Sparks – The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte

My copy is dead quiet, absolutely no surface noise, but same issue as below with some harsh sibilance on the last few songs of each side. Too bad, because this is an otherwise excellent sounding record. Agreed that it should have been 2 LP.

Sounds good for the most part but the last songs on both sides sounded off, siblance on the S sounds and quite muffled. The music goes right to the label though I think they should have made this a 2 LP and added the bonus track from the Japanese CD and so may we start to side D that would've been my suggestion. A good album though 7/10 for the music and 6/10 for this edition. Love sparks.

Mojo (362-Jan 2024) featured Sparks as that months "How to Buy" top ten as voted by Mojo readers, including this album. I love all of Sparks albums (some more than others of course) but was surprised at some of those that made the top ten.

1 - Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins
2 - Kimono My House
3 - Music That You Can Dance To
4 - Lil' Beethoven
5 - Propaganda
6 - Hello Young Lovers
7 - Introducing Sparks
8 - The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte
9 - No. 1 In Heaven
10 - Big Beat

This is currently £20 at Fopp. Grab yourself a bargain!

5 stars for the content. 14 tight Sparks weird pop songs.
My first impression was “Oh no. Too much repetition lyrics-wise AGAIN”.
However, by the third or fourth play, the tunes are starting to slyly kick in and now, after 8 or 9 spins, Im very convinced. Favourites are the title track, Veronica Lake, NIAGATSII, Escalator, The Mona Lisa ……

Oh sod it. The whole thing is brilliant from start to end. I was a big fan of the sprawling A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip, but this album beats it with its compactness and annoyingly catchy tunes.
I bought Kimono My House bavk in 1974. The second album I ever bought - and it fills me with warmth that nearly 50 years down the line Im still buying and enjoying Sparks albums.
Since Bowie left us Sparks have been providing me with all the unique pop I need. With The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte, they lead me into old age with a grin on my face and a chuckle as I read and get the lyrics.

5/5

BTW - SQ. I don’t think I’ve got a single Sparks album on vinyl that sounds amazing. The recent reissues are as best as it gets. In fact, Hello Young Lovers sounds ace.
Latte though is one of those dense, muddy albums. Seven songs a side is a squeeze. However, its not a bad listening experience. Far from it. I had to clean my copy a few times, but it is crankable. And I’ve found the more the songs sink in, the better it sounds.

This doesn't seem to be as readily available in the US compared to the previous two albums. Almost no copies for sale on here in this region, and my local giant record store did not have any copies of this. I know Sparks are more Euro-focused but I'm curious what is going on with US distribution.

My copy arrived slightly warped, which results in a skip on “We Go Dancing.” A little annoying considering I paid extra for the nice deluxe edition. However the skip is very minor, and the rest of the press sounds good, if a little surface noisy. Color is nice, and the booklet is a nice added bonus. Quality control could’ve been better, but that’s not the bands fault. Still love this album and very happy to own it!

Edit: I sold my warped copy not long after writing this review. I am happy to report I have since purchased a new copy that is free of skips and warps and sounds lovely!

Another strong album by the greatest band on Earth.

“The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte” is an especially slow burner but it gets better with each time. Some have described it as Hippo part 3. Whereas it does have a lot of tracks (14) like a proper pop album format, it flies by quite fast. Total of 47 minutes. I love when an album fits in the classical single vinyl record length. Didn’t get that feeling with “Hippo” and “Drip”.

I think this album holds together better than the previous two, eventhou it doesn’t have concise standout tracks apart from the obvious title track just for the name of it. But make no mistake, all songs here are amazing in their own right and fit in perfectly together. With every listen a different song becomes my favourite on the album.

But as every Sparks fan knows, there are as many “This is my favorite Sparks album” confessions, as there are Sparks albums.
Sign of the times? The theme of the album is rather dark as previous comments have suggested: topics include war, depression, f..d up society, insecurities, drugs, escapism.. But also of course (brotherly) love .. all in the classic Sparks twist.

The mastering is a bit loud, but the production is top notch – their best since “Exotic Creatures..” – this is where Russell (and his vocals) really shines from what I understand. Ron’s melodies are superb as always.

Ordered my complete set of the release from the label’s page some 3 months ago, it hasn’t arrived almost a week into the release date, so I went to the local record shop and bought an extra copy of the CD to get the lyrics in hand. Wish they produced the CD version in the classic plastic (jewel) box, not the cardboard.

The final track “Gee, That Was Fun” might hint this it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they somehow manage to pull off another quarter of a century in some format or another.

Probably their darkest album. Sparks always had a bit of a cynical streak in their lyrical DNA, but I can't think of an album where it was as concentrated as here. Obviously the Mael Brothers are as fed up with the state of things as the rest of us.

In the opening track they wonder why "so many people are crying in their latte", but in the following songs they give us plenty of reasons (Loneliness, dictators, fame, to name a few) and examples of people who are disappointed in the world, including newborn babies and even the Mona Lisa.

Obviously they do it in the typical Sparks way. Which means: lyrics that are at least clever and at times even downright hilarious, no matter how dark the subject is, wrapped in playful melodies and arrangements that probably no other band could ever think of. But even if you ignore the pretty depressing mood of the album, it's not as good as their previous two. That doesn't mean it's bad. I don't think Sparks are capable of making a bad album. (Although if they would start now, it could be forgiven.) But while listening to HIPPOPOTAMUS and DRIP for the first time, you instantly found a whole bunch of new favourite songs. LATTE on the other hand needs a few more listens.

Still, this is one of the best albums of 2023 so far and I doubt that there will be many albums that have a chance to kick it out of the top five by the end of the year.

Unfortunately a subnormal album.
The songs don't radiate the magic of earlier albums, much sounds intentional but uninspired.
The level corresponds to good single B-sides.
The picture disc is quite expensive and is uncharitably packaged without further information.