotated with photocopied covers). The album sleeve was a two colour paper insert slipped under the shrink wrap that enclosed the plain white cardboard album cover. The sheet featured a crude greeny xerox art with a photo of the Maels from the “Kimono My House” Lp inner sleeve with a hand-written track listing at the bottom. The disc got plain white blank labels.
Sparks’ “One And A Half-Nelson” record was a really scarce – and rather expensive – item and it obviously became the “Holy Grail” for Sparks die-hard fans. It was extremely hard to find but was the perfect way for fans to listen to versions of songs for which live recordings were never officially released.

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