This is no surprise to those who visit my blog - but what can I say I love this album. Choosing the best Sparks album is like choosing your favorite finger on your left hand - it's pointless! But nevertheless this has to be one of their masterpieces. It is rare for a band that has been going on for over 30 years to come up with such 'fresh' and magnificent work.
Scott Walker's "The Drift" is a must. You have to hear it from the beginning to the end at least once in your life. I am interested in what Scott's fellow artists would think of this album. For sure it will make everything sound pale and sissy like compared to Walker's vision of hell (with humor thrown in). This album is not dark, it's pitch black with only the darkest humor showing up at the surface. It's a masterpiece, and the lyrics maybe the best poetry I read in the 21st Century so far. Do I sound over-the-top? Will give this album a listen and be prepared to hear things on a different plane and texture.
Patrick Hamilton's "Hangover Square" is finally back in print. My friend (thank you Sarah!) gave me a copy of this book about five years ago and I think she changed my life for the better. Of course saying that this is another dark world - which is London via the war years. Dark danky pubs with hopeless people and then on top of that you have a psycho killer about to be born in this horrid world. Hamilton is totally underrated and is totally a great writer. The closest writer I can compare him with is Patricia Highsmith. The one thing that he has though is his descriptive skills in talking about a city landscape that is both lonely and horrifying. Amazing book.
The U.K. has finally put out Louis Feuillade's masterpiece "Fantomas" on DVD. How many ways can I say that this is a perfect film and Fantomas is one of the great characters (or is it image, since he may or may not exist) in literature and film. I wrote about this film in an earlier blog. In a nutshell, I think about Feuillade and Fantomas everyday. For the past ten years or so. Obsession is never this sweet.
