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The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman

Sparks

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BookletDigital Booklet - The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman Sparks -- Album Only View In iTunes

iTunes Review

After more than 30 years of making excellent, sophisticated (and under-appreciated) pop music, brothers Ron and Russell Mael created a musical drama that aired on Swedish public radio in August 2009. In it the late Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman is lured into working in Hollywood, and falls victim to Tinseltown’s devotion to celebrity and meddling studio heads. (Not a bad conceit, you have to admit.) The music is stagey and theatrical as any opera, with all the clever flourishes one expects from Sparks, minus hooky pop constructs — strings, pianos and booming tympanis abound, as do typical Sparks rapid-fire lyrical witticisms. From Bergman’s introduction/monologue to his grappling with the Hollywood ethos (“method acting is ridiculous!”) and on to his ultimate liberation, the creative audacity of Europe’s favorite American pop band speaks clearly to the Continent’s appetite for intellectually nurturing entertainment. Until a touring theatrical production and/or a film results, American Sparks fans can listen to this (English-language) version, and dream. (The booklet lays out the story details, and outlines the 24 scenes of the drama.)

Customer Reviews

Further information

by Starly77

Evening Standard: **** "After 22 albums, most bands are coasting to the pipe and slippers. Sparks, however, are not as others. Right now, it's hard to think of a braver act......Fearlessly brilliant and brilliantly fearless."

5 star reviews in the Independent and Record Collector

Originally commissioned by Sveriges Radio 'The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman' is 24 songs and just over 60 minutes of wonderfully original music that tell a fantasy "what if" story. Though his films' themes have traditionally centred on matters of death, faith, God's existence, and the struggle to find love and meaning in our lives, legendary Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman is confronted in the musical by the lure of a mythological Hollywood seemingly at odds with all he stands for---a Hollywood that tempts him and ultimately tries to control him. What starts as an exploration by Bergman of the possible mutual benefits of his working in Hollywood turns into a Kafkaesque nightmare, a nightmare ended with the aid of a most unlikely saviour.

1. 1956 Cannes Film Festival
2. I Am Ingmar Bergman
3. Limo Driver (Welcome To Hollywood)
4. Here He Is Now
5. Mr. Bergman, How Are You?
6. He'll Come Round
7. En Route To The Beverly Hills Hotel
8. Hollywood Welcoming Committee
9. I've Got To Contact Sweden
10. The Studio Commissary
11. I Must Not Be Hasty
12. Quiet On The Set
13. Why Do You Take That Tone With Me?
14. Pleasant Hotel Staff
15. Hollywood Tour Bus
16. Autograph Hounds
17. Bergman Ponders Escape
18. We've Got To Turn Him Round
19. Escape (Part 1)
20. Escape (Part 2)
21. Oh My God
22. Garbo Sings
23. Almost A Hollywood Ending
24. He's Home

Exceptional

by Matthew Munson

If you like the music of the brothers Mael you will like this album. Although its one single track for a hour plus, it is worth investing your time and money. Sparks were asked by Swedish Radio to make a musical for the radio with Swedish Language content and they give us the Seduction of Ingmar Bergman, avaliable in English or the original Swedish language version your choice in the itunes store.

The story is about the director Ingmar Bergman visiting a movie theater to watch an American movie then he gets sent to Hollywood and he is navigating the cultural differences between his home land and Hollywood. Will the director resist the implulses of Hollywood or was it only a dream?

In over four decades of making music Sparks does not disappoint.

Sparks: Seduction of Ingmar Is Sheer Genius!!!

by Sparks Rule

Composing one of the most daring and inventive musicals in any genre, this elevates the Maels to a new level in the history of pop music. From cinematic classical elegance and bombast, to inventive rock aggression, coupled with a unique fantasy story surrounding the renowned Swedish cinema auteur, this is a work destined for the stage and ultimately the big screen. Hollywood, take a listen and produce this into a musical film which will set the form on a new path. Brilliance. The Maels, the new Cole Porters for a daring new generation. The creativity of this album and musical leaves the rest of the pop musical world sounding as though it is elevator muzak. Maybe now the band known as Sparks will get the praise and recognition they have deserved for 22 albums. Genius.

Biography

Formed: 1970 in Los Angeles, CA

Genre: Alternative

Years Active: '70s, '80s, '90s, '00s, '10s

Sparks is the vehicle for the skewed pop smarts and wise-guy wordplay of brothers Ron and Russell Mael, Los Angeles natives who spent their childhood modeling young men's apparel for mail-order catalogs. While attending UCLA in 1970, the Maels formed their first group, Halfnelson, which featured songwriter Ron on keyboards and Russell as lead vocalist; the...

Full Bio

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