A new feature to the blog, every Saturday will spotlight a classic album that fits the #1 Hits criteria: catchy, epic and pleasingly alien. First up is....

Sparks - Kimono My House (1974)

A landmark album in more ways than one, Sparks were doing Queen harmonies before anybody had ever heard Bohemian Rhapsody. Although not the band's debut, Kimono was their breakthrough, boasting their instant classic This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us, a sizable British hit that never found the success it deserved in the States. Ditto for the group. Sparks is Russel and Ron Mael, cult heroes for those who like their music witty, theatrical and different.

Kimono was the beginning of a trilogy of like-minded glam based albums that should have dominated the mid-seventies. Operatic vocals combine with bubblegum rock more perfectly than ever before on each of the album's ten tracks (12 on the remastered version). Discounting the group's later albums, the whole of Kimono is unlike anything that has ever been recorded. It's the sound of avant-garde production meshed with perfect pop songwriting.

Singles: This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us, Amateur Hour, Talent Is An Asset

Here In Heaven: What if Juliet decided to go back on the suicide pact, right after Romeo killed himself? Told from Romeo's depressed/pissed perspective, this is a perfect intro to the Mael's skewed lyrics.

Complaints: A short rocker about a store's complaints department, with a chorus so catchy it requires the jaws of life to remove.

This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us (Live on TOTP 1974)