Released on May 23, 2025 through Trangressive Records, "MAD!! is the 26th., studio album by the US pop/rock duo Sparks, one of their most anticipate works over the last five years, upon its release, the album was met with critical acclaim and continued the group's commercial success in the UK started with Hippopotamus (2017), A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip (2020), and The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte (2023) all peaking at no. 7 on the UK Albums Chart, the highest position since Kimono My House peaked at no. 4 in 1974, despite the return to an independent label, debuting at No. 2.
Back in 2024 during the ceremony of AIM (Independent Music Awards) in which the duo received the honors of Outstanding Contribution to Music, bandmates Ron and Russell Mael took the opportunity to announce that they had signed a recording contract with Transgressive Records for a new studio album.
The album starts with "Do Things My Own Way." a clarion call for non-conformism, this is basically a song that advises the listener to reach their own conclusions on life in a world full of "influencers". The song itself has an insistent synth and guitar beat that backs Russell’s almost sprechgesang vocals, but there is no real chorus as such, just a repeated riff to punctuate the verses. "JanSport Backpack" is not, as many early commentators surmised, a blatant example of sponsorship or product placement, but a commentary on the experience of rejection. The protagonist of the story has seen the object of his affections walking away from him so many times that the aspects of her he becomes most intimately familiar with are the backpack that she wears, the track has a jaunty synth track from Ron with multi-tracked vocals from Russell that give it a deliberately under-produced sound.
"Hit Me, Baby." It’s a drum-heavy beat and doomy synths sets it apart from much of the album and subsequently it’s a much heavier number than what has gone before. Next "Running Up A Tab At The Hotel For The Fab" has a more arty, angular feeling and those unexpected changes in tone that Sparks have so effectively used before, "My Devotion To You" is maybe a love song, or possibly a thank you to Sparks’'dedicated fan-base. The lyrics explicitly state that it may be about devotion to any number of things, so you can basically take it any way that you please. "Don’t Dog It," a pounding art-dance number about the search for answers in religion, or science, some nice ‘strings in the mix which lift the production.
Another smooth track next with "In Daylight," which expresses how the darkness of bars and night-clubs can do great favours to those who aren’t exceptionally good looking. The cool "I-405 Rules" is a fast-moving track extolling the virtues of mass transport. "A Long Red Light" expresses similar frustration at waiting for the traffic lights to change. Sparks are terrific at taking relatively mundane experiences and spinning them into fascinating songs. "Drowned in a Sea of Tears" is a surprisingly acoustic number with nice layers of guitar, drums and percussion, but if you listen carefully is sound a little bit like Elton John's 1988 single "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That" in the verse section. Next is "A Little Bit Of Light Banter" continues the more trad arrangement of "Drowned in a Sea of Tears", but is a much more Sparks song. It's the kind of song that Sparks have always done so well and shows Russell's vocals at their pop best.
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