Calvin Grows Up

Sparks The Rescue - Worst Thing I’ve Been Cursed With  Album Review

Selected Listening: “She’s a Bitch and I’m a Fool”

Sparks The Rescue has recorded a very impressive follow-up to 2008’s Eyes to the Sun.  The Maine natives have done an excellent job of capturing exactly what it feels like to grow up in northern New England, and having spent my years growing up in New Hampshire, it’s pretty neat when somebody get’s it right on the money.

Worst Thing I’ve Been Cursed With is a fun-loving rock and roll album, chock full of sex, drugs, and alcohol.  While most of the other people reviewing this album tore it apart for its’ weird and sometimes creepy lyrics, I think they make the album.  Even though lyrics like “I’m touchin’ you while you sleep”(“Saturday Skin”), and “we’re only makin’ love when she’s on the rag” (“Better Side of Me”) are a little too edgy for some of the younger half of the pop-punk demographic, seasoned Sparks fans won’t even bat an eyelash.  You must understand that Sparks The Rescue is a band for those kids, who jaunt around their respective small towns with nothing better to do than “taking shots of whiskey in the street” (“She’s a Bitch and I’m a Fool”) and flaunting the same foul subject matter found all over this album in tales of their everyday lives.  

Unfortunately, Sparks The Rescue probably won’t break into radio too much with this album, but stranger things have happened.  The subject matter is too edgy for radio, and they are deeply entrenched in a genre that is known for thriving without it.  While the commercial radio landscape is changing, Sparks will have to do a better job meeting it halfway to find success on the airwaves.  

Radio melodrama and talk of creepy lyrics aside, this album is Sparks The Rescue’s strongest musical installment to date.  Producer Jonathan Wyman (The Leftovers, Paranoid Social Club, The Wrecking) does an excellent job of bringing out the best in them as well.  

Standout Tracks:

“She’s a Bitch and I’m a Fool” - Probably the strongest track on the record, and easily played over and over again.  It has a strong chorus that any guy who has ever been in a relationship can relate to.

“Better Side of Me” - Fast, fun, and obnoxious.  My personal favorite track on the album, expect to hear this blasting out of bedroom and car windows alike all summer long.  Also, look out for Maine rapper (yeah those exist) S’pose on the third verse. He absolutely kills it and adds an unexpected element to the song.

“Postcard of a Tidal Wave” - The type of romance that can tug on your heartstrings, but makes you want to jam out instead.  Captures the feelings of growing up in this godforsaken part of the country to a T.

Fearless Records had perfect timing on releasing this album in early May, because it is a summer album down to its core.  Get over to Best Buy or Newbury Comics or Bull Moose or iTunes or wherever kids are getting their fix these days and pick up a copy A.S.A.P, because the quality of your summer depends on it.