1. Lil Beethoven Sparks Rare
2. Lil Beethoven Sparks Raritan
3. Lil Beethoven Sparks Rarity
4. Sparks Lil Beethoven Rar

• Sparks lil beethoven rar. 0 Comments Ks Rom V1 3 Rev 34.5. 5/24/2019 0 Comments 2015/02/02 MAME ROMs updated to.158! Ks Rom V1 3 Rev 34.5 Download. Still working on the CHDs, some logistical things to figure out due to their size.
• View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 2002 CD release of Lil' Beethoven on Discogs.

Lil' Beethoven is the 19th album by the American rock band Sparks, released in 2002. But the nine-song-strong Lil' Beethoven album is rendered immaculately, with backing tapes picking up the slack around the minimalist live band. From there, 13 'bonus live tracks' take you through a more conventional Sparks concert, but the mood and majesty of the earlier set lingers on, through both the expected hits and the occasional surprise inclusion - 'The Ghost of Liberace' is ethereally beautiful. Jan 14, 2012  Lil’ Beethoven (2002). With their career somewhat on autopilot, Sparks threw all pop conventions out the window and created this modern masterpiece. Underneath the big production, you can really hear how Sparks construct their music – from the keyboard up.

Tracklisting

01. The Rhythm Thief
02. How Do I Get To Carnegie Hall?
03. What Are All These Bands So Angry About?
04. I Married Myself
05. Ride 'Em Cowboy
06. (Ride 'em cowboy, ride 'em)
07. (Ride 'Em Cowboy 2 cont'd)
08. (Ride 'Em Cowboy 3 cont'd)
09. My Baby's Taking Me Home
10. Your Call's Very Important. Please Hold.
11. Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girls
12. Suburban Homeboy

Reviews

'A Masterpiece of Pop Art' - Independent
'A Self-contained Masterpiece' - Record Collector
'It's What The World's Been Waiting For' - Mojo
'Excellent' - Independent on Sunday
'One Of The Most Extraordinary Albums Of The Year' - The Telegraph
'Uniquely, Brilliantly Sparks' - Q
'An Opus' - Daily Express
'Gilbert & Sullivan On Qualuudes' - Muzik

Lyrics

01. The Rhythm Thief

02. How Do I Get To Carnegie Hall?

03. What Are All These Bands So Angry About?

04. I Married Myself

05. Ride 'Em Cowboy

06. (Ride 'em cowboy, ride 'em)

07. (Ride 'Em Cowboy 2 cont'd)

08. (Ride 'Em Cowboy 3 cont'd)

09. My Baby's Taking Me Home

Lil Beethoven Sparks Rare

10. Your Call's Very Important. Please Hold.

11. Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girls

12. Suburban Homeboy

Credits

All songs written, produced, and arranged by Ron Mael and Russell Mael
Recorded at Sparks Studio, Los Angeles, California
Ron Mael- Keyboards, orchestrations, and programming
Russell Mael - Vocals, programming
Tammy Glover-Drums
Dean Menta- Guitar
John Thomas- Mixing and additional engineering
Sparks live technician-Robert Garnham
Sparks live sound-Cristiano Avigni
Design by Dave Park
Photography by Aaron Rapoport
Video production by Olivier Kuntzel and Florence Deygas
Feature films by Don Murphy and Susan Montford
UK Charge d'affaires- Sue Harris, Republic Media
German public relations-Mike Koehler
All songs published by Avenue Louise Music/BMG/Ufa Publishing

Lil' Beethoven is the 19th album by the Americanrock band Sparks, released in 2002.

Background[edit]

By 2002, Sparks had released eighteen albums, the last several of them in the new wave/synthpop vein. While this had been successful, breaking them in the US with 1983's 'Cool Places' and in Germany with 'When Do I Get To Sing 'My Way'?' in 1995, it had not secured them much critical acclaim or a consistent audience. 1997's Plagiarism, which consisted entirely of new recordings of earlier material, had been intended to introduce the group's back catalog to their new German audience, while building on the success with high-profile collaborations for the UK and US audience. It had only been partially successful.

The next album, Balls, had not been at all successful and was generally perceived as Sparks treading water.^[7] The duo had already written an entire album's worth of material for a follow-up, but found that they were unenthusiastic with the results and so the album was scrapped, a decision which they admitted was difficult but ultimately crucial for them to continue challenging themselves and evolving their sound.

Sparks then decided to change track, dropping the synthpop sound, reducing the musical palette and developing the music upon piano lines and lyrics of Ron Mael and the vocals of Russell Mael.

In 2001, the Maels were commissioned by a German broadcasting company to produce a song for Günther Koch Revisited (Voll In Den Mann), an album that featured samples of sports commentator Günther Koch set to music. The band's contribution, 'Wunderbar', placed Koch's highly-spirited exclamations over an orchestral backing. The duo acknowledged that making the track provided them a blueprint for the direction that they would take on Lil' Beethoven. As has been the case with each Sparks album since 1988's Interior Design, the album was self-produced by the duo and recorded in Russell Mael's home studio.

Sound[edit]

Described by the band themselves as a 'career-defining opus', Lil' Beethoven saw the duo move into a more classical-influenced sound, with a heavy reliance on repetitive lyrics and piano lines, synthesized orchestration and multi-tracked vocals in place of percussion.^[8] Opening track 'The Rhythm Thief' is an overall introduction to the band's new direction by declaring 'say goodbye to the beat'. 'My Baby's Taking Me Home' largely consists of the title repeated over 100 times with no other words being used, other than a spoken interlude.^[9] Similarly, 'Your Call Is Very Important To Us' uses a corporation style call-hold message: 'Your call is very important to us. Please hold' which is then sung with some additional words: 'At first she said your call is very important to us, then she said please, please hold.' The only other lyrics in the song are 'Red light', 'Green light', 'I'm Getting Mixed Signals' and 'Sorry, I'm Going To Have To Put You Back On Hold'. These elements are layered with a simple piano line to create a highly textured effect.^[10]

The majority of the sounds on Lil' Beethoven were produced with a Yamaha S80 keyboard.

Lil Beethoven Sparks Raritan

Reaction[edit]

The album was critically applauded, which led to renewed interest in the band; Record Collector magazine named the album as one of its Best New Albums of 2002, describing it as '... possibly the most exciting and interesting release ever from such a long established act'^[11] and later in 2003 saying '... it really does feel like one of the best albums ever made.'^[9]

Release[edit]

Lil' Beethoven, while critically acclaimed, did not chart inside the top 100 in the UK, Germany or the US. It was released in a limited edition which had hard-cover book binding. The album was promoted by the single Suburban Homeboy: it, too, did not chart. The single was backed two b-sides, an extended version of Suburban Homeboy (Suburban Homeboy (Extended 'Ron Speaks' Version)) and Wunderbar (Concerto In Koch Minor), which samples the voice of German sports commentator Günther Koch.

Re-release[edit]

In March 2004, Sparks re-issued Lil' Beethoven in a deluxe edition. This version had a black sleeve as opposed to the white original, and included three audio tracks (two of which were exclusive), a video of 'The Rhythm Thief' (directed by long-time collaborators Kuntzel+Deygas), a short film by Ron Mael, and a screensaver. An LP version of the album (which did not include any bonus tracks) was also released at the same time.

A DVD produced by Demon Vision was also released of a live performance of the album. The live performance was filmed in March 2004 at the Södra Teatern in Stockholm, Sweden. The DVD features the album performed in full and in order, followed by a set of twelve other Sparks songs.

Track listing[edit]

All tracks are written by Ron Mael and Russell Mael.

Lil Beethoven Sparks Rarity

Sparks Lil Beethoven Rar

Personnel[edit]

• Russell Mael – Vocals, programming, production, arrangements
• Ron Mael – Keyboards, orchestrations, programming, production, arrangements
• Tammy Glover – Drums
• Dean Menta – Guitar
• John Thomas – Mixing, additional engineering
• Günther Koch – Vocals on 'Wunderbar'

DVD[edit]

Lil' Beethoven – Live in Stockholm

1. 'The Rhythm Thief'
2. 'How Do I Get To Carnegie Hall?'
3. 'What Are All These Bands So Angry About?'
4. 'I Married Myself'
5. 'Ride 'Em Cowboy'
6. 'My Baby's Taking Me Home'
7. 'Your Call's Very Important To Us. Please Hold'
8. 'Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girls'
9. 'Suburban Homeboy'
10. 'It's A Sparks Show'
11. 'National Crime Awareness Week'
12. 'Here In Heaven'
13. 'The Number One Song in Heaven'
14. 'Nothing To Do'
15. 'The Calm Before The Storm'
16. 'The Ghost Of Liberace'
17. 'Talent Is An Asset'
18. 'Hospitality On Parade'
19. 'When I Kiss You (I Hear Charlie Parker Playing)'
20. 'This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us'
21. 'When Do I Get To Sing 'My Way'?'
22. 'Amateur Hour'

Special Features

1. 'The Legend Of Lil' Beethoven'
2. Soundcheck
3. Backstage With Sparks
4. Audience Interviews / Meet The Fans
5. Sparks Facts

Live personnel

• Russell Mael – Vocals
• Ron Mael – Keyboards
• Tammy Glover – Drums, Timpani, Percussion and Backing Vocals
• Dean Menta – Guitar, Timpani and Backing Vocals

References[edit]

1. ^'Expect the Unexpected: A Conversation with Sparks'. September 13, 2017. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
2. ^'Sparks - Record Collector Magazine'. recordcollectormag.com. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
3. ^ ^ab'Beyond Bowie: The mutating art-pop of Sparks in 10 records - The Vinyl Factory'. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
4. ^Allmusic review
5. ^'PopMatters review'. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
6. ^'Album Reviews: Sparks'. Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 3, 2008. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
7. ^Encyclopedia of Popular Music. 'Sparks'. BBC. Retrieved April 13, 2006.^{[dead link]}
8. ^'Sparks - Lil' Beethoven'. Allmusic. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
9. ^ ^abEaslea, Daryl (July 2003). 'Sparks Interview'. Record Collector Magazine Issue. 287.
10. ^'Hello Young Lovers review on StylusMagazine.com'. Archived from the original on March 29, 2006. Retrieved April 25, 2006.
11. ^'Best New Albums of 2002'. Record Collector. 281. January 2003.