Past Tense is a brand new career-spanning collection by the provocateurs of pop - Sparks. Masters of reinvention, with an unappeasable ambition and a ravenous hunger for the now, Sparks – brothers Ron and Russell Mael – have been creating eye-poppingly brilliant pop music for more than 50 years. PAST TENSE: THE BEST OF SPARKS is an immaculate lesson in how to stay consistently interesting for fifty years. With sleeve-notes by Simon Price*, each track is hand-picked by Ron and Russell to best epitomise the era of Sparks from which they are drawn - forerunners of art rock, inventors of the synth duo, masters of new wave pop, Europop experimentalists and self-revisionists, in the 21st century they pioneered the electronic opera before delivering 2017’s pop masterpiece Hippopotamus.
Disc 1
01. Computer Girl (3:13)
02. Wonder Girl (2:19)
03. (No More) Mr. Nice Guys (5:47)
04. Girl From Germany (3:30)
05. Beaver O'Lindy (3:45)
06. This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us (3:04)
07. Amateur Hour (3:35)
08. Here In Heaven (2:47)
09. Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth (2:29)
10. Something For The Girl With Everything (2:17)
11. Achoo (3:32)
12. Get In The Swing (4:06)
13. In The Future (2:13)
14. Looks, Looks, Looks (2:34)
15. I Want To Hold Your Hand (2:55)
16. Big Boy (3:29)
17. I Bought The Mississippi River (2:28)
18. Occupation (5:13)
19. Those Mysteries (5:01)
20. Tryouts For The Human Race (6:07)
21. Beat The Clock (4:22)
Disc 2
01. The Number One Song In Heaven (7:28)
02. When I'm With You (Single Version) (4:06)
03. Tips For Teens (3:34)
04. Funny Face (3:26)
05. Angst In My Pants (3:28)
06. I Predict (2:52)
07. Sherlock Holmes (3:37)
08. Cool Places (3:24)
09. Popularity (3:52)
10. I Wish I Looked A Little Better (3:00)
11. With All My Might (3:43)
12. Change (5:26)
13. Music That You Can Dance To (4:22)
14. So Important (4:31)
15. Singing In The Shower (4:24)
16. National Crime Awareness Week (Psycho Cut) (3:29)
17. When Do I Get To Sing 'My Way' (4:38)
18. (When I Kiss You) I Hear Charlie Parker Playing (Radio Edit) (3:46)