Rocktrospectiva: The Odd "Music That You Can Dance To" Turns 40

 

Released in September 1986, "Music That You Can Dance To" was the 14th., studio album by the US pop duo Sparks, the album spawned four singles "Change", "Music That you Can Dance To", "Fingertips" & "Rosebuds"

Music That You Can Dance To was the band's most dance music inspired album since their eighth studio album Nº 1 in Heaven (1979). The overall sound of the album was dominated by synthesizers and sequencers like Nº 1 in Heaven but it differed from that release by the inclusion of the heavily distorted bass guitar of Leslie Bohem, and the emphasis on discordant sound effects. Certain track s such as "Music That You Can Dance To", "Fingertips" and "The Scene" represented some of Sparks' most hi-NRG dance music leanings. 

While "Shopping Mall of Love", "Let's Get Funky", and (on the original U.S. edition) "Change" presented a side of the band's sound that is discordant and experimental, whereas "Rosebud" and the rerecording of their 1982 single "Modesty Plays" are not dissimilar from the synth-pop sound that the band had pursued on their previous two studio albums. "Armies of the Night" had been recorded for the supernatural horror film Fright Night (1985); the version that appeared on the European editions of Music That You Can Dance To was a re-recording. The song appeared in the movie RAD during the dance sequence.

The recording of the album was the last time that the Mael brothers worked with the backing band line-up of guitarist Bob Haag, bassist Leslie Bohem, and drummer David Kendrick. This line-up had been in place since Sparks' tenth studio album Whomp That Sucker (1981). Sparks' next studio album, Interior Design (1988), was recorded as more of a duo with some guest musicians.

The reviews of the album were mixed and dismissive at the time, some critics considered that the band rather to be avant-garde but now they seem stuck in the techno pop of years past, unfortunately the album was even less succesful on the album charts than their previous studio album- For the MCA releases, the album substituted "Armies of the Night" with the 1985 single "Change".

"Music That You Can Dance To", "Rosebud", and "Fingertips" were each released as singles to promote the album. Each was also released as an extended remix. The UK and US remixes of "Music That You Can Dance To" were different. "Fingertips" was released as a club promo in the US and was backed with "The Scene". The club-orientated singles did not register on the mainstream charts, but did make the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart; "Music That You Can Dance To" made No. 6 (their highest club chart peak) and the double A-side "Fingertips"/"The Scene" made No. 38. Finally "Change" was released in the UK on London Records in 1985 and reached No. 85 on the UK singles chart. The standalone single was promoted by an appearance on the British television talk show Wogan. None of the other singles were popular in the UK.

 

Music That You Can Dance To Track List: 

 

1. Music That You Can Dance To

2. Rosebud

3. Fingertips

4. Change (substitued with Armies Of The Night on-non MCA editions)

5. The Scene

6. Shopping Mall Of Love

7. Modesty Plays

8. Let's Get Funky